I have one, much underated bike, has to be ridden on the trail to appreciate. I have rode mine UK to Spain 3 times, lots of trails there, green lanes back home, never missed a beat and handles not far of a full on enduro. Well done Nathan for retrospectively highlighting a brilliant bike, just for the record it's 20 liters of fuel 10 in the under seat tank and x5 in each forward rally raid tanks.
I think you're right about the bike and engine size. Watching so many motorcycle travel bloggers and the most interesting ones have small engine machines upto 450cc. Good review. 👍👍👍
Your description of it sounds very much like Yamahas original 80s xtz750/850 & xt600 tenere's, waaaay ahead of their time, took 25yrs for bikers to begin to appreciate what adventure bikes really can do... excellent, interesting & captivating review 👍 cheers from NZ
Looks a great bike Nathan. Ideal for the British green lanes and everyday practicality . Seems to have all the things I love about my XR400, but deals with the short service intervals,tiring kick start and uncomfortable position on the longer rides Tempted to come up and have a go All the best mate Ben
spot on nathan i rode yours when we came down 3/10/21 . the one i had and traded in for a ccm blackout was one of the most sensible i have ever owned . exactly how you described it .hopefully the blackout is as good .all the best gordon .
Good video Nathan. I think the rub is that they were so unreliable. The last thing you need in a travel bike. People paid good money for them and were let down. I think if you like tinkering and do all the mods and join a user group you can get some good use from the bike. If someone said pick a bike to ride from London North Africa and back then I doubt anyone would jump at the ccm. However these days for bumbling around on in the UK, going to adventure festivals and trips to Wales etc it's a good choice.
Thanks for the Video!, Was admiring a couple of these at ABR this year, Don't think I would exchange my crf250 rally now that I am used to it and have had adventures on it BUT if I didn't have a small adventure bike I would be tempted by one of these!
Wish they sold it over here. That's a perfect platform for me. Something I can carry on a hitch hauler when I want to get there on 4 wheels and explore on 2.
Very good vid. Slightly curious re the swingarm-pivot-sprocket-drive rationalisation. I thought the whole point was to make it less dependent on what, or indeed any, slack you have in your chain: the swingarm can go up and down without varying the distance between the two sprockets, unlike with non-concentric centres.... Anyway, thanks for the vid - really nice.
The chain can have less slack with this design whearas if the front sprocket has more distance ahead of the swinging arm, plus the longer suspension requires far more length in the chain to accomodate the suspension travel required of off road bikes. Then there is the issue of a chain running over the swinging arm itself, the Yamaha T7 is a classic example of using an existing road bike engine where the output drive shaft is not that close to the swinging arm, and of course suspension travel is greater on the T7 than the MT07 that the engine was 'borrowed' from. As a result, the T7 had a chunk of some 'plastic' fitted to stop the chain eating the swinging arm and some sort of a roller, bushed I believe from a friends bike, it gets noisy also. Another manufacturer had a novel method of controlling all this extra length of chain required, again, it was not adopted by other manufacturers (that I know of), check out ATK from the USA, their design had two extra pinion type sprockets. It also had the rear disc brake on the same plane as the front drive sprocket !
@@oyleyhands1332 Yes, very good - thanks. That's what I was thinking about concentric set-up and why I was a bit curious about Nathan seeming to imply that you had to be careful with the slack on the CCM (which I think he is saying has such a concentric sprocket/swingarm pivot) - whereas almost the whole point of them seems to be the opposite of that: ie that whatever the slack is it remains the same no matter the movement of the swingarm and that's why you could choose to have almost no slack at all, without risk of the chain snapping or ruining the drive bearing by suddenly going horribly tight when landing from your double jump. (And I note about the T7 etc taking a very different approach - nice insights.)
I have one from 2016 nr.25x.. make the simple braking mod to avoid spilling out fuel if all is fuelled up.. the rear tank puts the fuel at full filled up tanks in front than its spread over you in you visir at hard breaking.. easy to fix
Sounds like a great bike... Maybe the the next step up from my KTM 390 ADV? Only just started out on Green lanes (on the bike) & need to travel an hour or so to get there. Great vid Nathan.
Nathan, you might remember I had great plans for the GP450 which unfortunately didn't come off. My perspective of it was that it was ideal for TET travels/holidays. It's a shame CCM stopped making them (due to Euro emissions). They now manufacture the Spitfire in low numbers so they are exempt from higher volume production regulations (I think). They had advanced plans for a 650 version which they seem to have canned.
I really think a 450 is the perfect compromise between on road performance and off road ability. I suppose the closes bike to that ccm now is the ktm690 enduro.
@@nathanthepostman I have the 250l and love it but I’m sure there will come a time when I want something a little bigger, dare I say better but there is nothing out there unless I go for a full on enduro bike? I really love having a bike I can ride on the road and do trails but I don’t feel the manufacturer’s are making a bike that suits my needs.
Good things come in little packages😉 Got to agree. Less is more. I really, really hope we get more small to mid size engined bikes. And when I say mid sized I don't mean bloody 850s and 900s! Nice little review, mate. What sort of mpg do you reckon it'd average on the road? Have you had it loaded up yet as if you were off on a long trip, ie with pannier bags etc. Just wondering about its luggage hauling possibilities. Cheers
@@jamesvalpuesta7495 thanks James, you're right, I googled it. And with that Google query I answered my the second part to my question. CCM did their own racks and pannier bags to. I like this bike but fifty and mid fifty mpg isn't good enough for me. I've got too used to 75+mpg from my CB500X.
such a shame as you say they were slated mostly by folks who never owned one ...i doubt ccm will make a gp mk 11 ..id be riding one now ..its not easy to work on at times mostly with the tri tank system ..in places its a work of art and some componants and wireing were sub standard ...but as a concept 20litres feul 125 kgms full fairing chassis and suspension right up there it was impressive in places ..it would have been nice to have a progressive development ..i never regretted any of my 6 years time with the ccm ...its a glimpse of what could have been ..i personally liked what they did for the most part ... lived with the bad bits or sorted em myself .... but i think they got their fingers burned to hard to go again and i for one regret that they didnt .......keep well
Its interesting how some of the chinese manufacturers use social media for an extended time to get potential customer feedback before bringing out a bike, like that Sinnis 380. Dont know if the bike itself was any good, but supposedly has what people were asking for.
The sinnis 380 is unfortunately a bit of a lemon but I think the Chinese will nail it next time round. The Voge ds 500 is good - I rode it a few weeks back. And there's some interesting stuff starting to appear at reasonable prices, like the new Moto Moroni xscape
@@nathanthepostman I saw an Australian review on a Voge 300 last week, seemed the guys were quite impressed. That Morini looks well flash. I saw the pre production images of the Himalayan, and that bike just ticks the boxes for simplicity for me and still does. Just biding my time while more and more tuning parts become availiable. The Honda 300 is a lotta dosh.
CCM has a problem getting emission compliant engines. The Rotax 650 would have been good for continued production after BMW. The Chinese and Indians will continue production. I like that GP frame and light motor.
Some bikes are just ahead of there time i remember when they first came out like the ajp 7 they are a tad expensive .....but horses for courses.....himalayan ticks a lot of inexpensive boxes...atb
I really wish Beta would do an adv version of their 390, bung a large tank on it and increase the oil capacity and make 6th gear a bit taller for better road use.
Loved it when it came out and had the fuelling been sorted I certainly would have had one. Small is where it’s at: just rode 2400 miles to Andorra to ride the smugglers trail on my Innova 125. The perfect adventure bike! ruclips.net/video/yupQkwkrD9s/видео.html
My bike got stolen last Saturday from outside ASDA greater Manchester. It was a 125cc Chinese Diablo Prince. Put details and photographs on facebook, got names of people seen riding it. Told police, result? NOTHING.
I have one, much underated bike, has to be ridden on the trail to appreciate. I have rode mine UK to Spain 3 times, lots of trails there, green lanes back home, never missed a beat and handles not far of a full on enduro. Well done Nathan for retrospectively highlighting a brilliant bike, just for the record it's 20 liters of fuel 10 in the under seat tank and x5 in each forward rally raid tanks.
Seems a great bike. Itchy Boots doing very well on her 250 Honda round Southern Africa. Also in the Kalahari rally.
I think you're right about the bike and engine size. Watching so many motorcycle travel bloggers and the most interesting ones have small engine machines upto 450cc.
Good review. 👍👍👍
Your description of it sounds very much like Yamahas original 80s xtz750/850 & xt600 tenere's, waaaay ahead of their time, took 25yrs for bikers to begin to appreciate what adventure bikes really can do... excellent, interesting & captivating review 👍 cheers from NZ
Looks a great bike Nathan.
Ideal for the British green lanes and everyday practicality . Seems to have all the things I love about my XR400, but deals with the short service intervals,tiring kick start and uncomfortable position on the longer rides
Tempted to come up and have a go
All the best mate
Ben
Love the channel and love the bike. Not heard of them until recently and now really want one! Thanks an look forward to the next one.
I like the statement "less weight more adventure" :-)
spot on nathan i rode yours when we came down 3/10/21 . the one i had and traded in for a ccm blackout was one of the most sensible i have ever owned . exactly how you described it .hopefully the blackout is as good .all the best gordon .
Great vid Nathan
Good video Nathan. I think the rub is that they were so unreliable. The last thing you need in a travel bike. People paid good money for them and were let down. I think if you like tinkering and do all the mods and join a user group you can get some good use from the bike. If someone said pick a bike to ride from London North Africa and back then I doubt anyone would jump at the ccm. However these days for bumbling around on in the UK, going to adventure festivals and trips to Wales etc it's a good choice.
Thanks for the Video!, Was admiring a couple of these at ABR this year, Don't think I would exchange my crf250 rally now that I am used to it and have had adventures on it BUT if I didn't have a small adventure bike I would be tempted by one of these!
Wish they sold it over here. That's a perfect platform for me. Something I can carry on a hitch hauler when I want to get there on 4 wheels and explore on 2.
Very good vid.
Slightly curious re the swingarm-pivot-sprocket-drive rationalisation. I thought the whole point was to make it less dependent on what, or indeed any, slack you have in your chain: the swingarm can go up and down without varying the distance between the two sprockets, unlike with non-concentric centres....
Anyway, thanks for the vid - really nice.
The chain can have less slack with this design whearas if the front sprocket has more distance ahead of the swinging arm, plus the longer suspension requires far more length in the chain to accomodate the suspension travel required of off road bikes.
Then there is the issue of a chain running over the swinging arm itself, the Yamaha T7 is a classic example of using an existing road bike engine where the output drive shaft is not that close to the swinging arm, and of course suspension travel is greater on the T7 than the MT07 that the engine was 'borrowed' from. As a result, the T7 had a chunk of some 'plastic' fitted to stop the chain eating the swinging arm and some sort of a roller, bushed I believe from a friends bike, it gets noisy also.
Another manufacturer had a novel method of controlling all this extra length of chain required, again, it was not adopted by other manufacturers (that I know of), check out ATK from the USA, their design had two extra pinion type sprockets.
It also had the rear disc brake on the same plane as the front drive sprocket !
@@oyleyhands1332
Yes, very good - thanks. That's what I was thinking about concentric set-up and why I was a bit curious about Nathan seeming to imply that you had to be careful with the slack on the CCM (which I think he is saying has such a concentric sprocket/swingarm pivot) - whereas almost the whole point of them seems to be the opposite of that: ie that whatever the slack is it remains the same no matter the movement of the swingarm and that's why you could choose to have almost no slack at all, without risk of the chain snapping or ruining the drive bearing by suddenly going horribly tight when landing from your double jump.
(And I note about the T7 etc taking a very different approach - nice insights.)
Wish we had a light adventure 450 in the states that didn't have a 1500 mile maintenance interval. It would be my next bike.
I have one from 2016 nr.25x.. make the simple braking mod to avoid spilling out fuel if all is fuelled up.. the rear tank puts the fuel at full filled up tanks in front than its spread over you in you visir at hard breaking.. easy to fix
Sounds like a great bike... Maybe the the next step up from my KTM 390 ADV? Only just started out on Green lanes (on the bike) & need to travel an hour or so to get there. Great vid Nathan.
there´s a power plug for this engine which delivers 52 HP approx (at least in the bmw gs450).
I think if they released it in 2021 it would have been massively hyped as the saviour of small adventure bikes and sold twice as many
Nathan, you might remember I had great plans for the GP450 which unfortunately didn't come off. My perspective of it was that it was ideal for TET travels/holidays. It's a shame CCM stopped making them (due to Euro emissions). They now manufacture the Spitfire in low numbers so they are exempt from higher volume production regulations (I think). They had advanced plans for a 650 version which they seem to have canned.
The fix stops also losing fuel by front tank if the falls over
I really think a 450 is the perfect compromise between on road performance and off road ability. I suppose the closes bike to that ccm now is the ktm690 enduro.
Yeah that and the ajp pr7 but I need to be a better rider to make the most of them in the dirt. Shane there's not much else bar the crf300
@@nathanthepostman I have the 250l and love it but I’m sure there will come a time when I want something a little bigger, dare I say better but there is nothing out there unless I go for a full on enduro bike? I really love having a bike I can ride on the road and do trails but I don’t feel the manufacturer’s are making a bike that suits my needs.
Found your ‘happy machine’? Nice one Nathan. Les
Good things come in little packages😉
Got to agree. Less is more.
I really, really hope we get more small to mid size engined bikes. And when I say mid sized I don't mean bloody 850s and 900s!
Nice little review, mate. What sort of mpg do you reckon it'd average on the road? Have you had it loaded up yet as if you were off on a long trip, ie with pannier bags etc. Just wondering about its luggage hauling possibilities. Cheers
I believe the MPG was in the mid 50's
@@jamesvalpuesta7495 thanks James, you're right, I googled it. And with that Google query I answered my the second part to my question. CCM did their own racks and pannier bags to. I like this bike but fifty and mid fifty mpg isn't good enough for me. I've got too used to 75+mpg from my CB500X.
such a shame as you say they were slated mostly by folks who never owned one ...i doubt ccm will make a gp mk 11 ..id be riding one now ..its not easy to work on at times mostly with the tri tank system ..in places its a work of art and some componants and wireing were sub standard ...but as a concept 20litres feul 125 kgms full fairing chassis and suspension right up there it was impressive in places ..it would have been nice to have a progressive development ..i never regretted any of my 6 years time with the ccm ...its a glimpse of what could have been ..i personally liked what they did for the most part ... lived with the bad bits or sorted em myself .... but i think they got their fingers burned to hard to go again and i for one regret that they didnt .......keep well
Proper review Nathan 👍👍
Hi. Where abouts are you riding? Looks good.
Its interesting how some of the chinese manufacturers use social media for an extended time to get potential customer feedback before bringing out a bike, like that Sinnis 380. Dont know if the bike itself was any good, but supposedly has what people were asking for.
The sinnis 380 is unfortunately a bit of a lemon but I think the Chinese will nail it next time round. The Voge ds 500 is good - I rode it a few weeks back. And there's some interesting stuff starting to appear at reasonable prices, like the new Moto Moroni xscape
@@nathanthepostman I saw an Australian review on a Voge 300 last week, seemed the guys were quite impressed. That Morini looks well flash. I saw the pre production images of the Himalayan, and that bike just ticks the boxes for simplicity for me and still does. Just biding my time while more and more tuning parts become availiable. The Honda 300 is a lotta dosh.
Good to get an update. Need some stability in the camera, I feel a bit dizzy now. Good commentary though 👍
Are you going to take a Tenere 700 on the lanes?
CCM has a problem getting emission compliant engines. The Rotax 650 would have been good for continued production after BMW. The Chinese and Indians will continue production. I like that GP frame and light motor.
Some bikes are just ahead of there time i remember when they first came out like the ajp 7 they are a tad expensive .....but horses for courses.....himalayan ticks a lot of inexpensive boxes...atb
Awesome review bud cheers 👍🏻
Gp 450 a great bike shame they didn’t take off.
Quite a rare bike now,how will you go on for spares?
thats a bit different ,, brave move ;. but much better than those huge things that are far too big for off road .
Honda XRE300 looks interesting. More similar to the 310GS and this GP than the CRF.
I really wish Beta would do an adv version of their 390, bung a large tank on it and increase the oil capacity and make 6th gear a bit taller for better road use.
Similar to the SWM 650 dual sport, a small adventure travel bike, did like it, maybe better than the CB 500x
Triumph tiger rally 660?
I like the look of this CCM. Ahead of its time, rather like my XB12X.
Loved it when it came out and had the fuelling been sorted I certainly would have had one.
Small is where it’s at: just rode 2400 miles to Andorra to ride the smugglers trail on my Innova 125. The perfect adventure bike!
ruclips.net/video/yupQkwkrD9s/видео.html
My bike got stolen last Saturday from outside ASDA greater Manchester. It was a 125cc Chinese Diablo Prince. Put details and photographs on facebook, got names of people seen riding it.
Told police, result? NOTHING.
A lot of truth there Nathan.
....and people talk about the "new" KLR as though it is special....
!f BMW still made 450x l think it would do well