As a kid, Lempert liked to ride the family tandems: a single-speed Schwinn Twinn, and a 10-speed Atala. Her Rollfast tandem [painting on cover] is one of her prized possessions and a willing model in many of her paintings. She had seen the late 60's tandem hanging from a bike shop
ceiling. Immediately inspired, she asked to borrow it for a painting. During the six weeks it resided in her studio, she and three of her roommates fell in love with it. They all pitched in and bought it, then immediately christened it with a first ride down to Coney Island. Lempert equates her time on the Rollfast to cruising around in an old Cadillac. She rides it regularly, most recently to tote a friend to a gallery opening. "I do a lot of chauffeuring on it," she says. And a tandem is ideal when she's out bike shopping with friends. "Then the buyer can go home on the new bike," she says, "and I ride the tandem home." Her favorite tandem partners include her boyfriend, friends and neighbors‹and Lempert often uses her tandem to pick up her visiting sister at the Port Authority bus station. If there were ever a day when she had a shortage of willing tandem partners, Taliah says she might consider letting Eddy Merckx stoke for her. Many of her tandem paintings are bought
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