PHOTOS Jan Ras and Jerome Abed WORDS Nadine Botha
A South African custom-bicycle designer? Creating carbon-fibre two-wheelers based on the client’s biometrics and taste, as well as input from a sports science engineer, Cape-based Calvin Botha is proof that our design industry is raring to go.
Who are you?
A true romantic and eternal optimist; passionate about life, design, bicycles and cycling.
What do you do?
I’m a freelance industrial designer, specialising in bicycle frame and cycling product design, as well as technical maintenance of bicycles.
How did this happen?
I finished studying industrial design at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in 2011. In 2012, I opened my own bicycle workshop and used its profits as seed capital to design and make two carbon-fibre bicycle frames. Using the shop and frames as portfolio pieces, I applied at various bike companies. I was eventually approached by Trek, one of the biggest bicycle manufacturers in the world. The rest, as they say, is history.
What makes your bikes special?
Every customised racing bike is as unique as the rider who commissions it. The geometry of the frame is tailored to the most efficient biometric position and the feel of the bike is fine-tuned to bring out the rider’s individual strengths. Once a final shape is chosen, the frame’s foam core is hand-crafted to exact specifications. When the core passes the final inspection, that’s when the magic is applied in the form of epoxy-reinforced T700 carbon fibre. Eight layers and six weeks later, what emerges is a functional work of art dying to shred the trails