Want to be able to build a frame like Paul Brodie? Follow this handout Paul has devised for his framebuilding 101 course and it’ll give you a start. Better still of course attend one of his courses

The PROCESS:

1. design frame
2. full scale drawing
3. select tubing
4. mark DT for butting (more…)

Following on from his previous articles Paul Brodie kindly sent us a some pictures of the finished 1888 Whippet as shown at NAHBS 2012. To make the work more worthwhile Paul took the People’s Choice award at NAHBS 2012 for his whippet build – congrats Click more for full set of pics (more…)

Following on from his previous articles Paul Brodie kindly sent us a further article detailing the rebuild of the 1888 Whippet at Flashback Fabrications. Enjoy

I have quite a few photos of the Whippet sitting in the Ottawa Museum of Science and Technology. It’s under plastic, sitting up in a mezzanine, and not on display. I do not, however, have one photo that shows an entire crank arm. So, here is the lower section, held to the BB axle with a tapered cotter pin >
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Following on from his previous articles Paul Brodie kindly sent us a further article detailing the rebuild of the 1888 Whippet at Flashback Fabrications. Enjoy

The Whippet bottom bracket is not so simple. It holds the lower spring mount, and also incorporates the swing arm pivot. On the far right is the “spoon” brake, used against the rear tire. The Whippet has no front brake. Good Luck if you’re going downhill in the rain… (more…)

Following on from his previous articles Paul Brodie kindly sent us a further article detailing the rebuild of the 1888 Whippet at Flashback Fabrications. Enjoy

The Whippet rear hub was made of bronze on this original bike, and also had radial spoking, which I did not expect at all >
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Following on from his previous article on the Whippet seatpost Paul Brodie kindly sent us a further article detailing the rebuild of the 1888 Whippet at Flashback Fabrications. Enjoy

The Whippet Chainring was my next project. This is a 17 tooth chainring, but I made mine 18 teeth because it was so much easier to hold in a 3 jaw chuck. The chain is a 3/8″ block chain. It was hard to find; I finally located one in England. Notice the 2 “stops” on either side of the crank arm.. (more…)

Following on from his previous articles Paul Brodie kindly sent us a further article detailing the rebuild of the 1888 Whippet at Flashback Fabrications. Enjoy

I didn’t have a lot to go on for the Whippet seat post. The Whippet drawing shows a straight seat post, so why does this one have a kink? If the factory wanted a bend, it would have been a smooth bend. I chose to ignore the kink, but I did like the shape of the top clamp > (more…)

Following on from his previous articles Paul Brodie kindly sent us a further article detailing the rebuild of the 1888 Whippet at Flashback Fabrications. Enjoy

Building the seat collar was a fun job. Pretty simple, and only one days work. (more…)

Following on from his previous articles Paul Brodie kindly sent us a further article detailing the rebuild of the 1888 Whippet at Flashback Fabrications. Enjoy

Hi. Paul Brodie here. NAHBS is coming up FAST, and I still have a LOT to do on the Whippet! I have never made so many parts for just one bike. In this tour of my shop, I’ll show you how the brake lever was created by copying the original in the photo below. In all, it took about 2 days > (more…)

Following on from his previous article Paul Brodie kindly sent us a second article further detailing the rebuild of the 1888 Whippet at Flashback Fabrications. Enjoy

Hi. Paul Brodie here. This is the 2nd installment in a series detailing how the 1888 Whippet came together. This bike will be shown at NAHBS March 2-4, 2012. It falls a bit outside of “regular framebuilding” because so many of the components have to be created from basically nothing. (more…)

Paul Brodie kindly sent us this article regarding one of his current projects at Flashback Fabrications. Enjoy

Who is Paul Brodie, and what does he do in his shop? This is a good question. On Velocipede Salon I read recently that I’m a “framebuilder who made some pretty good frames in the 80′s and early 90′s.” Not much has been heard from me (bicycle wise..) for about a decade, so maybe I’m a “has-been”, a washout…

Here’s the truth: back in those days I had a dozen employees at the high point, and I was frantically running around trying to manage (in no particular order..) employees, payroll, lawsuits, lawyers, magazines, ads, distributors, WCB, PST, GST, fire code regulations, landlords, shop leases, accountants, book-keepers, new products, trade shows, race team, frame production, R&D, brochures, Test of Metal race, warranties, marketing, customers, sales reps, tubing orders, and more. I wore too many hats, and don’t think I did any of the above particularly well. I spent little time on the shop floor actually “making things”… (more…)