Round Up: 30+ Fabrication Tutorials from Frame Building Legend Paul Brodie
Paul Brodie has forgotten more than many of us will ever learn about bicycles.
The MTB Hall of Famer made his first bike when he was 12, a mini bike that he designed and built with some help from his father. Many years later, he fell in love with a Ritchey Team Comp and decided to create his own version using tubes from a frame he found in a dumpster.
That early frame helped him become Rocky Mountain's first mountain bike frame builder, and after two years with Rocky, he split off on his own to start Brodie Bicycles. He is credited with creating the sloping top tube design that is now standard on mountain bikes, and he has won two NAHBS awards for a 1988 Whippet replica in 2012 and a city bike in 2015.
Brodie now teaches Framebuilding 101 at the University of the Fraser Valley in British Columbia, Canada. When COVID shut down his in-person classes, he needed a pandemic project. While many people in quarantine started baking bread, raising puppies, or — according to my social media feeds — having children, Paul Brodie started a YouTube channel where he posts video tutorials on frame building and other fabrication projects.
It's not all bikes, either. Here's an extra.
More available on Paul Brodie's YouTube channel.
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Member since Jun 19, 2015
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Off Road Toad was another BC steel boutique bike brand that I admired.
All those bikes were strong, light, and gorgeous. There was a certain amount of prestige that owning and riding one had. I mean, it was cool to have a high end Kona, Norco, or Rocky Mountain back then too, but Brodies, Dekerfs and Toads were pretty special.
One of the best moments is when I was ready to add my rear disc mount so I ask Paul "what do we do for disc brake mounts" and he hands me a 5" square of steel, a hack saw and a file.
Honestly it was so rewarding - anyone interested should absolutely take his course.
You can't go wrong with a decent Miller (although the ultra low end diversion lacks AC balance and pulse, so might be a bit limited if you ever want to try aluminum, even though it has AC).
I ended up buying an Everlast, which is a rebadged chinese machine, but it's been great, and reliability is probably fine for the amount that I use it. No problems so far.
Now, all that said, you're still gonna want acetylene+oxygen bottles if you want to do braze-ons. You might be able to get away with MAPP though, or even oxy-propane, which don't have the same risks as acetylene. I keep my bottles chained to an upright in my garage so that they won't fall over, even if we have an earthquake.
Thanks Paul fantastic to watch your builds, still have an 853 Norco I added a rear disc to its now a pump track/city bike, and its going to out last me.