I'd like to share my Brodie story with you.

I know nothing about bikes. Hence, it was somewhat surprising to both me and my friends when I decided to start cycling to work back in ?98. I? had a car accident and could no longer run so I figured cycling would be the ?next best thing?. I lived in Kits and cycled to Burnaby. After a year on a shitty, second hand bike I convinced my environmentally minded employer to pitch in on buying me a new bike if I committed to not driving to work, rain or shine. A friend told me about Brodie and so I meandered over to your shop on 10th avenue in Vancouver. The folks there were friendly and knowledgeable, as you know, and passionate about Brodie. I was hooked. After looking half-heartedly at a few other bike stores I bought myself a Brodie Torque
a beauty and on sale to boot! It was about this time that I was starting to think that maybe a little bike trip would be in order. So when I bought my bike I told the salesrep that maybe, just maybe, I would do a bike trip somewhere. I spent the next year testing myself ? a few bike trips on the islands and treks up the north shore mountains every weekend. I was addicted. Cycling was no longer the next best thing to running, cycling was IT!

In September 2000 I quit my job and on March 6, 2001 I took off to Chile with Brodie in tow. I spent a month and a half in Chile leisurely cycling 2000 km up the coast mountains. It was a trip of a lifetime and I was sad to send Brodie home when I decided to continue the trip on foot through Bolivia (cycling alone in Bolivia was proving too dangerous). I traveled on dirt roads and side highways littered with glass and debris. I flew off my bike into ditches a few times and used it in tug of wars with would-be thieves but nothing went wrong with that bike. Thanks to the advice of your tecks (particularly the recommendation to use Conti's with Kevlar lining and getting my wheels hand trued in advance) I did not have a single flat tire, brake problem, wobbly wheels...nothing.

It?s been a few years since the trip. I moved to Ottawa two months ago and of course brought Brodie along. Two weeks ago, it was stolen from a ?secure? storage room and I was devastated. I clocked thousands of kms on that bike, it had been with me on some of the most memorable times in my life. I wrote a note telling the thieves what they had taken from me and, to my absolute amazement, two days later as I headed out the door to work there it was: my bike, leaning up in the entry way to my building.

In stealing it, the thieves used a car jack and sledgehammer to wrangle the U-lock off. The gears got trashed, the wheel slightly bent and the frame dented but true to form Brodie survived. In fact, that evening, I rode it through my local park with only one gear working, clunking along.

Brodie is going to the shop this morning for some much needed TLC. I have every confidence that aside from some nasty dents it?ll be good as new because you guys build bikes to last. So, here is a long over due thank you for making such an awesome product!

Cheers from a die-hard Brodie fan,

Marion