I got a new bicycle this weekend[1] and it is an elegant, function-first machine – taut and lean. I’ve been riding bicycles as an aesthetic thing since I started commuting to work in Cape Town in 2006. With each successive bicycle I’ve tended to pare down and simplify. I started out with an old Giant mountain bike to which slick tires had been fitted[2], moved on to a Giant hybrid with a lighter frame and front-wheel suspension[3] but what I’ve actually always wanted is a single-speed. Since single-speeds are generally very rare in South Africa I never did get around to retooling my bikes to be single-speeds and when I arrived in Austin I was suddenly surrounded by single-speeds, both freewheel and fixed-wheel. Having scraped together the cash and reason[4] I went out and got a single-speed, a Redline 925 in orange.

Object of Desire

To be absolutely honest a large part of my wanting this bicycle is because it looks so damn cool – aesthetically perfect, but it is also a frickin great bike with enough performance cred to make it on the streets of Austin.

Austin is a great city for bicycle punks with weird vintage rebuilds, Sunday bike polo matches, spoke cards, and a general punkiness to be seen at any bike rack in downtown. By Austin standards my new ride is very conservative with its mudguards and reflectors, but it’s suits my old-guy vibe. But don’t let the conservative look fool you – it is fast, really fast. The bike comes in somewhere between 10 and 11kgs (around 25 lbs) and isn’t lightweight by any means but it has a mean gearing[5] which accelerates wildly. And the steel frame and tight crank-to-wheel feel puts you into direct contact with the road – you can practically feel the rubber contorting in the pedals.

It feels great on a late summer night as you zoom along Avenue F between 38th and 45th streets. This is why I love bicycles.