Features

The Shop Bike: Decades old, laden with memories, for everyday use.
The Shop Bike: Decades old, laden with memories, for everyday use.
The front of the shop had an elegant entrance with large glass windows on King Street, a few doors in from Jarvis Street, in the centre of Toronto. My father... Read more...
ALAN Restoration
ALAN Restoration
Through the 70’s and into 80’s the top cyclocross racers and several pro road racers, used Italian made Alan frames as the bonded aluminum frames were some of the lightest... Read more...
1980s Bianchi ‘Adventure’ Mountain Bike Conversion / Restoration
1980s Bianchi ‘Adventure’ Mountain Bike Conversion / Restoration
Vintage mountain bikes can become great gravel bikes as the frame geometry is suitable, the tire clearances ample enough for large tires and mudguards and the frames resilient, comfortable and... Read more...
City Bike Restoration
City Bike Restoration
Over the years we've collected many used parts and old frames in need of restoration. Much of the old vintage equipment is ideal for building up nice city bikes as... Read more...
Q & A with Canadian Hour Record Holder and Randonneur, Peter Leiss
Q & A with Canadian Hour Record Holder and Randonneur, Peter Leiss
PETER LEISS, 40.573 km (25.211 miles) recently set a new Canadian Men’s Age 70-74 record. This was Peter’s 2nd time riding the One Hour. Previously, he did 39.619 km to... Read more...
Restoration Feature: Provenance Of A New/Old Bianchi
Restoration Feature: Provenance Of A New/Old Bianchi
I decided to get a bike to go on my smart trainer when I take my 2017 Mariposa gravel bike off to ride it outside. About 2008 or 2009, I... Read more...
Restoration Feature: A Ride On My Gios
Restoration Feature: A Ride On My Gios
  In April the thoughts of the tifosi turn to the spring classics. The cobbled classic, Paris Roubaix would have been run last weekend if it hadn't been cancelled due... Read more...
In The News
In The News
A collection of stories, news and information that we thought you might find interesting and relevent. An interesting new study explores how the human neural network controls a bicycle: It... Read more...
Shifting Gears: A brief history of derailleurs
Shifting Gears: A brief history of derailleurs
Multiple gears, whether they are the internal hub variety or the derailleur, are the most complex mechanisms on bicycles. An internal hub gear can be interesting enough, but to fully... Read more...
Restoration Feature: 1970s Chris Chance Road Bicycle, USA
Restoration Feature: 1970s Chris Chance Road Bicycle, USA
The Chris Chance frame we recently restored was built in the late 70's by Chris. The story goes, that he built a couple of frames and then traveled across the... Read more...
Vintage Bicycle Feature: 1973 Eisentraut Road Bicycle. Oakland, USA.
Vintage Bicycle Feature: 1973 Eisentraut Road Bicycle. Oakland, USA.
Built for British cycling journalist and randonneur, Jock Wadley. Albert Eisentraut acquired an appreciation of hand built bicycles at the elbow of legendary Paramount maker Oscar Wastyn in Chicago, and... Read more...
Vintage Bicycle Feature: CCM Flyers
Vintage Bicycle Feature: CCM Flyers
An excerpt from A Life With Bicycles by Mike Barry. Photography by Walter Lai The Canadian Cycle and Motor Company was formed in 1898 through the amalgamation of several smaller... Read more...
Vintage Bicycle Feature: Legnano. 1948
Vintage Bicycle Feature: Legnano. 1948
This Legnano Bicycle was made in Italy in 1948 and it is very similar to the bike that Italian bicycle racer, Gino Bartali used to win the 1948 Tour de... Read more...
Restoration Feature: Late 1980s Mariposa Touring Frame
Restoration Feature: Late 1980s Mariposa Touring Frame
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,... Read more...
Restoration Feature: A 1971 Mariposa Randonneur
Restoration Feature: A 1971 Mariposa Randonneur
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... Read more...
Vintage Bicycle Feature: Bianchi Campione del Mondo. Italy, 1953
Vintage Bicycle Feature: Bianchi Campione del Mondo. Italy, 1953
When the shop quieted down in the winter months, Mike Barry Sr. worked on custom Mariposa Bicycle orders and restored vintage bicycles.  If he had the time, he would also restore some of the bicycles... Read more...
L'Eroica California 2018
L'Eroica California 2018
Toronto (Cabbagetown) cyclist, Paul Kaminski rode his 1980s Mariposa, which he restored himself in the L'Eroica California April 14-15, 2018. Read more...
Restoration Feature: c1950s Jo Routens
Restoration Feature: c1950s Jo Routens
A c1950s Jo Routens restoration. A replica Routens front derailleur, the fenders stays and the rear carrier was built in the Mariposa Bicycles - Bicycle Specialties workshop by Michael Barry.... Read more...
Restoration Feature: Cyclocross to Commuter Bike Conversion
Restoration Feature: Cyclocross to Commuter Bike Conversion
We took a beat up 1990s Desmarais Cyclocross frame, that was ridden by two time provincial road champ Joe Guilliano, stripped it, sand blasted it, built a new fork (the... Read more...
Restoration Feature: Maurice Jefferies and his 1970s Masi
Restoration Feature: Maurice Jefferies and his 1970s Masi
By Mike Barry Sr. My earliest memories of Maurice Jefferies are of him riding the Herne Hill Track in South London, England in the 1950s. He was a prominent member... Read more...
Restoration Feature: Routens
Restoration Feature: Routens
By Michael Barry Photography by Walter Lai Old bikes or just parts and frames, broken or bent, rusty and worn, often come in the shop for repair. Some require a... Read more...
Bartali, Coppi & Derailleurs in the 1949 Tour de France
Bartali, Coppi & Derailleurs in the 1949 Tour de France
By Mike Barry Sr. Photography by Walter Lai Following the Italian Gino Bartali’s second victory in the Tour de France in 1948, he decided that for the 1949 Tour he... Read more...
Vintage Bicycle Feature: Cinelli Super Corsa, 1951
Vintage Bicycle Feature: Cinelli Super Corsa, 1951
By Mike Barry Photography by Walter Lai In the early 1950s, I was a kid living in London with very little money, but an intense interest in everything to do... Read more...
Those Chain Gears And A Funky Bike
Those Chain Gears And A Funky Bike
By Mike Barry Photography by Walter Lai In the early part of the twentieth century variable gearing became available for bicycles. In France a number of companies marketed derailleurs in... Read more...
The Colourful And Enduring Life Of A Bicycle
The Colourful And Enduring Life Of A Bicycle
By Michael Barry Photography by Ian Austen A bicycle remains one of the simplest and most efficient forms of human transportation. Its design is so good it is hard to... Read more...
BGA. France, 1936.
BGA. France, 1936.
By Mike Barry Sr. Photography by Walter Lai A few years ago my son Michael was scanning the French eBay site and came across a french bike that had a... Read more...
THE TORPADO PROJECT
THE TORPADO PROJECT
By Mike Barry Sr. Photography by Walter Lai When I was a young teenager, I spent most of my spare time cycling or hanging around the local bike shop. Bill,... Read more...
PAGLIANTI RESTORATION
PAGLIANTI RESTORATION
A mid-1940’s Italian city bike. This is a recent restoration that was completed in the Mariposa workshop. The bike was originally purchased at a garage sale in Toronto in 1991.... Read more...