I’m here in South Africa, documenting the Karoobaix, a 400km race through the Karoo Desert and naturally, while here, I’ve been documenting a few bikes from the event. While I’m compiling photos from the race itself. The first bike is Stan’s Mercer Bikes…

Stan is the organizer of the Karoobaix and the Tour of Ara, both races explore the vast Karoo desert outside of Cape Town. For South Africans, there are enough mountain bike races, but no dedicated “gravel” races, where dropbar exclusivity looks to separate these races from other, XC MTB-oriented stage races like the Cape Epic.

This bike was made by a South Africa builder named Mercer Bikes. Stan wanted an all-road bike, complete with rear rack mounts, clearance for big tires and a beautiful custom rack, which utilizes the face plate drilling of the Thomson stem. Stan then modified a bag he found online to fit on this race. While the rack is one of the most unique of its kind I’ve ever seen, by far, my favorite detail is the most low-fi, the amazing hand painted decoration by local artist Black Koki.

While there’s much more to come from my time in South Africa, including my Karoobaix Reportage, I wanted to give you something to whet your appetite in the meanwhile…