Bike design comments
I am an experienced bike-user....it seems to me that the World Bike design would be more effective with ATB (commonly known as "mountain bike") wheels. Wheels that size are stronger, have lower axles and use wider tires. The wider tires (not necessarily knobby) work better in soft materials but are also fine on pavement and absorb more shock on rough surfaces. I know you have many other considerations that I may not be aware of, but I could not help but wonder this upon viewing the project.
Locally available
Hi Anonymous
My name is Andrew. I'm the project coordinator for Worldbike's upcoming projects in Kenya. Thanks for the comment.
It's true that most, if not all, the components of the basic modern mountain bike are technologically more suited to the cargo-hauling activities that we engage in, but technology is far from the only consideration when designing these bikes. Keep in mind that design in general should be defined as the matching of technology to local resources, economies, and culture.
Mountain bike style bikes are at this time just making their inroads into African countries like Kenya and are yet to be widely adopted. As a result there is some design tension over whether to use the ubiquitous (but outdated) "roadster" bicycle technology or to be an early adopter of the incoming mountain bike technology. Both have their merits and while the last project used the older technology, the expectation is that the upcoming projects (located in Nairobi where mountain bikes are more available) will be using moutain bike technology. Two other groups who deal with this same design question in opposite ways are ITDP's Califonia Bike initiative and Smarty Hardy- a Tanzanian company.
Stay tuned to our site to get the updates on our new project. We always appreciate your comments and ideas.
Thanks again,
Andrew