Mariposa Bicycles: A Brief History

It began one Saturday in 1968. On a training ride north of Toronto Mike Barry and John Palmer met and, as they spoke, it became apparent that they had much in common. Both had grown up just South of London, England, both had spent their conscription years in the Royal Air Force as radio fitters. And both, above all, were interested in bikes and cycling. That interest had led both of them to race the same road races over the hills of Southern England. But until that Saturday they had never, to their knowledge, met. It wasn't long before the pair became good friends, spending much of their spare time riding together and discussing their mutual passion.

John had grown up learning the trade from the inside, his father owned a bike shop in Kent. While Mike's youth had been spent either riding or hanging around bike shops. But they weren't just admirers and riders of bicycles. They both had a great desire to build bike frames. John, in fact, had even gone as far as buying a set of Reynolds 531 tubing and stuffing it under his bed.

The Gold Mine

Up until the late '50s, a small department at the CCM factory in Weston produced hand made racing bikes. For decades CCM Flyers were used by all the best Canadian racers, but as the ‘60s approach demand had dropped to a level where even this small department was a money loser. All the inventory of Reynolds tubing, Nervex lugs and piles of small braze-on bits were sold off. The buyer was another recent immigrant with the idea that of building his own lightweight racing frames, the owner of Sam's Sport Shop on Mount Pleasant Road in Toronto. But even for Sam, it remained mostly an idea and the frame parts sat untouched years. Then one day Sam decided to lay a concrete base for a new garage. With the fine Reynolds tubes on hand and his ambition to build frames evaporated, Sam did the obvious: the lightweight tubesets became perhaps the fanciest steel reinforcing bars ever used in a Canadian construction project. Fortunately the relatively small project and didn't consume all the tubing.

Mike and John heard rumours that this gold mine of top quality frame parts was at Sam's and they set off to pay him a visit. After some haggling, a price of $100 cash was agreed upon and the load of dusty boxes filled with greasy parts were loaded into Mike's car and taken to his home-at that time, a bachelor apartment in Forest Hill. Mike's neighbours were somewhat aghast as the musty load was piled into the elevator and dragged down the hall to the apartment. But what a wonderful purchase it was. Mike and John wouldn't have been happier had the boxes been filled with jewels. They spent hours pawing over and exclaiming the virtues of the Nervex lugs, Ekla fork crowns and Agrati drop-outs.

The First Shop

They had the materials. Now they needed a place to build the frames. Mike and John both lived in high rise apartments, hardly suitable for welding tanks and brazing materials. However, friend and fellow bike racer Alan Bentley had just bought a house and desperately needed tenants to help pay the mortgage. Within a very short time, the basement of 410 Davisville had been transformed into a somewhat rudimentary frame building shop.

This was at the end of 1969 when the indoor velodrome in Delhi was experiencing a revival. There were plenty of enthusiastic bike riders wishing to try their luck on the 55 degree bankings of the 110 metre track. But there was a shortage of suitable track bikes. Mike and John decided to fill the need. They told a good story, apparently, as the first couple of frames were sold before anything was built.

A name was needed for these new machines. After many hours of discussion the name Mariposa emerged. To Mike and John it combined a European feel with strong Ontario connections. Mariposa is the Spanish word for butterfly and it is the name with which the Canadian humorist Steven Leacock disguised his home town of Orillia in several of his books. Ontario also boasts a Mariposa County. (Initially the name was Mariposa Sport but the suffix was quickly dropped.)

	The first Mariposa

The Line Begins

January 1970 marked the completion of the first frame and its two creators were riding it around in the snow. Not ideal test conditions for a bike designed for the board tracks. But they just couldn't resist the temptation to try it out. The bike rode well but the finishing of the lugs wasn't as good as Mike and John wanted. So it was decided not to sell the first frame and make a better job of the second. Before long there were a number of Mariposas thundering around the boards of Delhi.

They had a name and now they had bikes. What was still needed was a design for decals. That task fell to Mike, who is not known for his graphic arts talent. Nevertheless, drawings emerged and were sent to a decal manufacturer in Britain. Unfortunately, the decal maker didn't correct any of Mike's design flaws giving Mike and John enough poorly designed decals to last for many years. While the design was inadequate, the decals themselves were even worse. Many, many frustrating hours over the next couple of decades were wasted attempting to get them to lay flat and stick to the frames properly. It was always felt that the decals should be 'transfers' that were under the clear coat on the frames. Suggestions that easy to use surface stickers should be used was shunned as being somewhat 'cheap and nasty'. (Transfers from many makers have been tried over the years but none of them really worked until the present ones were purchased from Taiwan in 1998.)

During the first couple of years, the production of Mariposa bicycles had been a spare time occupation of both Mike and John. Evenings and weekends were spent down in the basement filing away at lugs and breathing noxious fumes. Not a good place for blossoming romances, you would think, but Mike and John's future wives both spent many hours down in the basement encouraging the two in their efforts.

Bicyclesport Opens

Soon after the first Mariposa frames appeared, another English racing cyclist turned up in Toronto. Mike Brown had had a successful amateur racing career that included riding with the British National Team. Mike and John knew him from their racing days in the UK. Soon Mike Brown was another frequent visitor to the basement and a good friend.

At the end of 1971 Mike took the big leap. He quit his job to get into the bike business full time. John didn't want to take that plunge and so Mike Barry and Mike Brown each put down $5,000 and opened a shop in downtown Toronto at 175 King Street East. Neither partner had any business experience. But their enthusiasm and the booming demand for "ten speeds" made up for their lack of business acumen. Success came quickly to Bicyclesport.

Touring frames take over

Mariposa production was limited to the winter season when time could be taken away from the retail store. Demolition of the Delhi Velodrome had destroyed the demand for track bikes. But touring frames proved to be a strong market. While there was a good selection of imported racing bikes available in Toronto at the time, top quality touring bikes were scarce.

For many years Mike Barry had been a fan of the great French touring bike makers Réné Herse and Alex Singer. He particular liked the way they integrated carriers and fenders, making them an integral part of their bikes' designs. He soon began building similar bikes with carriers made from light steel tubing. Remote control generators and lights mounted onto alloy fenders with hidden wiring were also features that made the Mariposas something special. A quick release handlebar bag support was also developed.

Annual visits to the big European trade shows in Paris and Milan kept the two Mikes up to date with what other custom builders were doing. It was generally felt that the quality of the Mariposa was as good as any other bike in all respects but two: the paint and chrome.

Fulltime production

The move by Bicyclesport in 1980 next door to larger premises at 179 King St. E. meant the end of Mariposa production as a winter-only operation. The new building had space for a dedicated frame shop, paint booth and a sand blaster. Coincidentally, the CCM plant closed at this time. The massive, cast iron tracking tables on which the CCM Flyers had been built were purchased and, with some effort, installed in the new shop. From France, a new jig arrived and a lathe allowed faster, more accurate mitreing of the tubes.

The New Builders

Until then, the two Mikes had done all the frame building. But with the new facility it was decided to train two Bicyclesport mechanics to become Mariposa's builders. Kerry Mews and Dave Phillips set up the new workshop and before long were producing fine frames. A racing team was set up in conjunction with the Queen City Bicycle Club and the green and yellow clad Bicyclesport-Mariposa riders were soon to be seen at the top of the finishing list in many races across the country. Their Mariposas were equipped with Campagnolo Super Record groups, Weinmann rims, Cinelli bars and stems and Selle Royal saddles.

Dave expanded the line with its first tandem frame. That move was made possible thanks to a special, giant jig Mike Brown made to keep all the tubes in line. Over the next few years, 38 tandems were to be built by Dave and Kerry.

In an attempt to attract more American buyers, a booth was rented at the New York Bicycle Show. Cycling journalist and enthusiast Bob Zeller traveled around many of the bike shops in the Northern United States attempting to drum up Mariposa sales. Neither sales effort, however, was very fruitful. A great deal of interest was generated by a review of a Mariposa that appeared in Bicycling magazine. This review brought dozens of letters from all over North America but only a handful translated into sales. That was probably just as well. Demand for the bikes had risen until Kerry and Dave had about a six-month waiting list. They obviously needed someone else to help out. Tony Beek was taken on to do the painting. He had no previous experience but plenty of natural talent. After initial help from Kerry and Dave he was soon producing finishes as good as the best to be found anywhere.

In 1984 graphic artist John Walker ordered a Mariposa on the condition that he be allowed to redesign the decals. Everyone agreed that his new design was a great improvement on the previous and John's designs are still used today.

The End Of Bicyclesport

At the end of 1985, after 15 years in Canada, Mike Brown and his wife, Jackie, returned to England. Mike's mechanical expertise and Jackie's office talents were to be sorely missed.

Soon after the Browns left, Mike Barry had a near fatal bike accident. It kept him away from the business for some months during this very crucial period. He had a great deal of help from many friends but he subsequently found it quite a struggle to manage Bicyclesport and Mariposa. The business wasn't doing well financially and at the end of 1988 it was decided to close down. All the assets of Bicyclesport were sold but Mike managed to retain the Mariposa tooling, jigs and painting equipment.

Back To The Basement

Early in 1989, Mike founded Bicycle Specialties. His dream was to have a much smaller operation where he would build Mariposas and sell just specialized bicycle components. Very inexpensive rental space was found in a back alley off Front Street. The Mariposa frame building equipment went back to its roots: the basement. Mike had a great deal of help during the closing of Bicyclesport and the establishment of Bicycle Specialties from his good friend David Harris.

Tom Hinton joined Mike at this time. Initially Tom worked as a mechanic but he soon showed a keen interest in building frames. It was obvious to Mike that Tom had the talent and after a period of training, he produced his first Mariposa.

In 1995 the Saturn Canada Team was established and Bicycle Specialties supplied the team with Mariposa bikes. It was unquestionably the strongest racing team in Canada, sending two of its members to the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. The team's white and red frames were equipped with Sachs Groups, Mavic rims and Hutchinson tires.

A Return to Mariposa's Roots

The retail business was moved from the Front Street alley to a more conventional storefront on Millwood Road in 1995. The frame shop remained in the basement on Front Street until 1999 when it was moved to space near the shop in Leaside's industrial area. The paint booth, which it had not been possible to use downtown, was reassembled and put into operation.

Tom and Mike have worked together now for ten years. Production of Mariposas has remained primarily a winter occupation with Tom doing most of the frame building. Mike has been involved in designing and building bikes for children with disabilities which he finds very satisfying.

Well known Toronto bicycle fanatic Krys Hines joined the company in 1998 and for a couple of years helped build some of the Mariposa frames.

At the end of 2001, after spending thirty years in the retail bike business Mike decided that he would concentrate on his passion for Mariposa bicycles. The Millwood Road store closed and Bicycle Specialties moved to an industrial complex at 45 Cranfield Road. All the frame building and painting equipment was installed and a small retail area was established. With its high ceiling, the new premises proved to be an ideal place to hang and display Mike's collection of vintage bikes.

Restoration of vintage bikes has now become a major part of the business.

Tom and Mike have now been working together since 1990 and between them complete every aspect of the production of Mariposa bikes except the chrome plating, which is sub-contracted. Tom does most of the frame building and painting. Mike concentrates on building the racks and running the business. As from the beginning, a few good friends also help out on occasion.

Mariposa frame builders

Every Mariposa frame has been built by one of the following:

Mike Barry	1970-
John Palmer	1970-1972
Mike Brown	1972-1985
Tom Board	1974 (built one frame)
Kerry Mews	1980-1989
Dave Phillips	1980-1986
Tom Hinton	1990-
Krys Hines	1998-2001

 

Frame shop locations

1969-1972	410 Davisville Rd, Toronto
1972-1980	175 King St. E. Toronto
1980-1989	179 King St. E. Toronto
1990-1999	221 Front St. E. Toronto
1999-2003	42 Industrial St. Toronto
2003-	45 Cranfield Rd, Toronto