Bicycle portraits

WORDS Bibi Slippers

With two-wheel fever peaking this weekend in the Mother City – it’s the Cape Argus on Sunday and the World Naked Bike Ride on Saturday, not to mention the Active Mobility World Design Capital initiative from 9 March to 16 May – we asked some of our favourite designers and artists about their cyclemania. Read below for what Sean O’Toole, Phillipa Green, Anthea Moys, Isabeau Joubert, Justin Fiske, Gareth O’Brien, Aidan Bennets, Luke Pedersen and James Lennard have to say.

Luke Pedersen and James Lennard, pedersenlennard.co.za

Both industrial designers, Luke Pedersen and James Lennard are daily commuters, navigating back roads on their short rides to their office in the Woodstock Exchange. “We prefer the danger of the gangster streets to the danger of the traffic along Main Road!” They also use their bikes to get to meetings in town and to their Barrack Street shop. “It’s a nice break and way faster than driving a car,” says Luke, who’s been donning a helmet since becoming a father (look inside his beautiful Scandi-Victorian home here). “I got hit by a car once and the helmet definitely helped!” James, who is an avid mountain biker, only recently got a commuter bike. “It’s a red single speed and probably the tallest commuter bike in Cape Town.” Because of his height, he had to have the bike custom built. Luke’s bike is and old blue Hansom that he had restored. “I was inspired to find a bike built in South Africa and found this one in Parow. I fell in love with it when I saw it.” Luke has a large collection of bikes, owing to the fact that he used to import container-loads of bicycles for resale in South Africa. “I’ve had hundreds of bikes, but I didn’t horde. Besides the commuter, I have an old Flying Dutchman that’s mostly used for film shoots, a bike with a kid seat, a tandem…” James’ fleet consists of two mountain bikes and his new commuter. They’re both convinced that besides the danger of traffic, there’s nothing bad about cycling. “It keeps you fit and frees your mind.”

Sean O’Toole

“Cycling is mobile yoga,” quips journalist, art critic and writer Sean O’Toole, who cycles daily for recreation and every so often to commute to work. Sean is the owner of six bikes (two racers, a custom street bike and a mountain bike) and an endless supply of riveting cycling stories. “I had a gun pulled on me when cycling through Charleston, caught a seven foot giant stealing my Mongoose in New York, ripped my face open from a fall on Kloof Street, had my front wheel come off on a MTB ride at Hartebeespoort Dam, cycled through a snow blizzard to see a day of the Giro Italia (that had been cancelled, unbeknownst to O’Fool on his bike), pedaled halfway up Mount Fuji, stared at my brother Ryan’s bum for six days cycling through the Scottish highlands. I can continue…” His Mongoose MTB, the oldest bike in his collection, was bought with a bonus cheque in 1993 and has since travelled to the UK, the US, Japan and Italy. “It is still my most comfortable bike and has most of its original parts.” A recent convert to the questionable joys of cycling in Lycra (which up until 2008 he swore he’d never wear), Sean’s favourite place to cycle is still the Swartberg Pass. “It’s free and better than any of the expensive paid MTB races. Extreme Zen.” 

Phillipa Green, philippagreen.com

Jewellery designer Philippa Green was introduced to commuter cycling while living in London. “I used to cycle to work and back and that was really great. The city changed for me when I started cycling – it seemed much more pleasant. I used to love cycling home late at night – even sometimes a little tipsy. People are a lot more bike-aware there.” These days she rides her Giant fold-up bicycle around Cape Town on errands and to the Long Street Pool. “The bike was a gift from my boyfriend and I’ve had it for about a year now. I cycle every other day in the week. I don’t ride to work because I have a dog and I live up a steep hill. I’m not very bike-knowledgeable, but I like the Giant. Its tires are a little too thin for ramping up pavements – which I sometimes do – so I’ve punctured them a few times.” Her best cycling experience so far? “I’m new to this game and haven’t ventured too far, but cycling the Moonlight Mass has probably been the best. Cycling along the promenade at night with the cool sea breeze and all the people… It really is a great event and it just feels lovely to be able to cycle around the city at night in a pack.” 

Isabeau Joubert, isabeaujoubert.com

About a year ago, designer and yarnbomber Isabeau Joubert took the plunge and put her car in storage to see how long she could cope without it. “I regularly walk, ride my fold-up bicycle and take the myCiti bus. I ride a fold-up tern bicycle and I absolutely love it – it’s very easy to take it with me into buildings, or fold it to put on the bus, or in a taxi or friend’s car. My nickname for my bike is Sterretjie (the Afrikaans word for a tern, which is a type of bird) and she’s got a real gutsy little spirit and a slightly crooked kickstand. She just glides around anything in the road and city.” Isabeau had to learn how to ride when she received the bike as a gift from her boyfriend two years ago. “I’ve had to transport quite a lot of wool from Woodstock to Gardens a few times this year – it basically means hanging big plastic shopping bags stuffed with brightly coloured wool all around me and the handlebars – quite the awkward load! I’ve also had to take a pair of Springbok horns around town on the bike once, t’was fun. The best thing about cycling is not looking for parking and feeling super relaxed. The worst thing is getting caught in bad weather like wind or rain, but that makes getting home so much more rewarding. It’s funny and scary and awesome all rolled into one. Every single trip!” 

Justin Fiske, justinfiske.com

“I’ve got a small moth-eaten collection of bikes that probably class as a disorder of sorts,” laughs artist Justin Fiske. “I suppose technically my collection has been as big as eight at times, but bikes come and go, as does the capacity to ride, store and maintain them. In my life I’d take a stab at 20 in total. Currently I’m in remission at about four plus bits and pieces.” Justin has been riding since childhood, in his own words, “always and all over”. Among his cycling feats, he recounts carrying a bike on a bike, transporting a Kombi’s engine truss on a recumbent bicycle (a bike ridden while lying flat on your back), and landing in a motorbike courier’s lap in central London (and living to tell the tale). He regularly takes his daughter Wren to school on his recumbent bike. “Sometimes she wears her sunglasses, which is hysterical… and given the choice she always chooses the bike.” While he is able to wax lyrical about the joys of cycling, Justin is just as vocal on the downside: “The worst part about cycling, I suppose, is ‘non-cycling’. You cycle next to that everywhere you go here. I’ve been judged, disrespected, humiliated, attacked, made angry, made angry and made angry. I suppose I’m ok with being an outlaw or an outsider, particularly if it might be because you’re a touch ahead of the game. But generally cycling has been a crazy-useful tool for fulfilment.” 

Gareth O’Brien, velobrien.com 

“I once rode home from Camps Bay at sunset on a balmy autumn evening. My route took me past a synagogue in Sea Point. There were young Jewish men joking about outside and I could hear a beautiful hymn coming from inside and it struck me that it was so similar to my Christian church. I rode on through town and out through District Six where I stopped above the city at dusk to listen to a muezzin reciting his call to prayer. It was just spectacular. My first thought was ‘What other city on earth offers such a beautiful and diverse experience?’ and that was quickly followed up by the thought that I wouldn’t have had that experience if it weren’t for the bicycle.” Leather bicycle accessory designer Gareth O’Brien cycles every day. “I prefer it to driving,” he says. “My daily commuter is a single-speed straight handlebar road bike but I have a fleet of bikes on rotation depending on the situation.” The single speed is a 1986 Peugeot Le Mans road bike frame that he found among a pile of old frames at a second-hand bicycle shop in Plumstead. “It was the right size, but in a bad state. It looked perfect to me. I had it powder-coated in a dark grey colour. All the other parts on the bike were collected or inherited from various bikes, shops or Gumtree ads. It has vintage Campagnolo Record hubs and a very short repurposed stainless steel shop-fitting pipe as a handlebar. It’s also dressed up with Velobrien custom-made red leather grips and a saddle. It was the first bicycle I built myself and is therefore very special to me.”

Aidan Bennetts, aidanbennetts.co.za

“A bicycle is a machine in its purest form, using your own strength to propel you forward. It is the direct transfer of energy into movement,” says TV-celeb and designer Aidan Bennetts, who still makes use of his car to get to town, but uses his bike once in the city to get to all his meetings. “It is a single-speed bike with back-pedal brakes, custom built by Woodstock Cycleworks. It is minimal and clean: matte black with a gold chain. I wanted an old-feel frame, so I hunted and searched the internet until I found the perfect old French frame. I had it restored and epoxy-coated.” Aidan has had the bike for two and a half years. After an accident a year and a half ago, he now rides with a helmet. “There are risks involved. You have really got to be aware of the traffic on the road.” Aidan has gotten to know his bike’s quirks by now. “When you brake fast with the back pedal brake system, the bike spins to the right, so I try to stay aware of my surroundings and to anticipate braking.” He loved cycling as a child and remembers his first bike, an old-school yellow BMX in the mid 1980s. “The simplicity of riding only dawns on you later. Push. Pedal. Go! I like the slipstream effect, the wind rushing past me, the ease of movement.” 

Anthea Moys, antheamoys.com

While artist Anthea Moys doesn’t cycle for transport or recreation, cycling has formed part of her artistic practice, which involves performance in public space, on at least two occasions. In 2006, she rode the 94.7 Cycle Challenge – on a stationary exercise bike! “The performance provoked reactions ranging from encouraging cheers, to shouts of ‘fucking loser!’ This interruption was an attempt to open up a space of play in a highly structured event. For me, play is free movement within the constraints of a structure, and it feeds off that structure to create its own rules.” More recently, Anthea did a performance in Geneva, Switzerland, where she raced against a team of seven cyclists. The performance forms part of her ongoing project entitled “Anthea Moys vs The World” where she goes to a city and challenges the city’s teams to a series of contests. “I did indoor cycling for two months to prepare for the performance and it was one of the most terrifying and challenging things I have ever done!”