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Motorcycle community loses icon
McBride Cycle bankrupt after 97 years
OLIVER MOORE
The venerable Toronto institution that is McBride Cycle closed its doors abruptly this week after nearly a century serving the city's motorcycle community.
A sign on the door said the Junction-area business had shut indefinitely for inventory. But service manager Patrick Corcoran told a different story.
"Closed down, bankrupt," he said yesterday.
The news came as a shock to many, particularly those who had their bikes in for service when the shop closed. Mr. Corcoran was still at the garage, however, helping the steady stream of people with trailers and pickups retrieve their motorcycles.
"We're not officially here. I'm paying the guys out of my pocket to finish off the bikes we've got," Mr. Corcoran said as he helped a customer load his machine. "The bailiff is putting a lock on the gate at 4 p.m. Saturday."
The store owners were not available for comment. They weren't talking, but everybody else was.
The business was said to have suffered when the founder's grandson, John McBride, split off to start his own shop, Riders Choice.
"The guy that was doing the heavy lifting had left," said Vic Richards, who runs Big Brute V8 Super Cycles and is Mr. McBride's landlord in Mississauga.
Mr. McBride said the assessment was valid. He blamed a "difference of opinion" in the family for the split a year and a half ago, and offered acid comments about those left in charge.
"I worked 27 years and there was no financial troubles," he said in an interview from his new store. "Unless you know what you're doing in the motorcycle business, you can't make any money."
As the news spread through the local motorcycle community, opinions varied between those who felt a piece of history was gone and those who denounced McBride Cycle for being consistently overpriced.
A staffer at Cycle World who did not want to be identified said the abrupt closing had been the "talk of the town" since word got out. "It's the buzz of the industry right now," she said.
Started in 1909 by Percy A. McBride, the store began by selling American-made Hendersons from a building on College Street. It moved later to a series of locations on Queen Street before taking up its current spot on Dundas Street West, near Keele Street.
The list of makes sold by the store could fill a book on motorcycle history. They included AJS (built by Albert John Stevens), Francis-Barnett, Royal Enfield, Indian, Brough Superior, Rudge, BSA, Ariel and Lambretta.
The store rode the wave of the Japanese invasion of the 1960s, the same decade Percy died, and the business was taken over by Marty McBride, John's father.
Until this week, the store remained a major presence in Toronto and the effect of its closing remain to be seen. Among other issues, it is the only authorized Triumph dealer in the city.
The proprietors also own McBride Extreme Sports, a nearby bicycle shop that one local cyclist said had not been prospering.
"The bicycle shop wasn't doing that great, wasn't that busy," Mike Comello said. "I always thought, and this is just a guess, that the motorcycle shop was carrying it."
That store's doors were also locked yesterday, with a sign saying the closing was due to a temporary inventory. A person was visible pushing bicycles around inside but he did not respond to repeated thumps on the door.
Motorcycle community loses icon
McBride Cycle bankrupt after 97 years
OLIVER MOORE
The venerable Toronto institution that is McBride Cycle closed its doors abruptly this week after nearly a century serving the city's motorcycle community.
A sign on the door said the Junction-area business had shut indefinitely for inventory. But service manager Patrick Corcoran told a different story.
"Closed down, bankrupt," he said yesterday.
The news came as a shock to many, particularly those who had their bikes in for service when the shop closed. Mr. Corcoran was still at the garage, however, helping the steady stream of people with trailers and pickups retrieve their motorcycles.
"We're not officially here. I'm paying the guys out of my pocket to finish off the bikes we've got," Mr. Corcoran said as he helped a customer load his machine. "The bailiff is putting a lock on the gate at 4 p.m. Saturday."
The store owners were not available for comment. They weren't talking, but everybody else was.
The business was said to have suffered when the founder's grandson, John McBride, split off to start his own shop, Riders Choice.
"The guy that was doing the heavy lifting had left," said Vic Richards, who runs Big Brute V8 Super Cycles and is Mr. McBride's landlord in Mississauga.
Mr. McBride said the assessment was valid. He blamed a "difference of opinion" in the family for the split a year and a half ago, and offered acid comments about those left in charge.
"I worked 27 years and there was no financial troubles," he said in an interview from his new store. "Unless you know what you're doing in the motorcycle business, you can't make any money."
As the news spread through the local motorcycle community, opinions varied between those who felt a piece of history was gone and those who denounced McBride Cycle for being consistently overpriced.
A staffer at Cycle World who did not want to be identified said the abrupt closing had been the "talk of the town" since word got out. "It's the buzz of the industry right now," she said.
Started in 1909 by Percy A. McBride, the store began by selling American-made Hendersons from a building on College Street. It moved later to a series of locations on Queen Street before taking up its current spot on Dundas Street West, near Keele Street.
The list of makes sold by the store could fill a book on motorcycle history. They included AJS (built by Albert John Stevens), Francis-Barnett, Royal Enfield, Indian, Brough Superior, Rudge, BSA, Ariel and Lambretta.
The store rode the wave of the Japanese invasion of the 1960s, the same decade Percy died, and the business was taken over by Marty McBride, John's father.
Until this week, the store remained a major presence in Toronto and the effect of its closing remain to be seen. Among other issues, it is the only authorized Triumph dealer in the city.
The proprietors also own McBride Extreme Sports, a nearby bicycle shop that one local cyclist said had not been prospering.
"The bicycle shop wasn't doing that great, wasn't that busy," Mike Comello said. "I always thought, and this is just a guess, that the motorcycle shop was carrying it."
That store's doors were also locked yesterday, with a sign saying the closing was due to a temporary inventory. A person was visible pushing bicycles around inside but he did not respond to repeated thumps on the door.