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Proposal – Stakeholder Analysis – Project Goals – Project EffectsCity of Interest – /research – Bamboo Bike – Group Bio

Addressed Questions

  • To what extent does Africa (or the region/city of interest) have a transportation infrastructure? How do people get around at present?
    • The African Continent has 800,000 miles roads; only 60,000 miles are paved. This represents a lack of developed transportation infrastructure and may allow African’s countries, cities, towns, and villages to develop infrastructure that does not repeat the mistakes and problems that plague the American or Western transportation model of cities designed around most all individuals owning and driving a car.
    • Less than 2% of the African population has a car. The main modes of transportation include walking/biking..
  • What is the bike infrastructure like in Africa and more specifically in a country/region/city we wish to implement bamboo bikes?
    • In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) pedestrians account for about 50% of all daily trips. Even though SSA has a majority of daily trips taken on foot, there exist a serious lack of pedestrian infrastructure to support walking. worldbank.org
    • Cycling is less common in densely populated African cities. It is more common, however, in mid-sized cities and rural areas, due to traffic safety issues and use of public transportation. Citizens are more likely to use bicycles as a means of transportation when their safety is not at a high risk. When there isn’t a safety concern associated with doing so, citizens are more likely to ride bikes.
      • Only 3 percent of all trips are made by bike in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and 1 percent in Nairobi, Kenya (2 major African cities) – due to (a) lack of dedicated infrastructure (b) fear of traffic accidents (c) lack of financial ability to own a bicycle.
      • Conversely, 23% of all trips are made by bike in the mid-sized city of Morogoro, Tanzania- again, major set-back is bike affordability. worldbank.org
      • In Southern Africa the bicycle mode of travel plays various roles in the 16 countries south of the equator. The paper linked below discusses these roles and makes recommendations to authorities, and encourages certain present trends, to make the bicycle a much more significant transportation mode in both rural and urban areas. The Bicycle in southern Africa
  • What types of bikes are currently in use?
    • Geared? Singlespeed? A mix?
      • From a cross-section of Flickr photos, not many mountain bikes are presently used. Mountain bike frames are probably best suited to the majority of our expected users as they are more durable and are designed to manage heavier loads or rough terrain.
      • From photos it seems that there is a mix of fixed gear and geared bikes. Fixed geared bikes would be less prone to breaking/need fixing, while gears would allow the user to carry more weight and bike with ease.
    • Are the bikes comfortable to ride?
      • Probably not as they road bike frames do not absorb the shocks from a rough dirt road very well. There exists a stigma against mountain bikes. Some Africans view mountain bikes as weaker and more likely to break as their frame design and shocks are not what people are used to seeing. In addition mountain bikes are often more expensive and when purchased are sometimes rented out to tourists and visitors rather than being used every day by the locals.
    • Is it better than walking?

What societal norms affect who uses bikes?

  • Do women ride them?
    • Women traditionally do not ride bicylces because they expose their legs making them a stronger attraction to men thus increasing the potential for violence and sexual assault. (http://www.dur.ac.uk/child.mobility/)
      • The Step-Through frame offers women a more conservative alternative to mounting a bicycle.
      • Bicycles taxis that use a plank/board above the back wheel of the bike to provide a spot for a passenger to sit are popular with women as they can sit sideways in comfort and modesty.
  • Do children ride them?
    • For children, it can make all the difference to regularly attend school and receive a decent education. They otherwise have to walk up to ten miles to get to school. (bikeradar.com)
  • What distances are bikes used for?
    • Are they ridden only around a village?
      • Locals often need to travel long distances, even for day to day errands such as collecting water, firewood or attending school, with little or no motorised transport available. The introduction of a bicycle can make a huge difference, cutting travel times right down and massively improving quality of life very easily. source
    • Are they ridden between villages?
      • One study showed that due to a lack of transportation methods, the majority of students had to walk to primary school, and the low-density of secondary schools forces most children in sub-saharan africa to live away from home. This contributes heavily to many children abandoning educational efforts relatively quickly. Inter-village communication, trade, and sharing of facilities (schools, medical, markets, etc) is easier achieved by bike than on foot.
  • How are bikes being modified (i.e. for business, as mobile stretchers, as trikes, etc.)?
    • Bike Ambulance are trailers on which sick/injured people can be transported to healthcare centers and hospitals.
    • Bicycle Ambulance.pdf, Practical Action has put out a report on their efforts to introduce bicycle ambulances in Nepal.
    • Bicycle Trailers.pdf, Practical Action has put out an informational report on bike trailers and their construction.
    • Bicycle Trailers in Zambia.pdf, Practical Action has a report on their efforts to introduce bike trailers to Lundazi, Zambia.
  • Why use bamboo?
    • What are its advantages/disadvantages, compared to metal?
      • Bamboo strength is due to fiber strength- high tensile and compressive strength but lacks shear strength. If used properly, can be a cheaper, lighter, and stronger alternative to other building materials.
    • What is its availability?
      • In Africa, bamboos grow naturally in East Africa from southern Mozambique to northeastern Sudan, in West African countries such as Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and in southern African countries such as Zambia and Zimbabwe. There are also large commercial plantations and smaller on-farm plantations which grow both local species and species introduced from Asia.
    • How renewable is it?
      • Re-sprouts from same cut-off stump
      • Takes 3 years to mature and can be harvested every other year for 120 years.
    • What could bamboo be used for, in addition to bike frames, and what is it currently used for?
      • Building materials, houses, foot bridges, structures, paper, utensils, floor tiles, food (you can eat bamboo)
  • Bamboo Bikes
    • Will they be accepted as equal to traditional bikes?
      • Over time we hope they will become accepted as people learn to realize and appreciate their practicality.
    • Where will the resin, frame jig, etc be procured?
      • Tools needed: wood files, saw, hand drill, positioning jig, heat source
      • Materials needed: bamboo, hemp fibers, resin/epoxy
      • Bike parts needed (frame only): dropouts, bottom bracket, head tube
      • Other bike parts needed: complete wheels, chain, complete crankset, fork, brake/ cable system, seat, handlebars, stem.
    • At what cost?
    • How will production costs and the price they can/should be sold at be reconciled?
      • Bicycles will be able to be assembled with out the use of a welding setup. It can be assembled with no power tools (which will reduce investment cost. Although epoxy is not as prevalent as welding infrastructure is in Africa, we believe it can be imported and cite the fact that bike frames and components are already imported from Asia which means the neccessary infrastructure is largely in place .
      • Parts can be shipped in smaller packages than complete bikes and frames. Current imports on are cargo ship where volume is more a of a limiting factor than weight when it comes to shipping cost. A single shipping container can fit many more components than complete frames or bikes, thus reducing the overall shipping cost per bike.
    • What types of brakes are used?
      • From different photos, it seems to range from disc brakes to rim brakes.
    • What frame sizes are available?
      • It seems to vary: this website provides dimensions that they use.
    • Are there bikes for kids? For all size ranges of people?
      • There are a range of bike sizes, as they are created from existing bike parts.
    • Where do these bikes/bike parts come from?
      • Were are they imported from other countries/regions, or are they manufactured in the continent/country/city?
        • One source of bikes in Africa is from World Bicycle Relief, which was founded by a one of the people who started the bike component company, SRAM. He argues that the diverse types and qualtites of bikes currently in Africa makes their repair and usability problematic. In response, he has designed an easy to repair bike designed for the African dirt roads and paths that is currently being manufactured in Asia, and assembled in and throughout Africa, where they are then sold.
        • Zambikes is another company producing bikes, bike trailers, and bike ambulances specifically for use in Zambia.
        • Zambia Bike Ambulance Case Study
    • How are the repaired?
      • What tools are used?
        • As seen in the following video, DIY tools, individuals have created home made bicycle repair tools for tasks that are traditionally thought to require specialized tools, such as a cassette remover. This also suggests that their is an existing market and local knowledge of bicycle repair, which further suggests that bicycle use is fairly prevalent at least in the region of the video – Nairobi, Kenya.
    • How does the market for them function?
    • What type of road surface/path are bikes ridden on?
      • Are the current bikes well suited for this?
        • Bikes are typically ridden on dirt roads. As previously mentioned, a majority of the continent’s roads are unpaved.
  • Do people express problems with the current bikes?
    • Many of the bikes currently in Africa are not equipped to handle the rough terrain and break after minimal use.
  • Do people even want bikes?
    • Is the freedom of transportation important to the people?
      • The bamboo bicycle not only represents a convenient form of transportation that doubles as a tool to start or improve a business, but also offers students and adults a time-saving mode of transportation to get them to and from school or work. Bombo Road is a bicycle path in Uganda that enables small scale farmers to avoid the congested roads used by vehicles, in order to safely transport goods to market. Transportation of agricultural commodities by bicycle : survey on Bombo Road in Uganda
      • Click People and Their Bikes , to read personal stories of some of the positive effects bike ownership has had upon Africans, thanks to the Village Bicycle Project.
    • Do bikes present an opportunity to expand people’s freedoms?
      • Mozambican women and their children are trapped living at subsistence levels. With women gaining access to bamboo bicycles they would no longer have to spend hours and hours per day collecting and carrying water, firewood, and agricultural supplies on their heads. USING THE BICYCLE FOR WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT IN AFRICA
      • People with bikes get to schools, markets, farms and health care in one-fourth the time, improving Ghanaians’ lives and economic futures. Bamboo bicycles provide power and opportunity that help lift themselves out of property. Village Bicycle Project
    • Can supporting bike usage know have payoffs down the line as the village/cities/countries continue to grow and expand?

Unaddressed Questions

Unaddressed questions can be found here.