Axum, Ethiopia to be exact. Tom Furtwangler from the excellent blog Bikejuju sent me these photographs of a set of iridescent blue Phoenix roadsters he found in Axum. As mentioned before, Africa is one of the main export markets for Indian and Chinese roadster manufacturers. But enough talk. Let's look at the photos.
The first picture shows what appears to be a 26" Phoenix leaning on it's sidestand outside a cafe. It is equipped with a light and bottle dynamo, which are infrequently seen in China.
A Phoenix it is indeed. We can see that it also has a circle spoke lock and caliper brakes. Full chaincase and cottered cranks, of course.
The Phoenix red and gold headbadge goes well with the dramatic blue paint. We can see that the bike has a tubular fork crown.
This style of fender is typically found only on 26" bikes. From the look of the front tire...the non driven tire... this bike has seen a lot of use, and looks pretty good despite it! Surely a well loved and well maintained machine.
One last shot. A different Blue Phoenix roosting under a tree in a city alive with activity. Yes, the Phoenix still has it's pride of place.
Thanks for posting! Yes, these Phoenix are all over Africa, though sadly they are being replaced by the much cheaper "mountain bike" Phoenix models that are pictured in another post on Bikejuju.com. These bright blue bikes caught my eye for sure, most often you see them in black. They light and dynamo are very common on African bikes, in various states of functionality.
Posted by: Bikejuju | December 24, 2009 at 01:10 AM
hey, I have a Feng Huang trac 300 bike I am restoring, I wonder if I could ask you some questions about it. can you get in touch with me? thanks...
Posted by: heath | April 28, 2010 at 10:31 AM
Hi,
I am looking at importing bikes into South Africa Johannesburg for the Low Cost Market, I am especially interested in the Blue Phoenix...
Do you do motorcycles to?
Posted by: Robert | August 14, 2010 at 08:58 PM