News from the Flying Dodo Airfield Having raced competitively from the mid 1950's and thereafter as a long time "collector" of the sort of steel racing cycles I rode back then,I have accumulated/assembled some 300 such machines many which landed here in a sorry state. The concept of the name "Phoenix" for the rescued, restored, refurbished, repainted, machines came from the legend of the bird that resurrected itself in fire. The Dodo was a flightless Mauritian bird now extinct. The passion for preservation of these thoroughbred cycles discarded for the latest bling led to the rescuing, restoring and riding of these machines otherwise destined to follow destiny of the now disappeared Dodo into extinction. The machines landed up here as derelict Dodos and rose again Phoenix- ike resplendent in fine colours and a new identity. To go back to a time before bicycle riding (and thus the production of the machine) went into decline. Raleigh Industries mass-produced 400000 cycles pa in Springs whilst individual frame builders like Hans Huth, Gotti Hansen, Francois Du Toit, Bill Lange, Duncan Macintyre and a handful of others hand built bespoke frames for the discerning, sporting few and those dedicated bicyclists determined to have the very best that could be produced here. That bright, steel frame era ended decades ago. There has been a resurgence in interest in Retro steel Racing machines-and in Rescuing Relics... in saving and revitalising discarded Dodos... in Resurrecting these Relics. There is also now a man who is at present reviving the craft of steel bike frame building.His name is David Mercer. So I thought it fitting that he build me a new frame using a set of old Reynold's 531 tubing and the fancy lugs last in fashion when I raced in the 60's. The frame will be badged as a Mercer/Phoenixin recognition of the resurgence of steel, the resurrection of the skill of the artisan frame builder and the revival of bespoke hand crafting. The organisation I had a hand in creating was on a different path... Mobility for the Majority via the Bicycle. Qhubeka now has a team racing in Europe.They are also now involved in building a Bicycle Plant in the Eastern Cape. Sport has always been a part of the word Tran-sport So things have finally come full circle. The bicycle was invented 200 years ago and though pedals were first fitted to this two wheel machine some 50 years later, the bicycle has only recently risen- Phoenix like-to challenge the polluting pervasiveness of the fossil-fuelled, motorised monopoly. May Pedals long continue to make Progress.
