For core riders between Vancouver and Pemberton, Fraser Newton’s whopping smile and positive attitude are well known. B.C. Bike Race participants may recognize him as well; since its inception in 2007, Fraser’s run the race’s tech support team, healing racers’ mechanical issues during their assault through the wild terrain of Coastal B.C. Countless bikes have gone through Fraser and his team’s hands over the years.

Prior to the BCBR, Fraser cut his teeth on bikes near Hamilton, Ontario. Growing up 10km from town is largely to blame for his bike obsession, and he says the distance from his friends “was a pretty good reason to figure them out.” An early memory of wrenching on bikes includes a set of “throwaway Skyway II wheels” and some busted hubs he was trying to fix. Shortly after he started as a shop grom for Wheels in Motion on the Hamilton Escarpment. Starting with the store around ’92, he was introduced to building road bikes shipped from Italy. He learned to “chase and face headtubes and bottom brackets, tapping braze-on and painting custom lug details.” Those experiences are visible in his abilities working on bikes today – Fraser is a bicycle MacGyver.

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