Thobeka Tyesi
“Fixin Diaries was started at the beginning of 2014 by two brothers, Mojalefa and Karabo Masopha and their friend, Hussain van Roos. The brothers were building a bike randomly as a hobby but found amongst their friends that people were interested in buying the build, and from that point on they saw a gap to refurbish and create custom bikes.” – Ayanda Moholi.
Represent: Your primary focus is to refurbish bicycles and to create new ones from scratch, what is your secondary focus?
Fixin Diaries: Our secondary focus is to create a cycling community. We host rides 2-3 times a month (within and outside the community) for a number of people to enjoy the Jozi roads and have fun. A great way to have fun, take lots of pictures – and just take in the beauty of South Africa.
Represent: What has been your greatest challenge and how do you differentiate yourself from backpackers and any other movements with a similar cause?
Fixin Diaries: We’re not a tour company. We’re a facilitator of bringing like-minded people, people who would have never connected with one another for a single interest.
Represent: What was the inspiration behind building fixies and organising events that included this sport?
Fixin Diaries: This is not a sport! The idea of it being a sport gives the impression that you have to be fit and that it’s competitive. This is why we call it a lifestyle. Our events are leisurely, we ride as a group. The whole point of Fixin Diaries is to create a family, a place where we’ll never “leave a homie behind”, whether you’re an experienced rider or a beginner we are here to build a community. Fixies are the simple kind of bikes. How bikes were always made to be. And it speaks to the simple aspect of Fixin Diaries, we’re not trying to conquer 94.7 and being Ironman. We just want the simplicity of cycling.
Represent: What has been your favourite event, one that had a surprising turn out and encouraged you to continue organising more events?
Fixin Diaries: The Ladies’ Ride. It started out as a small idea to get my girl friends together to just ride, but then it became a bigger idea. Last month, we hosted our first one and the turnout was amazing. The ladies enjoyed it so much and it was on their advice that we plan to do another one on Saturday, 25 April.
Represent: What events can people look forward to in the next few months?
Fixin Diaries: We have Fishtail Rides coming up in May, as well as another InstaRides
Represent: Please take us through your last event and its success.
Fixin Diaries: Well this was kind of a makeshift event. It was meant to be a bunch of ad people riding through Soweto to capture various brands advertising in the area and it quickly escalated and became an instaride. Check out #InstaRideSoweto on Instagram. It was wildly successfully and everyone can’t wait until the next one.
Represent: How can people get involved, and where can they navigate to for more information?
Follow our social media. We update regularly about our builds and our events. Instagram: @fixindiaries, Twitter: @fixindiaries and Facebook: Fixin Diaries
Represent: Do you have a store or are you in a process of opening a store soon.. tell us more?
Fixin Diaries: We are in the process of opening a store in Melville called the Fishbowl, but we have our roots in Pimville because that’s where Fixin Diaries started. The Pimville location is our workshop, where we do the hard work of building, and the Fishbowl will be our store front as well as the location for upcoming events.
Represent: How has social media played a role in the success of this project?
Fixin Diaries: Free marketing!
Everyone is on social media. And even better, Instagram; it’s the number one platform for us to showcase our builds and share stories of the rides we have hosted, and it’s not only us sharing those stories, it’s the cycling community we’ve created.
For more updates and to find out how you can be a part of this lifestyle, follow Fixin Diaries on the Twitter handle @fixindiaries
