When we are kids, we don’t know the value of things. We also have no idea, the direction our lives may take. Some people claim they have everything planned to a T, but I certainly am not one of those people. Spending days and weeks during holidays at my best friend’s house, I was certainly aware of the bicycle in the study, we were expressly told not to touch it. It was carefully moved occasionally when we wanted to use an extra chair to play King’s Quest and later on Lesuire Suit Larry on the PC. That was as much involvement I had with the bike in the study. I knew it was of high value at the time, but I did not know how valuable it is to me, there’s no way to know at the time. Without going into too much detail and my whole life story, we rode BMX’s as our main mode of transport, after school in groups between the houses where we live. We explored areas of the neighbourhoods in which we lived and it was an integral part of our lives - It was a means to an end. Fast forward, a whole number of years, and cycling once again forms a strong part of my life, but not for the same reasons as the BMX at the time. After having conversations about cycling, and enquiring If my mate still had his cosmos bike that he and his dad had built up through Westdene Cycles at the time, he mentioned that his dad still has the bike that was in the study. He offered it to me. I very excitedly accepted. After some time, and logistics needed sorting out, getting the bike back to Joburg from the coast, I finally got my hands on it. While driving home last night, and seeing the bike for the first time in 20 odd years, my mind was flooded anew with lost childhood memories, of my mate’s father, times my mate and I spent together and a general sense of happiness. I had this silly smile on my face all the way home, this morning when I took some photographs, and every time I think about it. Thinking about cycling in my life currently, and the happiness it brings, and it being enriched by this piece of history has really made quite an impact. Keyz, when you are reading this – Thank you for 32 years of friendship and memories. It certainly has been 32 good ones because of it. Enough with the soppy stuff, down to business: The Bike is a Zeus, manufactured in Spain. Zeus being reportedly, one of the better Campagnolo copiers out there at the time. What set Zeus apart was that they manufactured all their own components, under the Zeus brand. Only items I can ascertain that are not OEM are the brakeset and the shimano FD. A complete bike, with restored decals and fresh paint are available on E-bay for about $600. Not that I am planning to get rid of it.
