Australia

Cycling stickers come in all shapes and sizes, each one with a story to tell


Daniel Hennessy, a Wollongong man, has many passions, collecting cycling-related stickers being one of them.

His stickers reflect a lifetime of competitive cycling, symbolising both the small country towns he first trained in, to representing Australia in international cycling competitions.

For about 35 years, Danny has been a competitive cyclist participating in both the Commonwealth Bank Cycle Classic and the Herald Sun tour, amongst others.

He raced 10 times in the tour of New Caledonia and is a frequent racer in the tour of Tahiti, better known as the La Ronde Tahitienne in Papeete, but the pinnacle of his cycling career was winning the UCI Track Cycling Masters World Championships in 2010.

“I was still collecting stickers once I left high school, and that’s when I started to compete in cycling,” he said.

TODAY NSW REG Debate around centre of NSW

“It came together because every weekend for 10 months of the year I would hop in the car with my friends and we’d drive to a country town in NSW and have a bike race,” he said.

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“So, when I was in town, I would look around at shops who had stickers on the counter, and I would collect them from country towns as well,” he said.

Over the years, Danny had many jobs working in the cycling industry but his first was as a delivery boy for a Wollongong chemist, earning him the resources to buy his first racing bike.

Currently employed at Australia Post, Danny was previously a bicycle mechanic and salesman at bike shops, fuelling his passion for stickers, but when he was younger, Danny was shy, and he says collecting stickers gave him confidence.

“If you were too scared to go into the shop and ask for a sticker, well, then you didn’t have any stickers,” he said.

“I now have endless and endless volumes of stickers.”

Memorable moments

A world champion at the time, Stephen Roche appeared on stickers selling cycling paraphernalia.(

ABC Illawarra: Sarah Moss

)

Some stickers have more intrinsic value because of who he was with rather than where he was.

His collection reminds him of riding with former Goulburn Sydney winner Robbie Williams, winner of the triple crown of the Tour de France Stephen Roche, living legend Stuart O’Grady and Wayne Gardiner to name a few.

“There’s an amazing one I got when I bought a pair of famous cycling shoes.

“The brand name was Vittoria and it’s got a photograph of the World Champion, Stephen Roche, at the time.

“These were the sort of idols we would look up to and all of a sudden, I’ve got a pair of shoes that he rides with and also a sticker of him.

“So, stickers like that, they’re pretty cool,” he said.

Danny Hennessy displays a box of vintage stickers.
Danny Hennessy keeps his extensive collection in boxes.(

ABC Illawarra; Sarah Moss

)

How to keep your stickers

“Once they are stuck, they’re pretty much useless,” he said.

“Often,  people will stick stickers on bits of furniture, fridges and the cabinet in the shed.

“And then they move and then it’s gone.

So, the best idea is to really keep them boxed, then you can share them and look at them and appreciate them in a different way,” he said.

Although he likes the idea of a sticker convention to swap stickers.

“You never really want to let your number one sticker go, but there are exceptions.

“The idea is to always collect doubles or triples and then you know you’ve got some up your sleeve and you can swap the spare one for another sticker that you don’t have if that person is prepared to get rid of one as well,” he said.

You can never find the Phantom, he finds you

a man holding a phatom sticker
Cyclist David Dietz with his Phantom sticker.(

Sarah Moss

)

David Dietz, a cycling friend who collects Phantom paraphernalia, was lucky enough to receive one of the two Phantom stickers in Danny Hennessy’s extensive sticker collection.

“Over many years, when people have given me items that are associated with the Phantom, it’s always something I really appreciate,” David Dietz said.

“Knowing that it’s something Danny has had for quite some time, made it even more special. I was happy to get it,” he said.



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