Features

Restoration Feature: Late 1980s Mariposa Touring Frame

December 11, 2018

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,...

Restoration Feature: A 1971 Mariposa Randonneur

September 11, 2018

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...

Vintage Bicycle Feature: Bianchi Campione del Mondo. Italy, 1953

June 19, 2018

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...

L'Eroica California 2018

April 18, 2018

Toronto (Cabbagetown) cyclist, Paul Kaminski rode his 1980s Mariposa, which he restored himself in the L'Eroica California April 14-15, 2018.

Restoration Feature: c1950s Jo Routens

April 4, 2018

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....

Restoration Feature: Cyclocross to Commuter Bike Conversion

December 7, 2017

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...

Restoration Feature: Maurice Jefferies and his 1970s Masi

October 25, 2017

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...

Restoration Feature: Routens

August 29, 2017

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...

Bartali, Coppi & Derailleurs in the 1949 Tour de France

May 30, 2017

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...

Vintage Bicycle Feature: Cinelli Super Corsa, 1951

May 11, 2017

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...

Those Chain Gears And A Funky Bike

January 9, 2017

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...

The Colourful And Enduring Life Of A Bicycle

December 16, 2016

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...