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.
Gord Fraser’s restored ’86 Bertrand, a frame built in Gatineau (Hull), Que. Image courtesy Gord Fraser
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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 back.”
Sean Pemberton (left) passes the ’80s Bertrand frame back to its original owner, cycling legend Gord Fraser. Image courtesy Gord Fraser
I was home in the summertime, before the Tour de Beauce, met Sean. We went for a bike ride. Then we went to his place and I got my original Bertrand back.
It’s gone through some changes because Sean actually wrote it from 1988 to 2005, if you can imagine. He had Gilles repaint it. He chromed the chainstays. He spread the rear stays because when I bought it, it was 127-mm spacing for a 6-speed freewheel, right? So it got cold set to 130 mm for the 8-speed and 9-speed years. He added a second water bottle, too. He had it repainted the same colour, so it’s in really great shape.
I’ve had it built up at Fair Wheel Bikes here in Tucson. They’ve been my support shop all throughout my career. I gave it to Jeff over there and he put on an 8-speed Dura-Ace group. It’s definitely my No. 1. I mean, I have lots of options to ride, but it’s kind of like when—you know, back in the ‘90s, when you got a really good CD and you’d just listen to the same CD over and over again and your entire music collection got put on hold. Yeah, it’s like that. I don’t know what CD was like that for me. Maybe Soundgarden. All my other bikes now are collecting dust because I’m on my Bertrand almost every day.
I couldn’t remember selling the bike. I was working at Ottawa Bikeway, Geoff Brown and his dad’s shop. It was a Miyata shop, so I had moved over to Miyata just to be one with the shop. I remember having the Bertrand in the back and trying to sell it. But I couldn’t remember actually exchanging the money. Sean said, well, it’s because I wasn’t in town. I was away racing. He came into the Bikeway and gave the money to a guy I used to race with. That explains why I don’t remember the exchange because I was out of town. But I definitely remembered the exchange back to me.