All bikes have a story, but some have more of a story than others. This bike is of the latter camp. It involves the unlikely combination of an Eroica frame, carbon wheels, custom mudguards and a… video game. Like all good stories, it makes no sense at all.
Meet Johan. The story starts with him. Johan worked until recently at Ass Savers in Gothenburg. As their sales guy, he would travel to the big trade shows and it was at the 2017 Berliner Fahrradschau that he met Paul of My Wild Love.
Over a few beers and a currywurst, they hatched a plan for a collaboration: My Wild Love would make a frame and Ass Savers would make a mudguard and there would be much awesomeness all over the internet. The next day the plan, like most plans was somewhat forgotten.
Fast forward a year
As fate would have it, not long before the event Johan and Paul crossed paths again. Johan got a sneak-peak of the frame artwork and liked it. A lot. The forgotten collaboration was back on. All Johan had to do was convince his boss.
Now, Johan’s the kind of guy that’s always either building a bike or stripping a bike so he can assemble another one. His boss, Staffan, knew this and wasn’t easily persuaded. After much back and forth, the argument, “we can always sell the frame,” sealed the deal. Ass-Savers was onboard, albeit a little reluctantly.
While a second San Marco frame in Johan’s size was rushed to the sprayer, Johan set about shaking down friends and contacts for parts. He wanted the Africa frame to be a dream build with SRAM Red and carbon everything (except for some classic Nitto up-front).
This is where the wheels come in. In case you haven’t heard of them, HiFi puts out quality hoops from their base in Portland, Oregan. They also do custom art on request. Johan gave them a call and a month later he had a set of their finest Anti-Flutter wheels, dressed up with one-off art, resting against his desk in Gothenburg.
As his other parts rolled in, Johan started getting excited. Like, really excited. Videos of Johan, clutching his new parts and giggling like a child filled his Instagram stories. With a little help from his colleagues at Ass Savers, the bike was soon built. But there was still one more thing to come.
Enter the video game guy. It was around this time that My Wild Love made a friend that made games. Did he want to make a side-scroller about a guy named Johan pedaling his road bike through Sub-Saharan Africa? Sure, why not. Check it out.
The first game to ever accompany a bike collab was born. You can either jump Johan to a high-score. Or crash him into an Ostrich. You decide. Ass-Savers is offering a free mudguard to the first 50 people to send in a score above 20,000 points. They’ve already given quite a few away, so if you want to win one, be quick.
And that’s the whole story. In short, a frame became a mudguard that became a set of wheels that became a video game. All because a guy named Johan wanted it to. Good stories never make sense. But like this one, they’re always
To buy the mudguard or learn more about the collaboration, head over to Ass Savers. To learn about the frame, visit My Wild Love. The second frame in size 55/55 is for sale to the right buyer.
My Wild Love Website | Facebook | Instagram
Ass Savers Website | Facebook | Instagram
Massive thanks to Paul of My Wild Love for the words and pictures.
