1993 Brodie Catalyst

[canuckinboston]

Finally found one of these after looking about 5 years. Its a 1993 with 7 speed XT group, Diacompe SS7 levers and 987 front canti/XT u brake combo, Brodie stem and Superlight bars and yes, a gatorblade fork. I believe its one of the last years in which Paul Brodie fillet brazed all of his frames by hand. THe hubs are XT and the front rim is still the original Campy Stheno, but it looks like the rear one was rebuilt with some no-name rim. All in all in pretty damned good condition aside from minor scratches and some mild surface rust. T

Just finished disassembling it and need to make a decision re: wet coat paint vs powdercoat vs sand it and clear coat alone vs do nothing and live with the minor surface gick. The guy who does the best wet coat here in Vancouver used to work for Brodie and apprenticed under his painter Art Taylor. However, I have been warned that although it looks great, wet coat paint ain't so durable. Dunno what I'm going to do.

Anyways, here's some before pics:

 

[fingers]

Nice!!! proper nice!!!

Oh and wet coat paint...

It looks nicer, and by the sounds of it, its gonna have the history to match

 

[CTK]

Paint looks good to me- nice colour & not too many scratches + all the original decals etc. Give it a polish- sorted!

 

[mrkawasaki]

I would make house room for that...

Mr K

 

[yo-Nate-y]

double post

 

[yo-Nate-y]

Looks great!

I'd also keep the original paint.

 

[Anthony]

If it was mine, I wouldn't dream of repainting a frame built and painted by Paul Brodie. It looks fantastic as it is. Surely if you just carefully repair and touch in any blemishes that bother you or any signs of rust bubbles, and then treat it to a good quality polish every now and again, that would be the best way of keeping faith with it? He was an artist before he was a welder. The fact that he painted it is an important part of what it is.

 

[canuckinboston]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm also now leaning towards just giving it a polish and letting it be. However, I'm worried about the rusted bits where the paint has eroded away. Also, the inside of the seat tube is looking a bit natty. Would that be expected to corrode the bike under the rest of the paint? If there's a reasonable chance that it will just stay the way it is then I may not mess with it (heck, its been pretty good for nigh on 17 years already, I guess).

Got some new XT cantis courtesy of iveto 1983 and a pair of new near mint wheels (Nukeproof hubs laced to Mavic 217 rims) and a NOS Syncros Ti seatpost courtesy of the fleabay. Gonna keep the rest of the stock bits I think although I am considering changing the XT cranks over to something lighter..

 

[tuercas]

That is a real beaut, one of my favourite mtb´s of all time! How do the fork blades connect to the crown, I´ve always wondered? I would polish it, the rust on scatches can be removed, touch up, and listo. Same for the seat-tube, wire wool on a clothes hanger and WD40 does wonders.

 

[canuckinboston]

THe fork legs appear to be bolted to the crown on the side, not sure if there's some additional bonding action though.....