A Visit with John Palmer

Submitted by John on Mon, 02/25/2013 - 16:54


John Palmer with his Dunelt

On the weekend my wife and I were in Kitchener visiting friends. While there I had an opportunity to spend a couple of hours with John Palmer. John is a legendary figure in the Canadian bicycle trade. He came to Canada in 1968 from England where he had worked in his family's bicycle shop. Both his grandfather and his father had built bicycle frames using the model name Invicta. John had also raced competitively as well.

Once in Canada John hooked up with Mike Barry, a fellow Brit, who shared John's passion for bicycles and his desire to build them. Before long John and Mike were building bicycles in a friend's basement and branding them as Mariposa models. The line quickly became well-known as a high quality bike.

After a few years Mike Barry decided to go into the retail business and started Mariposa Sports. John, on the other hand, preferred to go on his own and subsequently carved out a fascinating career with such diverse companies as Peugeot, CCM and Sekine. Both men remain good friends to this day.


A Mariposa bicycle

 

      

2 Comments

Submitted by Jay on Wed, 02/27/2013 - 22:39.

John (And John),

 

   That's a beautiful looking touring bike... how do I get one?! :)

 

- Jay

Submitted by oldy57 on Thu, 02/28/2013 - 20:40.

The first pic is at the 3 Speed Tour in Minnesota/Wisconsin. John and I went on that tour, John"s first time. The ride down was 9 hours and John talked about his cycling in England and Canada. He also told me about his cycling history going back into the 1800's with his great grandfather.

I met John for the first time at a bicycle race in Birds Hill Park just north of Winnipeg. I was on an old track bike doing an evening ride. John came over and talked to me about old bikes. We have been friends since.

John and Mike Barry go back a lot farther than in Toronto. They both raced in England when they were young and they raced against each other but didn't know the other. John has all his race information and many photos of racing in England. John also has a restored Palmer Cycles bike that Mike Barry restored. Also in his collection he has one of the first Mariposa bikes, when John was a partner with Mike.

John still rides daily in his 70's and his best friend Willy is in his 80's rides with him. I had breakfast with them last month. Great guys.