Bamboo Bikes from Africa

THERE is a great necessity to stimulate a bicycle manufacturing industry in Africa to serve local needs and to build better bikes for poor Africans in rural areas. According to BicyclePotential.org, “experiments done in Africa (Uganda and Tanzania) and Sri Lanka on hundreds of households have shown that a bicycle can increase the income of a poor family by as much as 35%”.

Comes the great invention called bamboo bicycles. Native bamboo, as a renewable resource, instead of carbon fiber material or aluminum steel, is used to make the bicycle frames. Frames made of bamboo are lighter but stronger than the poor-quality frames made of steel. In addition, the production of bamboo frames requires lesser equipment, staff, and capital than the production of steel frames since bamboo is ubiquitous in Africa and is a cost-effective material. One of the most desirable features of bamboo bikes is vibration damping, causing these bikes to offer a very smooth and comfortable ride.

David Ho and John Mutter, scientists from the Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, started the Bamboo Bike Project with funding from The Earth Institute at Columbia University in 2007. Today, since the partnership with Millennium Cities Initiative in 2008, there are now bamboo bike building factories in Ghana, Kumasi, and other parts of the country.