# Vintage Brodie Gatorblade fork?



## Joe Steel (Dec 30, 2003)

Hi,
I recently aquired this baby and have not been able to find much information on 'er other than it was built by Brodie up in Canada. It's an interesting/unique fork design and I thought you folks might be interested in a few pics. 

I read that the off-set is 1.75" -- pretty wicked. Crown design and blade attachment are wild too.

I installed it on my Yeti FRO singlespeed that seems to be evolving into a frankenbike.

Any additional information you folks might provide would be apreciated including history, articles, durability, value, etc.

Thanks,
Joe


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## Jeroen (Jan 12, 2004)

I have one in my '96 DeKerf Generation. Its the best handling bike I have.. or lets put it different; it's the bike that I like the most concerning corning. Reall sturdy design.. which will pretty much be your garrantee of getting a HARD ride down the trail  I like it a lot!

Will post a pic later....


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## donk (Jan 28, 2004)

The fork you have is the third generation one. 

The first generation, had curved fork blades. Only ever saw one of them on a kona/merlin around 1987/1988.

Second generation (1988-1990) used spinner legs and drop outs. Basically the same legs as the kona trac 2, with the brodie crown. I had a set of these on my 1988 brodie climbmax. The steer tube broke after a repaint where the threads were rechased a bit too deep. Available in 1" and 1 1/8"

Third generation / SL's (1990-1993) are the ones you've got and that they replaced mine with when I sent them back for warantee repair. Available in 1" and 1 1/8"

As noted these are one stiff / rigid fork.


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## Jeroen (Jan 12, 2004)

Jeroen said:


> Reall sturdy design.. which will pretty much be your garrantee of getting a HARD ride down the trail  I like it a lot!





donk said:


> As noted these are one stiff / rigid fork.


That being said... I 'only' like it on short rides.. or on long rides when my shape is 100%. The fork and the further overall layout of the bike makes my Generation very hard, even for steel-standards. Most of that is due the fork.... so I kinda have a love-hate relationship with it... I took it out on rides I thought I could 'handle' it... but the real judge was the Brodie Gatorblade fork, which proved me wrong in that thought


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## GonaSovereign (Sep 20, 2004)

*Gatorblades*

As a huge fan of old-school Brodie bikes, I'm biased towards his fork. The Gatorblade has the most steering precision of all the rigid mtb forks I've tried (Bontragers, Manitou, Ritchey, Syncros, Kleins, type II, all the Tanges, OEMs, etc,). It's not the lightest of the bunch, but not bad. It is "glued and screwed," rather than simply bolted or welded like a lot of the competition. Not quite as much mud clearance as a Bontrager, but better than unicrowns. As Donk noted, this is a later generation design. In addition to the curved blade version, there was a short run of four-piece welded ones (circa 1990&#8230;only ever saw one, on a Romax in a shop I worked in) similar to the recent DeKerf design.

Here are a couple of mine and a few from the net.


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## GonaSovereign (Sep 20, 2004)

One more...


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## Jeroen (Jan 12, 2004)

here's my '96 DeKerf with the Gatorblade....


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## Joe Steel (Dec 30, 2003)

*Installed on the Yeti*

~ 1989 Yeti FRO (ss) with Brodie Gatorblade installed (1" threaded)


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## classicmtb (Jan 26, 2008)

heres my 86 romax


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## classicmtb (Jan 26, 2008)

hmmmm a pain to add a pic....


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## classicmtb (Jan 26, 2008)




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## BrodieFreak (Apr 12, 2009)

*Gatorblades*

Here are the different types of the gatorblade from left to right.

1. First generation with curved legs
2. There were some prototypes looking like a TrackTwo, i was told by a canadian who collects brodie's (TrackTwo is shown in picture)
3. Second generation with brazzed on dropouts (Shown in second picture)
4. Third generation with alloy dropouts, no wholes in the crown
5. Latest gatorblades with drilled crown


















I d'ont know if anything is right, perhaps somebody knows better


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## GonaSovereign (Sep 20, 2004)

Nice compilation. 
There was at least one other variation on the Gatorblade, which I only saw once, on a red 1989-90(?) Romax in a shop in Quebec. I worked at the shop, and know it came that was from Brodie. It had a welded crown made of one straight horizontal tube with three holes mitered in to accept the fork legs and steerer. I think the dropouts were welded in like the curved-legged fork above.


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## classicmtb (Jan 26, 2008)

yes nice compilation....i have a question...

I have an 86 romax mtb in pea-green with the left chainstay brazed on pump-peg, all fillet-brazed welds and the seat-tube pierces through the seat-toptube lug, with mini-fast-back seatstays and under-the chainstay roller-cam brake(Suntour PowerCam i think) and it has gatorblades...they are colour-matched to the frame (original) and they have 3 holes in the crown, removable alloy dropouts (allen key) and heave removable legs, allen key each side...they are original to the bike and just as old, i beleive it was sold as a frameset.
I am interested to know about this bike and the gatorblades.
Ive tried to describe it as best possible cuz i cant seem to upload any pics...but ill keep trying.

any info would be awesome.


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## GonaSovereign (Sep 20, 2004)

classicmtb said:


> Ive tried to describe it as best possible cuz i cant seem to upload any pics...but ill keep trying.
> .


I PMed you my e-mail address. If you send me the pic, I'll upload it for you...and hopefully answer your question.

g


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## classicmtb (Jan 26, 2008)

hey thanx...ill take some good ones and send em hi-res


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## GonaSovereign (Sep 20, 2004)

Here are ClassicMTB's Romax pics.


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## classicmtb (Jan 26, 2008)

time for a new camera...thanx again gonasovereign


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## donk (Jan 28, 2004)

The stickers look like they are new. They look bigger and the black outline is different then older ones. 

Having different braze ons makes sense, they are semi custom bikes with options.

More pics please.

Why is the top tube covered in electrical tape?


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## classicmtb (Jan 26, 2008)

the stickers are not original...just happen to have a set lying around, the black tape is there to stop the brake casing from rattling and moving back and forth, also for protection


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## Functional Mayhem (Jan 14, 2012)

Hi guys, just joining the Brodie family! I am also a fan...I have a '91 Soveriegn in the works. I finally found a Gator fork recently for 2 beers! I thought that was a good deal? 
My question to you fellow Brodie dorks is, can the crown be milled from 1" to 1 1/8" ? my frame is 1 1/8 and the for is 1". if you guys have any other suggestions? 
By the way, if any of you are in the Vancouver area, Paul himself is having an open house this Thursday at his class/shop in Abbotsford! I can't wait to meet the guy!


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## Joe Steel (Dec 30, 2003)

Functional Mayhem said:


> can the crown be milled from 1" to 1 1/8" ? my frame is 1 1/8 and the for is 1". if you guys have *any other suggestions*?


Two beers is a good deal  Don't trash it though. :nono: Read the link below regarding Chris King Devolution

Chris King Devolution


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## girlonbike (Apr 24, 2008)

Functional Mayhem said:


> Hi guys, just joining the Brodie family! I am also a fan...I have a '91 Soveriegn in the works. I finally found a Gator fork recently for 2 beers! I thought that was a good deal?
> My question to you fellow Brodie dorks is, can the crown be milled from 1" to 1 1/8" ? my frame is 1 1/8 and the for is 1". if you guys have any other suggestions?
> By the way, if any of you are in the Vancouver area, Paul himself is having an open house this Thursday at his class/shop in Abbotsford! I can't wait to meet the guy!


Go with Joe Steel or swap forks with somebody here.


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