Clews Competition Motorcycles
Encyclopedia
Motorcycle
A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...
manufacturer based in Bolton
Bolton
Bolton is a town in Greater Manchester, in the North West of England. Close to the West Pennine Moors, it is north west of the city of Manchester. Bolton is surrounded by several smaller towns and villages which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, of which Bolton is the...
, England.
History
CCM was born out of the collapse of BSA'sBirmingham Small Arms Company
This article is not about Gamo subsidiary BSA Guns Limited of Armoury Road, Small Heath, Birmingham B11 2PP or BSA Company or its successors....
Competition Department in 1971.
Alan Clews, founder of CCM, was a successful Trials and Scrambles
Motocross
Motocross is a form of motorcycle sport or all-terrain vehicle racing held on enclosed off road circuits. It evolved from trials, and was called scrambles, and later motocross, combining the French moto with cross-country...
rider in the late 1960s. He wanted a lighter, more nimble and modern motocross
Motocross
Motocross is a form of motorcycle sport or all-terrain vehicle racing held on enclosed off road circuits. It evolved from trials, and was called scrambles, and later motocross, combining the French moto with cross-country...
bike, like the BSA factory engined 500 cc works specials. When the BSA Competition Department went out of business, he saw his opportunity and bought all the works parts that were available. Clews started building motocross bikes in his garage. Not having works engines just made Clews develop his own extensive improvements to the standard BSA B50
BSA B50
The BSA B50 is a motorcycle made by BSA at their factory in Small Heath, Birmingham. The last of the big capacity unit singles from the Birmingham Small Arms company, it had a 499 cc alloy engine with a bore of and a stroke of , a short wheelbase and unusually high centre of gravity...
500 cc engine which could be had by breaking up existing B50 MX bikes. His reputation grew as a builder of four-stroke motocross bikes that were capable of competing with the dominant two-stroke bikes. In the mid-1970s, the CCM racing team achieved respectable results in the 500 cc Motocross World Championship, with rider John Banks
John Banks (motorcyclist)
John Banks was a leading British motocross racer from the 1960s and early 1970s.As a member of the BSA factory racing team, Banks finished second to Paul Friedrichs in the 1968 F.I.M. 500cc Motocross World Championship. He duplicated this result in 1969, finishing behind Bengt Aberg...
placing in the top five several times.
Initially powered by BSA engines, the firm used Rotax
Rotax
BRP-Powertrain GmbH & Co KG , commonly known simply as Rotax, is an Austrian engine manufacturer. It develops and produces four-stroke and advanced two-stroke engines for Bombardier Recreational Products products as well as for motorcycles, karts,...
engines during the 1980s and 1990s when production reached a peak of 3,500 annually. Between 1983 and 1985, over 4,000 CCM motorcycles were licensed to export bikes to North America badged as Can-Am motorcycles
Can-Am motorcycles
Can-Am is a motorcycle producing subsidiary of the Bombardier Recreational Products, a Canadian corporation.In 1973, under the direction and leadership of an American Engineer named Gary Robinson and former motocross World Champion, Jeff Smith working with a team of California desert racers,...
.
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
, and through overseas sales won a Queen's Export Award. The MT500 began as the Italian SWM
SWM (motorcycles)
SWM was founded in 1971 by Piero Sironi and Fausto Vergani and was based in Milan, Italy. SWM manufactured Observed Trials, Enduro, Motorcross and off-road motorcycles in the 1970s and 1980s. They started with small capacity Sachs engined enduro bikes and began making Rotax engined trials bikes in...
XN Tornado, which Armstrong acquired the rights to in 1984 when SWM liquidated, and Armstrong modified it for military use. Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson , often abbreviated H-D or Harley, is an American motorcycle manufacturer. Founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during the first decade of the 20th century, it was one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression...
bought the production rights to the MT-500 in 1987 when NATO chose the machine, and created a 350 cc version that reduced weight, added an electric start, and upgrading pollution standards, which was named the Harley-Davidson MT350E
Harley-Davidson MT350E
The MT350E is a motorcycle manufactured by Harley-Davidson. A development of the Armstrong MT500 with a smaller capacity engine, electric start and disc brakes....
.
- BSA B50BSA B50The BSA B50 is a motorcycle made by BSA at their factory in Small Heath, Birmingham. The last of the big capacity unit singles from the Birmingham Small Arms company, it had a 499 cc alloy engine with a bore of and a stroke of , a short wheelbase and unusually high centre of gravity...
Return to Clews ownership
The CCM company was acquired by the Robson family in 1998 who procured Suzuki DR-Z400Suzuki DR-Z400
The Suzuki DR-Z400 is a dual purpose motorcycle manufactured by Suzuki. It is powered by a single-cylinder, , liquid cooled four-stroke engine. Its reliability, low price and decent performance have made it a popular dual-sport choice around the world...
engines. In 2004, the company ceased operations and its assets were bought by the original owner, Alan Clews. In 2005 the company launched two new bikes, the R35 Supermoto and the FT35 flat tracker. The firm returned to world champion competition, fielding a team in the 2009 FIM Motocross World Championship
2009 FIM Motocross World Championship season
The 2009 FIM Motocross World Championship season is the 53rd F.I.M. Motocross Racing World Championship season. Antonio Cairoli won the MX1 title for Yamaha, Marvin Musquin claimed the MX2 title for KTM and Pierre Renet triumphed in MX3 for Honda....
with riders Tom Church, Jason Dougan and Ray Rowson.