I don’t know anything about bicycles. Which, I am told, is still no excuse for not knowing who Dave Mercer was when he moved his workshop into the Bijou at the start of 2019. Dave hand builds custom steel bicycles (www.mercerbikes.co.za). Really well! Now, fascinating as that is to folks seemingly oblivious to the moral and aesthetic swampland of cycling shorts, I was more intrigued when Dave told me he is also a vet. (There is a slightly wicked business model lurking between those enterprises I’m sure.) But what sealed my interest was watching him procrastinate his way through a tricky bike build with the help of an acoustic guitar. I’ve been hacking away for 20 years, and what he’s done in 2 years was enough to for me recreate that iconic moment from The Clash.

Flat White