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Cycling Fashions and Fashionistas in Durban, South Africa in the 1950's & 1960's
With its sunny, subtropical climate of mild winters and hot, humid summers, the east coast South African city of Durban is ideally suited for both leisure and competitive cycling all year round and this originally Victorian colonial city has long had its cycling enthusiasts. But the local popularity of cycling has waxed and waned over the decades and local fashions in lightweight bikes, equipment and cycling paraphernalia have undergone frequent changes, never more so than in the second half of the 20th century.
This article concentrates on the Durban cycling scene as it existed in the 1950s and 1960s with an emphasis on the competitive cycling ‘subculture’ of the time, focusing particularly on the lightweight equipment then in use locally(1).