How Canadian Cycling Magazine helped to reunite legendary cyclist Gord Fraser with his old bike

Gord Fraser regretted letting his old bike go. Back in 1986, the young road racer got a Bertrand, a bike made in Hull, Que., (now Gatineau), which was across the Ottawa River from his home. The pattern for Fraser in those years was to sell his bikes to upgrade for the upcoming seasons.

After the successful rider retired in the mid-2000s—having notched numerous wins in the North American circuit as well as abroad—he began collecting vintage bikes. He acquired a made-in-Italy Gardin, a Bianchi X-3 and a Marinoni, to list a few. In 2023, he got a Bertrand. Not his old Bertrand, but one that was a bit small, and a bit less yellow than the one from his youth.

In 2025, shortly after Fraser wrote about his new old Bertrand for this magazine, I got an email. It was from a reader named Sean Pemberton. He had Fraser’s bike.

Below, in Fraser’s own words, is what happened next. (Also find out why he didn’t remember selling the bike to Pemberton.) The passage is from the latest episode of the Canadian Cycling Magazine Podcast. It’s been edited for length and clarity. Do listen to the whole interview to not only learn more about the Bertrand and the legendary rider himself, but also about the up-and-coming talents that Fraser is helping to develop today at Tag Cycling.

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The Bertrand family had a shop in Hull for years and years, which wasn’t very far from my dad’s work. My dad had a birth defect—one arm was shorter than the other—so he was a prime candidate for a custom frame. He got fitted by Gilles Bertrand on a wonderful bike. So we became kind of a Bertrand family.

After I got a licence to race with the Ottawa Bicycle Club, I then got my first serious race bike. I was just going to get a stock 57-cm Bertrand frame. I was in Grade 12 and wasn’t sure if I was still growing or not. I got it painted yellow. And that’s the bike I rode in ‘86 and ‘87. I sold it in ‘88.

I had acquired a Bertrand a few years ago. It’s maybe a bit small for me, but I just wanted a Bertrand in my collection to remember my junior bike. Then, when you ran that piece about my current Bertrand, where I said I always regretted selling my junior race bike—well, Sean Pemberton read the article, contacted you and said, “I’m the one who bought the frame and I want to give it…