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What goes around, comes around
Collectors and lovers of old bicycles taking a ride around the city of Semarang
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Collectors and lovers of old bicycles taking a ride around the city of Semarang. (JP/Suherdjoko)
Kring... kring... kring. The high-pitched sound competed with the cacophony coming from the chaos of motorcycles and cars passing through the old city area of Kota Lama in Semarang, Central Java's capital city, on a Sunday morning.
The sound came from about 30 old bicycles that were moving along at a speed of around 15 kilometers an hour.
Slowly but surely all the old cyclists, the majority of whom were men, coasted through the city center.
The cyclists' foreheads were glossy with sweat. Their T-shirts and clothing were saturated with sweat, but their faces gleamed.
The cyclists included Riyadi, 67, Hartono, 56, Juari, 53, Basuki, 27, Bahana, 28, Sutopo, 46, and tens of other men.
They wore the traditional Javanese clothing used by low-level people in the olden days. They wore black bell-bottom drawstring trousers made of striped woven material, long-sleeved men's jackets and batik headscarves. Other men wore glossy black leather shoes, trousers and colonial government-style outfits known as binenland bestuur.
At a glance, this was a group of old time characters that appeared in the modern era.
Their clothes certainly looked different, but they were appropriate for their means of motion -- the old bicycle.
The people of Central Java and Yogyakarta call these Onthel bicycles, meaning the bicycle has to be pedaled (onthel) manually.
The men are members of the Semarang Onthel Community (SOC), an organization bringing together people who love old bicycles.
"I'm pleased that I can gather together with others who share the same hobby. This was my grandfather's favorite bicycle," said Basuki, who wore all white clothing complete with a white cap while lighting up his cangklong (a pipe with curved stem) that billowed smoke from the burning tobacco.
Obtaining old clothing is actually not expensive. They can hunt for them in shops that sell secondhand clothing. The major expenses are the old bicycles. In the context of history, the values of these machines cannot be measured with money.
"We usually exchange information about the old bicycles to make sure we can get those with a reasonable price. There are some that are sold with a price tag of Rp 300,000 (US$ 32), but there are others that can also reach a million rupiah.
"The price depends on the condition of the bicycle and also the knowledge the bicycle seller has about this hobby which has now become trendy," said member Bahana Patria Gupta.
Head of the SOC, Muchamad Bob Reza, 33, explained that the old bicycle lovers' organization now had 146 members.
"A long time ago I knew only three people who were riding old bicycles," he told The Jakarta Post.
After talking, they then made contact with other friends who shared the same hobby. After that, they expressed a desire to form a group.
"We set up the Semarang Onthel Community on June 1 last year. It only took three months after that for the old bicycle community to start gathering. I was surprised by the enthusiasm of old bicycle lovers. They include the young and the old, our members are so numerous," he said.
Every member owns an old bicycle. Bob Reza, for example, has four bicycles. Wherever he goes, he prefers using a Raleigh brand bicycle made in 1934.
From the group's data, the SOC member who owns the oldest bicycle has a Simplex brand made in 1884. And the most recent model is a Raleigh made in 1970.
Many bicycle brands have been sold in Indonesia. Most of them have been made in England, Holland, Germany and Japan. The bicycle parts, such as lamps and dynamos, originated in England, Switzerland, Germany, Holland and Japan.
Do you want to know the names of those old bicycles? They include: Gazelle, Rudge, Humber, Simplex, Phillips, Batarus, Fongers, Norman, Locomotif, Raleigh, Goricke Bielefeed, Magneet, The Hunter, Pandu, Hero, Hercules, Sparta, Eastern, Road Star, Norman, The Speeds, Teha, Battalion, Gruno, Super Bicycle, The Royal and Phoenix.
Associations of old bicycle lovers are apparently everywhere in the country, such as in Yogyakarta, Jakarta, Bandung and Surabaya, following a growing awareness on the need to preserve the heritage of our ancestors.
In February 2008 the first National Congress of Old Bicycle Associations was held in Bogor. The result of that congress was a recommendation to the central government and regional governments to form special roads for bicycles in all regions in Indonesia.
The congress also successfully formed the Association of Old Bicycle Organizations in Indonesia with the name Kosti (Indonesian Old Bicycle Community) with a working life of three years, 2008-2011.
Old bicycle-lover communities also run their own websites on the Internet to make it easier for communication. There's even an agreement in place that asks all lovers of old bicycles not to sell their bicycles to overseas buyers.
The get-together program for old bicycle lovers will be held again by SOC between Aug. 2 and Aug. 3 2008 and is expected to be a nostalgic event for the onthel enthusiasts of Semarang.
Apart from the parades of old bicycles, the committee will also hold an exhibition and contest involving old bicycles, a bazaar exhibiting antique goods, a culinary bazaar, a photo exhibition and a festival of kroncong (popular Indonesian music originating from Portuguese songs).
"We have invited all the old bicycle cyclists. We will conduct a parade of old bicycles touring around Semarang city and entering the Kota Lama area. We expect many participants from Java will join in. We have also had notice that cyclists from Bali and Makassar will come," Bob Reza said.
