Boys With Bikes

BOYS WITH BIKES

KASIA FISZER

Boys With Bikes

BOYS WITH BIKES

DEDICATION To Rich, my partner in crime.

BOYS WITH BIKES

PHOTOGRAPHS KASIA FISZER

Photographs and design Š 2013 Kasia Fiszer First Edition: December 2013 ISBN Book dsign by Kasia Fiszer Printed in UK

INTRODUCTION

I’ve never been particularly interested in bikes, nothing more than admiring typical retro pretty looking bikes to pootle around the town, on a summery day, in a pretty dress and the wind in my hair. That’s until I met my boyfriend Rich…

He ‘lives and breathes’ bikes every minute of the day. For him, it’s all about the mountain biking and subsequently I got hooked on it too.

Considering my love for interiors and decorating our flat with all things pretty, I never thought I’ll be ok with having five bikes in our tiny living room and biking gear spread everywhere else! Spending days off mountain biking, no matter the weather and choosing holiday destinations based on riding facilities…! You can see the picture.

Although I still believe my boyfriend is a ‘special case’ when it comes to the biking obsession, I’ve met all his friends and realised that they are not that far off it either. I started documenting our trips and generally taking pictures and filming whenever they went riding and that’s when the idea for this project came about. I wanted to delve a bit deeper to understand why they all love it so much by looking into their personal spaces and photographing them at home, their bedrooms, sheds, etc. and seeing how those spaces reflect their identities. Is it all about bikes for them too or do they have other passions in life?

RICH Age: 21 Occupation: Bike Mechanic Passion: Collecting and fixing bikes

HARRI Age: 22 Occupation: Electronic Engineer Passion: Hanging out with mates

SAM T Age: 21 Occupation: Groundsman / Tractor Driver Passions: Hunting, mountain biking, working

DOM Age: 28 Occupation: Skate Shop Owner Passions: All types of mountain biking and skateboarding

CHRIS Age: 27 Occupation: Builder Passions: Bikes and cider, and my family

MATTY Age: 18 Occupation: Dinghy Instructor / Bar Tender / Chalet Host Passions: Bikes, boats, windsurfing, skiing

JIM Age: 34 Occupation: Sculptor Passion: Making and breaking things and LEGO of course

SAM M Age: 28 Occupation: Video Engineer for live events Passions: Riding bikes (any of them), food, films, rally driving

LEWIS Age: 26 Occupation: Web sales assistant manager at The Natural Grocery Store Passions: Making other people happy

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to say thank you to all the Boys With Bikes, without you and your enthiusiasm this book would not have come to be.