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Brodie Bicycles

Paul D. Brodie started Brodie Research and Technology Inc (BRAT) in 1986 in Vancouver, BC, Canada producing finely crafted fillet brazed frames for over thirty years. Paul got his start brazing frames at Rocky Mountain, which shared space with the Peddler Bike Shop, where he was working. Many of the 113 frames Paul made for Rocky Mountain starting in 1984 were shipped with “Designed By Brodie decals.” The first large Brodie decal appeared as early as 1985, despite being made at Rocky Mountain, so the timeline will start there.

Paul got his inspiration from a Ritchey MTB which showed up at the Peddlar, where Paul was busy assembling Apollo ten speeds.

In the Summer of 1983 … a Red Ritchey Team Comp with matching Red Bullmoose Bars showed up and totally blew me away. I had never seen anything like it, and couldn’t believe anyone could make a bike that beautiful. I had little money, so I decided to make my own… \ That same afternoon I went to the dumpster behind Bikes on Broadway, and pulled out a 25″ Sekine road bike frame. I cut off the rear end, and lowered the top tube to give it a slope. I started gathering parts, and building wheels. It was exciting! \ The finished product. Looks like a mountain bike, but is not. The head tube angle is too steep, and the bottom bracket is way too low. Even with 165mm cranks I had to be very careful when pedaling in corners. Paul Brodie nsmb

1983 Sekine/Brodie prototype nsmb. 165mm cranks dragging on the ground, with a lot of toe overlap.

Brodie bikes got its first break in 1986 when Brent Martin, one of Brodie's early customers, became Canadian MTB Champion in 1986.

Brodie starting making bare frames, built up with customer's custom component choices, then their own components including Brodie Boosters and Gatorblades, which sold well beyond Brodie bicycles. Starting 1996 Brodie sold a selection of complete bikes with mid and upper level components. Brodie peaked at twelve employees in 1989, peaking at 500 frames per year, with a total of 4,269 frames created. Brodie sponsored a successful race team and went to four trade shows per year.

Paul was inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 2005. Paul's autobiography, “Paul Brodie, The Man Behind Brodie Bikes”, available at amazon. More recently, he has been teaching Frame Building 101 at the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, BC.

Model names:

climbMax - Jul 1986
romax - Aug 1986
catalyst - Aug 1989
sovereign - Jun 1990
light beam - Dec 1991
rodie - Jun 1992
eXpresso - Jun 1993
libido - Aug 1995

Starting in 1996, Brodie introduced a set of complete bikes. The lineup included nine new models: nucleus, rocket, evolution, kinetic, infinity, dynamo, torque, energy & quantum.

Serial numbers:

001+ Mar 1984 → May 1986, Rocky Mountain
114 May 1986, first non-Rocky Mountain frame
380 Oct 1988, switched from Tange MTB → Tange Prestige
428 Aug 1988, switched to TIG welding
509 Nov 1988, switched to u-brakes
1038 Mar 1990, mostly returned to cantilevers
1393 Apr 1991, switch to 1 1/8“ head tubes
2578 Aug 1993, added anti-chainsuck plates
2712 Aug 1993, head tube angle 70.5' → 71.2'
2722 Aug 1993, CNC dropouts
3090 Mar 1994, dropouts TIG welded to stays
4263 Feb 2013, eBee e-bike introduced
4265 Feb 2015, NAHBS Best City Bike award

For most of my life, I’ve always known I could make more money by just working as a welder, machinist, or whatever. But what fun would that be? I’ve always followed my bliss and done my own thing. It was never about the money, but, at the same time, it was always about the money. Paul Brodie, The Man Behind Brodie Bikes, https://www.amazon.com/Paul-Brodie-Man-behind-Bikes/dp/0995065802, as quoted in Paul Brodie PDF.

Resources:

Paul Brodie, 2021, NSMB

1984 Rocky Mountain, October 1984. Frame #24.
Fillet brazed frame & bullmoose bars, sloping biplane forks by Paul Brodie. See also: retrobike. retrobike

1985

Fully Brodie badged Rocky Mountain Brodie. SunTour u-brakes rear with internal cable routing prohibiting the seat post from descending past the internal brake cable. From “The True Story of Brodie Bikes: youtube by Paul Brodie. Rocky Mountain decal on the head tube.

1985 youtube

1986 climbMax

Frame #135. Sloping top tube. Fillet brazed frame & fork. U-brakes rear. Many components swapped. Repainted.

1986 climbMax retrobike

1987 romax

Frame #257. Sloping top tube. Fillet brazed frame & fork. U-brakes rear. Internal shift cable routing. Fully restored.

1987 romax retrobike

1988 romax

Frame #278. Sloping top tube. Fillet brazed frame & fork. U-brakes rear. Internal shift cable routing. Tange MTB decals. Original colors but otherwise full restored. See also: retrobike

1988 romax retrobike

1989 romax

Frame #585. Fillet brazed frame, Nitto brazed stem, and very early Gatorblade forks ¹⁾. Brodie brake boosters. All else non-original. Tange Prestige tubing.

1989 romax facebook

1990 catalyst

1990 catalyst Frame #585. Fillet brazed frame, Nitto brazed stem, and very early Gatorblade forks ²⁾. Brodie brake boosters. All else non-original. Tange Prestige tubing. See also: facebook.

1990 catalyst facebook

1991 climbMax

A rare mostly original example. TIG welded, sloping top tube, rear u-brake with brake booster, straight Gatorblades front. SunTour XC Pro GX rear derailleur (1989-92). SunTour brakes & pedals.

1991 climbMax retrobike

1992 sovereign

Original? TIG welded, u-brakes with Brodie Booster. Brodie Mix of Shimano Deore XT M732 & M735 derailleurs (1989 → 1992.)

1992 sovereign mtb-news.de

1993 eXpresso

Too pretty to ride: blinged out with mid 90's Paul Component Rasta ultimate CNC artwork. TIG welded frame and bolted fork.

1993 eXpresso retrobike

1994 sovereign

Shimano XTR M900-SGS (1992-93), RaceFace crankset, TIG welded frame. Gator forks? Cantilevers front and rear with Brodie brake booster.

1994 sovereign facebook

¹⁾ , ²⁾

The first 25 Gatorblades had curved and tapered legs. Later forks would be straight.

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