{"id":20205,"date":"2022-10-05T09:16:57","date_gmt":"2022-10-05T09:16:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/servicing-bikes-at-the-front"},"modified":"2022-10-05T09:43:37","modified_gmt":"2022-10-05T09:43:37","slug":"servicing-bikes-at-the-front","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/servicing-bikes-at-the-front","title":{"rendered":"Servicing bikes at the front"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>For years, Sky Events, the company behind the illustrious Lesotho Sky Race that has now changed to a ride, had to source mechanical services from South Africa to fix bikes, but not anymore.<\/p>\n

The emergence of Nthati Letsie, the country\u2019s only trained bicycle technician, has put an end to that. Until now it had been unheard of that Lesotho would not have to source outside specialists to repair and maintain bicycles.<\/p>\n

However, last week at the Lesotho Sky, it was Letsie who was helping cyclists with all their bicycle problems. It was the second time that Letsie had worked at the annual mountain bike event which started in 2011.<\/p>\n

Letsie joined the company back in 2014 as a volunteer and at the time she helped with branding and admin work. It was during this time that she kept a close eye on the bicycles and learnt the cost of each part.<\/p>\n

It was learning on the go, she said. She had never ridden a bicycle before but spending time around the bike shop in Roma piqued her interest in the mechanical side of the sport.<\/p>\n

She spent three weeks at the Torq Zone Academy in Pretoria, South Africa, in 2021 where she learnt how to build a bike from scratch, including how to service a bike and the different tools needed.<\/p>\n

She also learned everything one can know about a bicycle, from front to back. \u201cWhen I started with Lesotho Sky I was doing minor things like setting up tents (and) branding and during that time I could see what was happening, just learning as I go,\u201d Letsie said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started working at Roma Trading Post (and) the bike shop was also there at the back. During the day I would go just to see what\u2019s been happening and they would ask me to help with the admin,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year, I got an opportunity to start working at the bike shop when it moved here and I took up more interest.<\/p>\n

I am more of a technician; I do ride but just for leisure so that I know when someone says \u2018this bicycle doesn\u2019t do this\u2019 I know what they mean. \u201d
\nDuring the week, Letsie spends her time at the bike shop and mostly in overalls.<\/p>\n

It is difficult to distinguish her amongst the men working alongside her fixing the bikes. Only when you take a closer look, then you realise it\u2019s not just men.<\/p>\n

She is not afraid of getting stuck in what many think is a man\u2019s job, but she describes herself as a service provider and nothing gives her more joy than helping clients with their bikes.<\/p>\n

It shouldn\u2019t come as a surprise though, Letsie initially studied hospitality in school so helping people with whatever service they require is a topic she knows her way around very well.<\/p>\n

She is currently the only female technician in Lesotho, and the only one with proper qualifications. She is set to travel to Germany to take her skillset to another level by learning from the best mechanics in the business.<\/p>\n

She is not fazed by being the only woman in the industry and she would like to see more women join. \u201cThis is said to be a man\u2019s job because even at school I was the only woman in class for like two and half weeks, and in the last week there was another female to join, she was completing (her course).<\/p>\n

I think it suits me because I would like to think of myself as a service provider,\u201d Letsie said. \u201cWhen it comes to the mechanicals of bicycles, those are just interesting to me \u2013 things like how it can actually work.<\/p>\n

Even if the parts are different and if you are going to put them together assembling a bicycle, that is also interesting for me. For a bike to work is because I made it to, it is a very interesting thing to work on,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n

Like every other job, it comes with its own challenges and stereotypes. The most challenging part has been working on a bike of someone that has been a rider for so long and does not trust a woman can actually fix a it.<\/p>\n

However, Letsie said it gets better with experience even though mistakes still happen here and there. \u201cThe only thing I have come across is that men don\u2019t think I know about bicycles and what I am doing.<\/p>\n

Only when they realise I can and they see my qualifications do they believe that I can actually help but initially they are like, no you can\u2019t,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNormally when I am here at the shop, I am wearing overalls and when people walk in it is \u2018lumelang bontate\u2019 (a greeting addressing men only) and then I will be like, okay.<\/p>\n

Only when they come to ask for help then they talk to me like a normal person but normally it\u2019s neglect,\u201d she said. Letsie has taken control of the bike shop in Ha Thetsane, in the process it has allowed founder Chris Schmidt to focus on other things.<\/p>\n

If she is not busy with admin work of the shop on a daily basis serving clients, she is working with other mechanics to get to the bottom of the problems the bikes have. Her presence at the shop has also seen growth in business as more customers started coming to the shop.<\/p>\n

\u201cLiteboho will receive a bicycle and we will discuss the problem is this and that and then I will give the client a quotation, and if the client says fine go ahead then we already know what\u2019s the problem and how it can be fixed so we strive to also offer solutions.<\/p>\n

I am always at the shop,\u201d Letsie said. Working at the Lesotho Sky Ride was a wholly new experience for her. She said she did not have enough time to go into the depth about the problems she had to solve but she said her first experience was an exciting one. They did not have many bikes that needed mechanical attention.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. For years, Sky Events, the company behind the illustrious Lesotho Sky Race that has now changed to a ride, had to source mechanical services from South Africa to fix bikes, but not anymore. The emergence of Nthati Letsie, the country\u2019s only trained bicycle technician, has put an end to that. Until now […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":20204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,17,16],"tags":[233,246,245],"class_list":["post-20205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-sport","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"\nServicing bikes at the front - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For years, Sky Events, the company behind the illustrious Lesotho Sky Race that has now changed to a ride, had to source ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/servicing-bikes-at-the-front\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Servicing bikes at the front\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For years, Sky Events, the company behind the illustrious Lesotho Sky Race that has now changed to a ride, had to source ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/servicing-bikes-at-the-front\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-10-05T09:16:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-10-05T09:43:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_7-633d51ada31b4.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/servicing-bikes-at-the-front#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/servicing-bikes-at-the-front\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Servicing bikes at the front\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-10-05T09:16:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-10-05T09:43:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/servicing-bikes-at-the-front\"},\"wordCount\":1041,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/servicing-bikes-at-the-front#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_7-633d51ada31b4.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"sport\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/servicing-bikes-at-the-front#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/servicing-bikes-at-the-front\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/servicing-bikes-at-the-front\",\"name\":\"Servicing bikes at the front - 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