Bikejuju

Adimire Tuma, an ice-cream seller in Gaborone, Botswana, as photographed and interviewed by David.

I sell ice cream just here. We call the supplier in Broadhurst and they deliver ice cream to us. It’s hard work when it is hot. You must be careful of cars. This bike is not my own. I am working for someone, so there are many bicycles. I do not have a bike of my own, so I take a combi. I get two to four flat tires every day. It is too hot now, so the tires will just burst.

Previous Bikejuju cyclist profiles.

This weekend instead of riding, or blogging about bikes, or even thinking much about bikes, I worked with my wife Lyanda on a big post for her blog The Tangled Nest about our chicken coop design. Enjoy!

Phenomenal bicycle photographer Matt Lingo has posted a black and white photo story called “Alex’s Cuevas.” In fourteen images it conveys the story of his friend Alex while rebuilding a new Cuevas bike after a hit-and-run totaled his previous hand-built Cuevas frame.

I also love this image Matt posted earlier in January.

Beautiful, evocative work, Matt! Keep it coming!

This photo was reprinted in the Seattle Times this week and definitely caught my eye. An unidentified cyclist rides down Laurel Street in Richmond, Virginia through the heavy snows that paralyzed parts of the southeast last weekend. Photo by Kevin Morley, Richmond Times-Dispatch.

I like the 45-degree back rack, and the two-tone tires!

Previous Bikejuju freak bike posts.

Los Angeles artist Spencer Starr asks, “Is there really a greater man-made machine more deserving of homage than the bicycle?”

Spencer pays that homage working in light-colored chalk on small hand-made black chalkboards, drawing precise monochrome likenesses of wheeled, human powered transportation devices, including bicycles, tricycles, wagons and more. Chalk Chalk’s Etsy shop offers original pieces (sealed with acrylic fixatif), and open edition prints made from the original pieces.

I asked him to describe a few influences on his work.

I love clean lines in any art form–which is part of my challenge working with chalk, getting clean lines (sometimes I manage to succeed). My friend and framebuilder Tom Schoeniger of 4130, Inc inspires me to no end. Photographer Edward Burtynksky. Charles and Ray Eames. Rich Jacobs. Mike Giant. Basquiat is a big one. Vernon Courtland Johnson. Lance Mountain. My highschool art teachers Don Budy and Charles Thies. Highschool classmates and brothers Billy and Jesse McMillin. And my wife Sharon. And anybody that creates….

Do you ride?

I do ride! I actually came to cycling very late having grown up skateboarding and being slightly “out of step” with the rest of the fam’s cycling. Riding is great save for all the cars and their drivers in LA. I try to run as many errands as I can by bike–which is so much more time efficient in my neighborhood than driving, parking, driving, parking…. One of my most regular errands is to the post office to get all of our Etsy orders shipped–if the post office isn’t busy and I don’t need to wait in line, I can get there and back in about 25 minutes. By car, it would be a minimum of 45!

I relish any chance I get to ride, but I particularly love late night coffee runs, farmer’s market trips, and burrito missions. If I’m riding with the wife, we generally ride La Ballona Creek to the beach and then South to the beach cities (she doesn’t fancy riding in traffic and I hardly blame her)! I sometimes go mountain biking too. I always love it when I go, despite the difficulty in LA of putting the bikes on the car rack and driving to the trailhead. I’ve gotta get over that though as we do have some great trails and mountain passes in Southern California.

I’ll also take my track bike to the Velodrome at Cal State Dominguez Hills in Carson. Since I have a custom 4130 Track Bike, I felt like it was my responsibility to learn to ride at the Velodrome. Ohmygosh, it’s so fun! Doing sprints from the top corner down is such a rush. I think the corners are almost 45º and you have to maintain a speed of 15MPH or you’ll literally slide down the embankments and crash. Any cyclists in Southern Cali who’ve never been should definitely try to go watch a race there. The space is absolutely gorgeous and is somewhat of an architectural wonder. Admittedly I’m a little biased.

Are there other artists working on bicycle-themed art that you think we should be aware of?

Ohmygosh, there’s so many, but probably my favorite is Mike Giant. Of course, all independent frame builders, but especially Tom from 4130. My cousin Elon. Massan. James Newman. Xvelo Designs. DNTX.

Thanks Spencer! You can buy Spencer’s work through his Etsy shop.

Spencer working in his studio with his ever-present assistant, Squeak.

A while ago Bikejuju guest poster Jeff Stracco shared a great set of images of the utility trikes of Beijing.

Filipino-American designer Jonathan Igharas has taken inspiration from tricycles like those in his design for a a mobile A/V unit called the Ant A/V Trike.

Inspired by bicycle and tricycle cultures worldwide, the Ant AV Tricycle was conceptualized to become both a vehicle and platform for urban communication and interaction, and a method to alter and transcend common perceptions associated with current pedal powered mobility and transportation.

By appropriating a utility tricycle from Beijing and re-introducing it into the context of contemporary urban street culture, this music inspired trike enables DJs and VJs to freely roam city streets and meander through the narrowest of alleyways.

Powered by a rechargeable marine battery and a power inverter, the Ant AV Tricycle is designed to house the essential audio/visual equipment to create sensory-filled social interventions and use public space as a play space.

Sliding rails allow for quick deployment and easy access to the platform contained within, making it possible to move from one location to the next without additional, repetitive setup. A side-access storage cabinet provides a space to store extra wires and other miscellaneous items.

Via the charming blog For The Love of Bikes, via NotCot. Thematically related to Made in Queens.

Tim Woody submitted this image to the Bikejuju Dark Days photo contest, and it seems like the perfect way to inaugurate a new Bikejuju feature: Freak Bike Fridays! (Inspired by, but not to be confused with GoMeansGo’s ever-wonderful Penny Farthing Fridays).

Previous freak bike posts:

• Velopunk Adventuring On Tallbikes Through Indonesia
• 1952 Freak Bike
• Bikes of Burning Man 2009

While my friend David was in Botswana last year, he began taking pictures of the everyday cyclists he met while riding around Gabarone, and asking them a few questions. I’m pleased he’s sharing the images with Bikejuju, and I’ll be doling them out in the coming weeks.

Kelly Kontsenyane:

I ride for 30 minutes to get here to work. I ride my bicycle for exercise. It is not dangerous to ride here because I go away from the road. I get fresh after riding, not tired. I get strong. I have the power, so I do not get weary or tiredness. I feel energetical after riding. Even if I am in work, I can still patrol. On Sunday in the morning when I don’t work, I will ride on my Humber to the border of South Africa with my little brother for exercise. I have used my bike for a life time. I paid 400 pula for it.

My father passed along a photo he took of this great bicycle rack outside his dentist’s office in Salem, Oregon.

Philadelphia illustrator, artist, and screenprinter Sara Selepouchin markets her unique work under her studio name, Girls Can Tell. With the tagline “diagramming everyday machines onto everyday things,” Sara’s work includes bicycles, of course, but also typewriters, kitchen mixers, garden tools, kitchen utensils, sewing machines, and even the human heart – all diagrammed in a style that evokes both the precision of an engineer and the quirkiness of a zine-publisher. Sara lovingly hand silkscreens her designs onto tea towels, oven mitts, industrial felt coasters, notebooks, and more. But not t-shirts. Mostly not t-shirts.

Black tandem on grey felt coasters.

Blue brain diagram tea towels.

Tandem tea towels.

I asked Sara about why bicycles appeared as a theme in her work and she told me,

Bikes are pretty amazing to me. When considering great “everyday machines” to draw up as diagrams, bikes just seem like an obvious choice – they have so many interesting pieces and moving parts, so they’re a great design for my work. Also, I love that you can build a bike to your exact specifications, so it’s a really personal machine while being really classic.

Sara’s a mixte rider, and not surprisingly, she’s in love with her bike.

I love my bike – my boyfriend built it for me as a gift and I adore it. It’s a great older Fuji mixte frame, and he added great little touches that I love, like cork grips on the handlebars and a really lovely, honey-colored Brooks saddle that suits me perfectly.  I ride to my studio (whenever I don’t have too much stuff to bring there) and for fun when the weather’s nice. Here in Philly, it’s exciting that bike activists are, slowly but surely, gaining traction and more bike lanes are being built throughout the city.

Sara's bike, serving as a makeshift drying rack in her studio.

Like the good post-millennial crafter that she is, Sara has a website, a blog, an online store, and Flickr stream, and even sells her work in bricks-and-mortar boutiques too. And she gets lots of extra points for organizing the craft boutique at last year’s 7th Annual Philadelphia Bike Part Art Show. And, crafty entrepreneur that she is, Sara also says, “I’ll be working on a few new bicycle themed diagram designs this spring, so please do check back!”