From my ‘Around My Block’ photoset, ‘Residential Street Parking’ & ‘Place Your Trash Here’:
Elisa from Herb Of Grace sent me this great Street Use post from Kevin Kelly about wooden bikes from around the (’developing’) world:
Wooden bicycles can be found all over the world. These handmade bikes are often larger-scale scooters that you sit on. Made with whatever wood can be found, they use small wooden home-made wheels covered with discarded rubber rims. Forward movement depends on the rider pushing with their feet.
These wooden bicycles are ridden in the Banaue region of the Philippines. During an annual festival celebrating the culture of the regional tribes, wooden bikes are raced by participants in native costume. Notice the cool foot-activated brakes. These photos are from the Flickr pool of Harry Palangchao.
The ones above are found in Burundi and were taken by Will Okun. These wooden bike scooters are used to haul cargo. Pushed up hill and then ridden down.
In Rwanda this farmer uses his wooden bike to haul lumber. Turns out there is a wonderful non-profit set up to help spread the technology and use of simple load-bearing bikes. The Coffee Bike Project will donate rugged metal bikes to coffee farmers in Rwanda to aid them in getting their beans to market.
This brings us to Cyclemania’s ‘Bicycles For Humanity’ post from last week. Les talks about how he supports this cause as it sets out “to improve lives by empowering communities in Africa with their own transport and the means to maintain it. B4H sends used bikes to improve access to healthcare, education, food, water and employment.” Read on, it’s a great project, with chapters in Canada, the US and Australia, entirely volunteer run and 100% of all donations go directly toward the transportation costs of the bikes.
I’ve bumped into many organizations like this one, in the Netherlands (but that figures, of course) and the rest of Europe. The range of projects is so big, I’ll dedicate another post to that in the near future.
Update: Through Balanced View (oh, and you so need an RSS reader to keep up with this stuff) I find out about BBC Radio 4 series called ‘The Fall and Rise of the Bicycle’ from 2006, discovering the importance of the bicycle as a global barometer of social, economic and environmental change. It has three episodes:
- Africa, the Power of Two Wheels
“Namibia’s scattered population faces a huge struggle against poverty and AIDS. A bicycle can provide great freedom - access to healthcare, education and work - that sheer distance often renders impossible. Taking a trip across this vast country, Mark sees for himself the impact that owning a bicycle can have on the lives of Africa’s rural poor.” - Europe: the Once and Future King of the Road
“Over 200 years after its invention, it could be that the humble bike will once again be king of the road in the developed world. Alongside an increasing number of commuters, Mark Stephen braves the cycle lanes of London. He then travels to Denmark to discover whether a cycling revolution in the UK could ever match the number of cyclists who take to the streets of bicycle-friendly European cities like Copenhagen.” - China: Rejecting the Bicycle
“In China, the bicycle has long been the transport of choice, but economic growth has encouraged an explosive growth of cars. In 2006 alone, China is expecting to put a further 6 million cars on the road. Taking an intimate journey through Beijing, Mark meets individuals whose lives have been inextricably tied to the bicycle for generations, and discovers that the bicycle is now at the very heart of a new environmental threat.”
I just finished listening and I highly recommend it. One amusing bit from episode 2: A woman from London, presumably with Namibian roots, was interviewed about here cycling experience in the city and described her bike as one she had imported from Namibia. I chuckled.
Caution, though: Back in 2006 the BBC was still using Real Player, the most proprietary and hated media player of all time. Unless you have that stacked away somewhere already (desperately hoping you’d never have to use that sucker again), you need to download it to listen. I guess a small price to pay for an average cycling diehard.
WHAT TO DO NOW?