This biker queen rules SA roads

TV is often the culmination, a bonus or a “plus” for the true trailblazers. Like so many of them, Seipei Mashugane was already on her own journey – one that forged a path for women bikers – when e.tv offered to document her ride through nine provinces in nine days.

And while most of us only know the “biker queen” from the show Double-Up Mzansi Style, she’s been a biker all her life.

“As a teenager in the township, I cycled. Scouts often came into the area to promote sports and this helped me find ‘my thing’. I did it for years but stopped in my twenties. I yearned to go back. I wanted to reconnect with what made me tick but when I did, I realised how tough it was. I used to be able to cycle 20 to 30km with ease, but now was physically exhausted in just a short distance. I was no longer the engine,” she said.

Her love for two wheels saw her go from bicycle to motorcycle.

“Those that knew me were not surprised,” she said.

“I chose an 1 800 Yamaha, a massive 365kg machine, certainly not a starter bike,” laughed the mother of two.

She currently rides a 1 098 S Ducati and VT 1 300 Honda.

Mashugane is passionate about the preservation of biking culture in South Africa, one of the reasons she’s lent her name to the family orientated Light the Fire biking lifestyle festival which will take place on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast this month.

“When I started biking there were a lot of people who wanted to hold me back (I was never deterred) but the majority of bikers I encountered were such good people.

“The biking community in our country – people who love bikes and own and ride them as a hobby – are the best of people. Perhaps not the ‘conventional’ idea of bikers some people have.

“Biking as a hobby is costly, often the people who take it up are professional, senior people in their workspace and accomplished riders. They have brought a lot of respect to the leather outfit. Biking may seem uncharacteristic, but I guess biking is a release for them.

“Bikers are so giving – you only need to look at the charity rides our South African clubs do to see this.

“I think in the last few years, a lot of young guys have come into biking and attached being cool or drinking to the sport. But they are actually missing the point. Lifestyle and family events are what real bikers are truly about.

“I have been privileged to have ridden with almost every club and tried a number of different motorbikes,” she said. “I found a real sense of brotherhood. It opened up a new world to me.

“I was now interacting with these big biker men. I used to be scared just looking at them, but they turned out to be the sweetest men ever, and they all had such respect for me.”

She soon realised that most of the women in the biking world were passengers, not bikers themselves, which is what prompted the 1 in 9 ride in 2009. This represented one woman riding across nine provinces in nine days, elevating the position of women in the biking world while raising money for charity.

She was soon discovered by Double-Up Mzansi Style, who provided her with the opportunity to take her supporters along with her on her journey to discover South Africa.

Mashugane also co-hosted the Motorcyle Diary on Radio 702 every Thursday, where she tackled road safety issues, lifestyle, events and gave reviews on the latest bikes.

Mashugane, who owns and runs a company called Maznic, a mining supply company, says biking has been a metaphor for her life.

“I learnt how to ride in three days and while I have fallen, thankfully I haven’t had any major accidents. Riding is a metaphor for life. You do fall, but it’s about getting back up and doing it again.

“Bikes are like the world. It has its own motor. It’s going to keep on going, with or without you, so you have to learn to stay on.”