Vintage Bicycles

By Michael Barry A good steel frame can be used repeatedly, for decades. It can be ridden, crashed, fixed and adapted. In the shop, old bikes come in constantly that need a tube replaced, a dent [...]

Photography by Timothy Austen Thank you to everyone who attended “A Life With Bicycles” book launch party last week at Amsterdam Brewery. It was a wonderful tribute to Mike Barry and Walter Lai’s [...]

By Dede Barry Photography by Jody Wilson Rain, dirt, mud, gravel, sun, quiet country roads, spring flowers, good food and camaraderie will make for a good bike ride with memorable moments. Last [...]

Made in Italy.  Restored in the Mariposa Bicycles – Bicycle Specialties Ltd. workshop in January 2019 Serial Number: 9924 Size: Seat Tube: 55 cm Centre to Centre, 58 cm Centre to Top Lugs: [...]

Frank Kirk thought up this remarkable bike while working as a designer at the Ford plant in Dagenham, England.  The frame is made of cast magnesium, and was a dramatically different approach to [...]

Bob Jackson, J.R. (John Robert) Jackson, first opened shop in Leeds in 1935 as J.R.J. Cycles using money borrowed from his mother. He built bikes until WWII when all production had to be put on [...]

Michael John Barry, father, grandfather, husband and a pillar of Canada’s cycling community, died on Dec. 29 at Mount Sinai Hospital. He was 80. Born in Wimbledon, England in 1938 to Percival and [...]

By Mike Barry Sr. Photography by Walter Lai Since 1885 when Starley introduced the Rover Safety bike, there have been many efforts to improve on his design. Most of those efforts came to nothing. [...]

This touring frame was built in the late 1980s in the Mariposa workshop.  It was repainted in the Mariposa workshop in December 2018.   Frame includes a Campagnolo Nuovo Record headset, Dia-Compe [...]

This Mariposa frame and fork was built in 1971 with Nervex lugs and Reynolds 531 tubing.  The bike was one of the first out of the shop at 175 King St in downtown Toronto. It was ridden all over [...]

The Ideor bicycle company was one of the most highly respected bike companies in Italy. Established in the early part of the twentieth century in Savona, Ideor produced a complete range of high [...]

By Mike Barry Sr. Photography by Walter Lai At the London bike show in 1952, the Dunlop Company showed a movie that features all the highlights of the 1952 cycling season.  I thought that it was [...]