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I just received these pictures from our war correspondent, AfghanBMXer. He stumbled upon this guy named Abdula who owns a little bicycle repair shop. It’s down a back alley from the central shopping area in the city of Shahjoy. I asked him what the town was like and if he got to go for a ride. His only response was: ” It’s a super sketchy place where the Taliban try to blend in with the locals”. So I’m guessing he didn’t get to ride…
I sent over a bunch of DC stickers a while ago. Unfortunately they aren’t there yet since they haven’t had any outside mail in over three weeks. Hopefully he can get back and hook up our man Abdula with one.
Stay safe over there amigo. Thanks for the pictures!
-Unlike a war zone on the other side of the planet, the email at DC headquarters still works perfectly. So be sure to submit your questions for this week’s Greasewipe.
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These pictures remind me of bicycle shops in some villages in India.They too hang bike tires outside the shops…
Those bicycles could actually be from India as I suppose they don’t manufacture them in Afghanistan?
Not sure sending DC stickers to Afghanistan would be the wisest of ideas. You know culturally speaking and so forth. But it is just a thought.
I hope that the Taliban don’t see the pic of our Afghan Rep on the intrawebs. They might just feel the need to kill him for fraternising with the enemy. It’s a fucked-up world we live in. All the guy wants to do is fix bikes and earn a living.
On a lighter note, tyres are hung up because their shape lends them to that and there’s no space on any bike shop floor because it’s already covered in other, less hang-able shit.
Props to AfghanBMXer.
Props to all those brave bicyclists. Fucking Brav-O.
…i’m with african single…props to the afghan baller…
…an honest guy just tryin’ to make a buck & keep a lotta funky ass bikes workin’ for the locals…prob’ly a pretty creative wrench considering he’s likely cobbing a lotta stuff together at times…
…ain’t no ‘bicycle supply warehouse’ with 3 day shipping nearby…
…& ya, props again to afghanbmxer & crew…it’s all pretty fucking easy from where we sit, here at home…
…so, get your asses back here & ride where the only danger is from idiots in cars…
I remember coming across a few similar shops while on patrol in Northern Namibia during the 70s & 80s.
Except then they weren’t Indian or Chinese bikes but genuine old BSA, Triumph or Raleigh bicycles.
And yes, nothing was thrown away, it could always be put to use.
We got our first car when I was 12 years old, prior to that my Dad rode a huge old black BSA bicycle to work every day, rain or shine.
I only worked out many years later that he did a 30 miles round trip every day.
Damn Legend & he never considered himself a cyclist because everyone did it then.
But he was!
…impressive, about your dad, hurben…
…i didn’t own a car until i was 40 years old but i don’t suppose i ever commuted more than about 16 to 18 miles round trip, to work & back…
…of course, that kinda mileage on a regular daily basis meant that, being a cyclist, when i rode on the weekend, i was kickin’ ass on guys 20 years younger than me but, alas, nowadays, that’s a long way behind me…
This makes my heart smile. I deal with so many mechanics nowadays that can’t do anything themselves, or don’t have the tools. If it’s not plug and play a great deal of these shop guys are lost. “I had to recut the threads on the BB, the dropouts are slightly out of alignment, Whaa, Whaa,Whaa.” I want to hire this guy. You know he could probably rebuild a Sturmy Archer in under 30 mins, and not cry about it. Not that I can. Never been given the chance, boss always made me ship ’em back to get rebuilt.