The man himself, Brad Proctor, has posted up some literature from back in the day on Instagram - search "trevorbradproctor".
I've taken the liberty of converting what is visible from the newspaper article into text for the benefit of forum members. I believe the article was printed in our local Edmonton Journal newspaper sometime after the World Universiade Summer Games held here in 1983.
...Again, Brad showed his tenacity. Within two years, he placed second in the Alberta 43-km time trials.
He went on to coach and met his wife Lorraine cycling. She later managed the Alberta team.
Never a man to sit still, Brad tired of his machinist job and left to work for Bob Townsend at High Country Sports.
“There was an 18-month waiting list for European bikes,” said Brad. “So one day I got some tubing and put a frame together.
“It had a few quirks but it didn’t turn out bad. I made another and raced on it.”
Brad says a good frame is tailor-made for comfort and should help a bike rider like a Rolls Royce rather than a cement block.
“Cyclists want to be able to accelerate immediately,” he said. “They don’t want a frame absorbing extra effort.”
He uses what is called a double-butting construction method. Tubing is lighter in the middle and heavier on the ends, where more stress is handled.
Others liked what they saw and, fed up with waiting for an imported frame, they asked Brad to make them one.
More orders followed until he expanded his operation to take over most of Townsend’s basement on 124th Street and 114th Avenue.
“We’ve doubled sales in the last year,” he said. “We expect to produce 140 frames this year, of which 80 or 90 will be complete bicycles.
“There must be about 300 Proctor frames in the city now. And we are selling in Calgary and Winnipeg.
“It’s a very competitive business. People think because a frame has an Italian name, it has to be good.”
Brad’s frames – he uses the best Italian and English tubing – sell for between $600 and $1,200. With the best equipment, an assembled bike could cost up to $2,500.
Twenty-five per cent of his sales are to triathletes who want better bikes.
“The Commonwealth Games and the World Student Games did a lot for the sport of cycling,” said Brad, who was in charge of cycling events during the university games.
“This is a very pro-sports town and when people see top international competition, you don’t have to sell it to them.”
He believes cycling has a future here and looks to further expansion.
“Capital is the big thing,” he said. “The marketing potential is certainly here.”
Talking to Brad, you can see he’s still ready to sell vegetables door-to-door – if that’s what it takes.
This earlier article found on the web was distributed by Canadian Press in 1979. Oddly, it doesn't mention his racing pedigree.
14 May 1979: Machinist builds bikes
EDMONTON (CP) – Bicycles built for two? That’s not Brad Proctor’s style.
Proctor specializes in building custom bicycles fashioned according to the whims and physical specifications of his individual customers.
The 28-year-old former auto machinist now is bike builder in residence at a small Edmonton cycle shop involved in manufacturing custom thoroughbred racing and touring bicycles.
If you’ve got the price – which may run up to $2,000 – Proctor will build you a bike from scratch that pampers your every whim.
“We measure the legs, upper body and arms, then use formulas to calculate the size of the bicycle frame and the angles of all the joints,” he explains.
With these measurements, Proctor then consults his client on the smoothness of the ride desired, the type of riding the customer plans to do and even the color he prefers.
With the frame complete, all fittings, from pedals and brakes to wheels and gears, can be handpicked by the prospective owner, with supplies from specialty houses throughout the worl.
The finished product, weighing only between 4.5 and 8.5 kilograms, can cost between $500 and $2,000, depending on features and one’s penchant for such goodies as titanium, carbon fibre and racing paint, which is a few grams lighter than conventional enamel.
Proctor says the extra dollars are more than justified by the beauty he will build you.
“I can build it exactly to your size and for exactly what you want to use it. And I can build it faster than you can import it.”
His goal is 50 within a year.
Proctor also maintains that the buyer is getting more for his money when he can watch the entire construction process and ask questions.
Yet his prices are still competitive with imports, once shipping charges, duty and devaluation of the dollar are taken into account.
In fact, the cost can be lower than for foreign-built bikes if the customer finishes the project himself.
“The filing and polishing take a lot of time. If the buyer wants to do that part of it himself, I’ll give him the advice he needs,” Proctor says.
The extra effort can mean a saving of about 20 per cent on the cost of the frame.
Proctor, who picked up his knowledge of practical engineering while building top fuel dragsters, went into bike construction last March.
But things haven’t yet picked up.
“It still takes me about 40 hours to make a frame. It’s not even close to a living yet.”
“So much is by eye and rules. It’s one of the few handcraft arts still left."