‘A monster project – tough & hard to deliver’
CCM product director Scott Lanzi reveals the story behind the Heritage ‘71
» It’s the obvious question… why build it?
Austin Clews, designer Owen Davis and myself sat around a table and thought about what we could do [for the 50th anniversary]. A few of us ride mountain bikes and so know about light titanium frames, and Austin mentioned that old factory BSA motocross bikes used titanium. CCM started using BSA parts, and Alan would have liked a titanium-framed CCM. I put my head in my hands. It would be a monster project – tough, complex and hard to deliver.
» Is titanium a bit of a swine, then?
Using titanium lets us take 38% of the weight out of the frame. We use cold-worked, stress-relieved titanium – it’s super hard, and has better strength and stiffness than chromoly steel for the same cross-section.
But it’s a nightmare to bend.
You get about 20% yield, so when you curve a radius it elongates.
Some grades and sections can’t be bent. We’ve had to manufacture
113 different fixtures just to notch the end of the tubes. When you weld titanium you need an envelope of argon gas and have to purge it after each section, and our frame has loads of sections.
When we start production, a frame will take one person a week to make. We use a small aftermarket company for the titanium exhaust. It’s made up of 64 separate pieces, all fixtured and welded by hand.
» It’s got Öhlins, but it’s not gold…
It’s a Blackline rear shock. They don’t do one like this normally, but someone in the Öhlins R&D department has a Spitfire and they’re really supportive. So the shock is bespoke to us – looks, spring rate, damping, everything. It’s the same with the front forks. We’ve also tweaked the yokes. Different offsets have been played with, to give more stability but still with agility, and so the Heritage geometry is bespoke.
We have a very good relationship with Dymag so went to them for special wheels. The target was to take as much mass out of them as possible, and they weigh 6kg less. That’s a huge unsprung weight reduction.
We’ve touched every other part of the bike.
The Spitfire Six is probably closest [to the Heritage] but literally all the parts have been upgraded, tweaked, modified. The subframe is brand new, and the levers, ’bars, signature detailing, carbon... The engine is the current one from SWM but with a specific fuel map for the exhaust and a black rocker cover. It’s geared up with a smaller rear sprocket.
» And thirty-grand isn’t putting folk off?
We first showed the Heritage ’71 at Motorcycle Live in 2021. Lots of people registered interest and we took deposits, but material supply delays mean people have had to bear with us. We now have 40-odd orders so far and have just finished the second prototype. We’ll only make 71 bikes. [Production starts in autumn.]
» This is peak single – what’s next for CCM?
The Spitfire has sold really well, but we all want to do something different. We need to launch new models and get into Europe – we’re currently single vehicle [each bike goes through IVA] and so UK only. We were purchased in 2021 by a private equity company and have invested in what we need. We have new computer systems, practises, more people, and a new business plan.
We can look at a new platform and have been sourcing a new engine for the past 12 months. Slightly up in capacity and up in cylinders. It will be a slightly different segment, larger, less vibey, more range – more of an everyone bike. Spitfires are a second or third bike in a garage, maybe the new one can be your only bike.
People talk about electrification. My view at the minute is that once the market has matured we’ll see what EV powerpacks are around that sit with our DNA, but it’s difficult for us. We’re super-low-volume, and there’ll always be a market for our internal combustion. Our bikes are a unique animal, people enjoy the lightness, feedback and mechanical feel. You can’t get the same experience from electric.