Throwback Thursday: The True Story of Brodie Bikes

Words: Brian Park, Thomas Davies, & Paul Brodie
Photos: Various, courtesy Paul Brodie
Video: Mitch Nurse

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For over forty years Paul Brodie has built a reputation as one of the original mountain bike builders in Canada – a skilled tradesperson who can manifest big ideas into reality with his hands and basic tools. Last year he decided to tell the full story of his namesake bike brand on his YouTube channel, and this week has been kind enough to provide us with a treasure trove of amazing photos and some additional notes.

While he no longer owns his namesake company, Paul has some great stories of his early years riding and fabricating bicycles, the origins of Rocky Mountain Bicycles, and his own adventures alongside the trials and tribulations of the Brodie Bicycles brand.

Paul is a quietly compelling storyteller, and I think anyone with an appreciation for framebuilding or MTB history should make some coffee, turn off their phone notifications, and watch the film above.

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After some early days riding mediocre road bikes in the early 80's, something important arrived at the Peddler bicycle shop where he was working in Vancouver: the Red Ritchey. "When the Red Ritchey showed up, for me, that changed an awful lot… I could not believe that anybody had made a bike that beautiful. I just, I couldn't take my eyes off it."

Not being able to afford the Ritchey himself, he went out back to the Peddler on his lunch break and did some dumpster diving. "I found a Sekine road bike, a 25-inch road bike that was way too big for me. Well, I guess I could have made it work, but that's not what I wanted. I wanted the tubing. I wanted the bottom bracket and things like that."



And that's how his first mountain bike frame was built – a chopped up Sekine road bike and a custom fork made of basic steel.

Paul ended up having to paint bicycles for Rocky Mountain, which rented space from the Peddler, and then returned the favour by convincing them into letting him build frames. They gave him 10 tubesets and he got to work. When the first was finally finished, he showed it to Rocky Mountain founder Grayson Bain.



Along the way he was a key proponent of the sloping top tube on mountain bikes. The design of which he sold to Rocky Mountain for a set of Tange tubing.

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The hour-long video continues with many more reflections, as Paul eventually leaves Rocky Mountain and sets up his own operation in the basement of the East Vancouver house he was living in using fixtures and tools he still uses to this day. Along the way the company peaked at 12 employees and made over 4200 frames in Canada, as well as innovating many new mountain bike frame, fork, and component designs – and lots of wild paint jobs.

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After eventually selling the bicycle company to their longtime distributor in 2001, Paul was inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 2005. He then turned his attention to motorcycles, most notably his Excelsior project in which he designed and build a series of replicas of a "lost" 1919 motorcycle that (legend has it) was originally destroyed after a racer was killed during testing. He also taught his own Framebuilding 101 course until 2020.

Last year Paul endured months of hospitalization and chemotherapy after a cancer diagnosis. He now is back in his shop and creating his YouTube videos on everything from custom bicycles to motorcycles and bass guitars.






On a personal note, I believe his impact on Canadian framebuilding can't be overstated and am glad to see that people are recognizing the accomplishments of a true local legend. I’ve been helping Paul and Firstlight Frames, a former student of his, to pull together a show of his iconic work for everyone to appreciate.

If you’re interested, Paul will be displaying 16 unique show bikes and telling stories at Paul Brodie's Bicycle Show on June 15th and 16th in Vancouver. Pre-sale tickets are $20 and include a show booklet with more historical photos and stories. He'll be bringing one of his Excelsior motorcycles as well.