Unusual Bicycles: The Buffalo from World Bicycle Relief
Unusual Bicycles: The Buffalo from World Bicycle Relief
Custom built bicycle by World Bicycle Relief NGO which provides Bicycles to underdeveloped, mostly rural, areas
More to be found at https://worldbicyclerelief.org
I'm too cynical to advocate for or against the NGO itself on account of not having researched it enough, It's founded by the SRAM owners (that being a bicycle parts corporation) and they have a for-profit subsidiary which just sells you that bike, but they claim some of it goes towards the actual charity. Seems an ok model.
But the idea seems, genuinely, pretty good. You give someone a rugged-ass bicycle that can be fixed via local parts instead of some dependance on anything else, they now have a pretty good bicycle and boy does that beat walking. Forgive me the obvious bias here but it feels, at least theoretically, pretty Sankara-esque, it's just instead of a tractor, it's a bicycle. Different use-case, same philosophy.
Especially that 100kg carry capacity rear rack, I mean goddamn. Most "adventure" bikes you can customer purchase in the west end at around 40 - 50kg on that front. Kind of want one now.
According to their own numbers they've given out 752.000 bicycles at about 150€ a pop.
EDIT: It also comes very close to the Apocalypse Bicycle that I posted about as the Humanitarian Bicycle idea about 2 years ago and that was from some guy just designing it for fun
What do we think?
A bike that robust might be a bit on the heavy side for casual use, but I very much like things that are made to be easy to repair. I'd add a basket at the front.
22kg according to Engineering for Change
Some thoughts on the weight of mine would be: that is, undubitably, heavier than your standard issue bicycle in the west but compared to like a RIverside Touring 520 (~850€), that's only 6kg more. It gets you less fixin's and way less gears, but it does get you about 60kg more on the rear rack. Jury's out on maximum allowable weight both on account of that's heavily influenced by EU regulations for the latter and I can't find a source on it for the first, but considering the pricepoint: pretty good! My own commuter doesn't weigh all that much less than that.
Considering their promo material it's not really made for mountaneous areas and if you don't have to start / stop all that much because you're on rural african roads, the weight is sort of neglibible a factor.
I'd add a basket at the front.
Same, now that you say it. If I'd have to guess that's either due that being hilariously easy to do with aftermarket stuff or shit you find on the side of the road or because it'd impact the handling
Milk crate with zip ties
22kg
Bike security as provided by bike density. I wonder how well it can handle mud during the rainy season.
This kinda looks like the old English and French touring/farm bikes! Those were also 45-60 pound monsters.
heavy is good, heavy is reliable
"steel is real" guys vindicated again, unironically
It's pretty well thought out for the purpose. That rear rack makes it pretty utilitarian which is really cool. I guess that's some sort of drum brake on the front wheel.
You could carry a passenger on it if they aren't too big/heavy. Instant mini-technical, just add an AK and some foot pegs.
Depends on whether or not they're doing it to be a loss leader and put local competitors out of business by flooding the market. This has happened with things like shoes from Nike, and food of course. Imagine trying to compete as a bike-maker with free bicycles from an international western company.
Looks good, but I always think when I see a "new" thing released to fix a problem, why does it have to be brand new, manufactured and shipped there. There are hundreds of unused bikes rusting away in tips, why can we not repair those and send them? You would probably need new tyres, brakes and perhaps a new chain, but the frames should be fine. Many chunky steel frames exist on old mountain bikes, city bikes, touring bikes etc. rear panniers are easy to attach with aftermarket parts.
Speaking of chains, for maximum durability I think a belt would have been better, but that is also not very common so less repairable.
E: thank you anticlockwise for the criticism, and you are completely right. I guess this view comes from a place of overproduction and waste. I see hundreds of forgotten bikes and then people can also not afford a bike, but that is capitalism. I see all of this stuff that could be in perfect condition with an hour of work and a few spare parts. I guess what is the best way is to reuse our waste here, and build these bikes that are more resilient for the more demanding conditions. I think you blocked me, but thank you nevertheless.
oh my god white people are something else
yes, hypothetically we could send impoverished black people in the third world who have practically no carbon footprint whatever random rusted old bikes with no parts standardization instead of doing anything to reduce our own massive consumption of fossil fuels. what the fuck would it accomplish? do you think the low cost steel bicycles they might pedal around are meaningfully contributing to climate change? is it just fun to deprive others of things hypothetically? is it a ritual?
where do these ideas and thoughts come from? how do they enter your mind and why does no critical kind of process happen? why do I encounter them?
They straight up deleted the comment just to provide some clarification here