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05/09/08: Bicycle load rack to made at the spot
Hello, WorldBikers!
Just found your website and forum. Reason to ask your attention and ask for comments on the contraption I created for Demotech. I published the idea and pictures of "The Load Rack To Be Made At The Spor" at Demotech's website
http://www.demotech.org/d-design/designA.php?d=6
You conplain that donated bikes are unsuitable for large loads. Yes, I agree, but it will take you a very short time and only some sticks and rope to change the little lady's bike into a strong carrier.
Ed, Moses, and I, set off for the village of Nyakatch to make sales demonstrations of the Big Boda to bread delivery men. We brought the Worldbike (seen here) and two Big Bodas. We made a sale and returned with just the two bikes. One of the nice things about working in a developing country on a load-carrying bicycle project, is that you always have a place to carry someone. Here I was carrying our workshop manager, Moses. He can ride a bicycle, but only with great discomfort, because he is a Polio survivor. I was happy to carry him over the long distances in this flat agricultural region.
Here's an engineering / human factors task for the Worldbike.
The rack system on the Worldbike has plenty of tubing to wrap string and rope to. But it doesn't have a true load carrying system.
What goes into a load carrying system?
The ability to carry any of the most common loads:
An upcoming Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum exhibition will feature the Big Boda and the Worldbike as technologies that can improve the lives of customers in the Developing World. The exhibit opens in New York on May 5th, and will be up until the end of September. It will then tour, possibly reaching California and London.
Here are some highlights of Ed's recent trip to Kenya:
*Brought one prototype long bike for donation to our sponsored
orphanage, the Young Generation Center
*Found the Worldbike shop was still operational, with 3 of the
original 5 employees still there.
*Many Big Bodas still on the road, including our Boda Boda customer
David, who had appeared on the front page of the local paper with his
Big Boda.
*Ed coached the Worldbike team to make two long bikes at the shop. The
03/24/07: Worldbike
Joseph, a fish wholesaler, test rides a prototype of the Worldbike.
