Hi Keef! It’s a real pleasure to have you here. First of all, congratulations, we’ve been following Pimped Velo with great interest. Your unique way of bringing old school mountain bikes back to life is truly inspiring. And… What an amazing country Switzerland is! It seems made to be explored by bike.
Hello Emanuele & Thank you so very much for having me onboard with your project @Kolecycles which i have to say i am a big fan of…… What a great community we all have sharing what we do.. credits for your work, But tell us just where do you gather the spare time from with all that you’re involved in….? But anyway let’s move on…. (I could not resist this part Emanuele 🙂
Let’s start from the beginning. Where does your love for bicycles come from? Was there a special moment or memory that sparked this passion?
Now that’s a really good question…. I think I was actually a late starter when I came to learn to ride a bicycle at 7 years of age… For some reason I just could not get it.. I grew up in the north east of England in the early 80’s when BMX was the thing I was dreaming about all day & everyday. There was a older teenage kid named Andy who the lived in the same street as me and his nicknamed BUDGIE (like a pet bird you would keep in a cage) simply for the reason he could BUNNYHOP so high on his yellow mag wheeled BMX it was like he was flying.i would sit and watch these older cool kids jumping over the school fence and boundary walls like it was nothing…. So I can say this moment inspired me to get on a BMX & pedal with confidence for that very first time & from that point on I begged my dear mother to buy me a handlebar race plate with a number 7 on it. Even the locals in the street called me “The number 7 kid” To this day 7 is my lucky number reminding me of the best year of my childhood…. the 80’s was a cool time to learn to ride on a Bicycle…
“Dreams are for free after all :)”
And then… How did Pimped Velo come to life? It’s a project that blends passion and creativity, we’d love to hear how it all started.
I am a first class dreamer when it comes to being creative & throw some passion in the mix well that’s kind of how i got started with this little project of mine around summertime 2022 here in the Mountains .A dear lady in her late 70’s called Hilda invited me and my son quite regular for Monday afternoon cup tea with biscuits & a chance to try and polish up on my terrible German Language that helps me along here in the mountain valley where i call home these days .Hilda lives alone in the next village along from us & she would often see Me & Buddy pedalling past her place on my Dad Bike – an original Cannondale SM1000 from 1989 with kiddy seat at the rear. Until one of those afternoons Hilda popped the question. “Keef, would you like to have another bicycle ?” sorry what was that i said to her smiling thinking she was taking me off to see an old ladies shopper bike of some sort… So off she took me & buddy down to an old dusty stable at the back of her house. There sat a bright mint green Scott Sawtooth from 1988 covered in years of dust… I clearly accepted Hilda’s offer with a smile from ear to ear then rolled the Scott Home with me the following week after our usual ritual. From that point I had no idea what I was getting myself into… I didnt even have any idea what instagram was all about… It was that sawtooth with a stuck seat post that got me hooked on early scott mtbs with their colours and charm. Then Pimpedvelo was born out of fun passion & as much creativity as I could muster up in those late hours of the night. Dreams are for free after all 🙂
“Time is key: we don’t get this back, so I try to make the most of it when I can.”
What really strikes us is your deep connection with 80s and 90s MTBs, which you revive with such care and originality. What is it about old school mountain bikes that fascinates you the most?
Firstly i really like this question Emanuele! I was 10 year of age when my parents decided it was a good idea if i would start to ride a bike to school * 3 miles each way. That christmas present was a shiny red 10 speed steel ATB with massive bull horn bar & stem combo along with 4 fingered brake levers (think stridlands but in heavy chromed steel) branded -FREE SPIRIT- that came with chromed steel fenders & a rear pannier rack complete with a massive set of red pannier bags for all of my stuff to go into.i even remember the name of my first helmet being a “skid lid” solid plastic also in bright red.I had a older friend called Daniel Acer Clarke who rode a MuddyFox Seeker in Lilac Purple…. he introduced me to the ATB Scene now being 1989. Daniel would give me all of his old MTB magazines and parts catalogues from a company called MADDISON. I would read those pages over and over again looking at the Mountain LX rear mechs and then Deore – LX – DX – XT….. I was in a dream world with all these modern Bicycle shiny components. Dreaming that I too someday could have a bike, something like a modern MTB …… those Catalogues took permanent place in my big red panniers of my 10 SPEED FREE SPIRIT from then on…..
Back to your beautiful homeland… Do you have any favorite routes you’d recommend to someone who loves cycling in nature?
I live in a place that’s quite deep in the swiss alps, spending my pedal time on local gravel tracks that connect farmers with their pasture to the peaks of 2500 meters plus of our region so i cannot really recommend what i pedal as a route. Switzerland has a wealth of fantastic cycling routes all throughout the mountains whether your into road – gravel – off road mtb or hard core hiker bike….i try to pick spots that i would like to go using the ancient mountain pass routed to make a stop over with my bivi bag up high with the a sun set in the summer months only. There is a Route Named The SWISS TRANS ALP running from east to west over the alps of Switzerland. I’ve managed to pedal small sections of it & all i can say is : it’s like all your dreams come true in one long grueling beautiful day or two of riding in the mountains 🙂
Among all the adventures you’ve had on two wheels:
Is there a ride that holds a special place in your heart? A moment where you truly felt free or in harmony with your surroundings?
Oooooh your questions are just getting better! Here we go Emanuele…… Around 15 years ago in the year 2010 aged 32 i gave up my life in the UK, a place called Oxford. My Homelife & a good career to pedal my bike solo eastbound across the world without any dates or plans to return… My Bicycle, an olive brown custom built 26 inch Trekking Bicycle was formed by myself to fulfill the need of hauling everything I would need into my stuffed full panniers and roll bags being fully loaded for what turned out to be the next decade of my life. On my way through eastern Iran heading direction Turkmenistan central asia i crossed paths with a couple of special people that rocked my world literally.(i mean i met hundreds of amazing people in this time on the road) But i believe Iran was the beginning of the man i have became to be this very day. This reason was i found love in that special place,Love that led me to be a father to my precious daughter with a very special person* also to be in love with myself & most of all with what i was doing with my life at that point in time,which was riding that fully loaded bicycle towards the sunrise day after day… Whilst i was pedalling down the then unsealed karakoram highway into Pakistan i felt a true sense of belonging in a wonderful culture along with the world i had created for myself all because of the bicycle i was learning so much everyday, the connections with the local mountain people that offered me safety and shelter in not so safe territories, the endless handshakes and the long meaningful hugs that imprinted their joy of life into my open vulnerable soul that i carried me along on this dusty rusty 26 inch bicycle of mine…. I will stop here and simply share with you that the Mountain people of Pakistan as a whole fed my soul in a way that I have not since experienced to date… Pakistan I hope to return some day on that very same olive brown bicycle that carried me to you back then so far for so long…Thank you for all your kindness i received….
