1986 Rocky Mountain Team Thunderbolt

[Woodsie]

I have been meaning to post some pictures of this build for sometime. So here it is finally. The story starts a long time ago in a land far away (from the UK). More specifically, it was 2019 BC (before Covid) and in BC (British Columbia, Canada). I was idly cruising the local sale sites and noticed an ad for an Antique Rocky Mountain Thunderbolt, Antique no less! I contacted the seller who sent me more photos and answered my questions on size and history of the bike. He said as far as he knew it was all original apart from the bar and stem. The bike was originally purchased in 1986 by his dad and he rode it to school and back as a kid. More recently his Grandad was using it. He told me the serial number under the BB looked like 109…..View attachment 911575View attachment 911575

 

[Woodsie]

Apologies for posting that pic twice. I couldn’t seem to delete one without the other for some reason.
Here are some more photos from the seller.

 

[Woodsie]

Happy with the photos and the (to me) clear authenticity of the bike I decided to bid farewell to my wife and head out on the 10 hour round trip North, to the home of free ride itself, Kamloops BC.
It was lovely day for a drive after all.

 

[Woodsie]

The meeting was met, the deal was done, the bike was in the car and I headed back home to Whistler. I was so giddy at seeing the 109 serial number I was driving along in a haze and completely missed my turn off out of Kamloops and instead of the shorter route through Cache Creek I ended up heading South on the 5 and had an inadvertent trip through Merritt instead. I did stop briefly in Lillooet when a photo opportunity presented itself. It was also a winery and I thought a quick toast was in order.

 

[Woodsie]

Once the bike was home I poured over all the details and concluded it was indeed serial number 109 and therefore very likely a Paul Brodie built Team Thunderbolt. After a donation to his coffee funds, Paul later confirmed to me the following, “109 is a 19” Thunderbolt made at a Rocky. I did a run of 10, numbers 103-112. Then I did 113 and quit to start Brodie Bikes. Your bike was made May 9th, 86” .

 

[Woodsie]

A strip down and rebuild was in order so I consulted the original specs from the 1986 Rocky Mountain catalogue. I also found a fantastic review of the Thunderbolt in MBA April 1987, complete with photos which helped immensely with the plan. I’d never seen a slope top tube Rocky/brodie/Thunderbolt with a Bullmoose bar before and despite the catalogue, saying a Bullmoose was the spec, I was dubious that actually happened until I saw the photo evidence.