Seeing there is a lot of interest (and appreciation) on retrobike for Brodies the man himself kindly emailed over the story of how his own personal Brodie Rodie has evolved.
The frame was built in May 1993, had a Tange Tig welded "D" fork, and was painted British Racing green. It was assembled with Shimano 600 components. With 74/74 angles it rode OK, but I didn't like it on the fast downhills; it felt like it was on the verge of instability, but I never did get the dreaded speed wobble. I shortened the forks by replacing the Tange dropouts with Campagnolo ones I had lying around, and reduced the fork rake from 45mm to 35mm. The handling improved a bit.
In 2001 (I think..) I removed the head tube and top tube, and replaced them to slacken the head angle to 73 degrees. I didn't write any of this down, so that's why I'm a little hazy here. I do know the frame and fork still had a 1" head tube at this time. They got repainted, this time slate grey metallic... a beautiful, subtle Imron color. I went for a ride, and wished I had slackened the head tube just a little more...
Ten years later, February 2011, I decided to modify it again. That's the beauty of steel; you can. I put the frame back into the jig and discovered that the head angle was actually 73.5 degrees, not 73... I probably hadn't taken the modified fork dimensions into account (in 2001). This time I cut off the head tube and the down tube. An 1 1/8" head tube was installed, along with a tapered Tange downtube slightly ovalized at the head tube. Frame jig head angle was set to 72.5 degrees. Changing the head angle one degree increased the trail from 68mm to 73mm, just so you know...
That just left the fork. It still had the old 1" steerer, so I cut it out, and fillet brazed in a larger steerer tube. Color was changed again to persimmon metallic, another wonderful color from the (sadly..) discontinued Imron.
How does it handle now? It's not a crit bike, but I still consider it to be agile and responsive. I can now let it go on the downhills with confidence. Happy!
Paul Brodie
The frame was built in May 1993, had a Tange Tig welded "D" fork, and was painted British Racing green. It was assembled with Shimano 600 components. With 74/74 angles it rode OK, but I didn't like it on the fast downhills; it felt like it was on the verge of instability, but I never did get the dreaded speed wobble. I shortened the forks by replacing the Tange dropouts with Campagnolo ones I had lying around, and reduced the fork rake from 45mm to 35mm. The handling improved a bit.
In 2001 (I think..) I removed the head tube and top tube, and replaced them to slacken the head angle to 73 degrees. I didn't write any of this down, so that's why I'm a little hazy here. I do know the frame and fork still had a 1" head tube at this time. They got repainted, this time slate grey metallic... a beautiful, subtle Imron color. I went for a ride, and wished I had slackened the head tube just a little more...
Ten years later, February 2011, I decided to modify it again. That's the beauty of steel; you can. I put the frame back into the jig and discovered that the head angle was actually 73.5 degrees, not 73... I probably hadn't taken the modified fork dimensions into account (in 2001). This time I cut off the head tube and the down tube. An 1 1/8" head tube was installed, along with a tapered Tange downtube slightly ovalized at the head tube. Frame jig head angle was set to 72.5 degrees. Changing the head angle one degree increased the trail from 68mm to 73mm, just so you know...
That just left the fork. It still had the old 1" steerer, so I cut it out, and fillet brazed in a larger steerer tube. Color was changed again to persimmon metallic, another wonderful color from the (sadly..) discontinued Imron.
How does it handle now? It's not a crit bike, but I still consider it to be agile and responsive. I can now let it go on the downhills with confidence. Happy!
Paul Brodie
