The humble bicycle quietly goes cruising on into the 21st century. This simple yet effective form of transport is legendary worldwide. In South Africa it has unfortunately not been able to rise above town planning and urbanisation, thus being sidelined as a primary form of transport. I suppose one could also attribute this largely to the group areas act under Apartheid, restricting people to living out of cities in the townships, very far from their place of work. So bicycling in urban SA forms a very recreational pasttime for many, and is only used as transport in rural areas and small towns. Nonetheless, in the rest of Africa, the bicycle performs a major role in the daily lives of millions, used as a taxi, a truck, an ambulance and many other functions.

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I lived in Uganda for a few months once upon a time and had the opportunity to bicycles in their full glory. The human bicycle taxi, aka the Boda Boda is legendary all over Uganda, with the padded back rack for the passenger it is a very effective and enjoyable way to get around. And this is on a standard issue single gear “postman” bicycle. And when the uphill arrives, both driver and passenger get off and walk! Bicycles are also used for some serious hauling in central and east Africa. I have seen the most bizarre stuff being carried on the back rack, front handlebar and all over the bike. From bed frames, to large fish, piles of bananas, wooden crates, oil cans, you name it.

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So with this in mind, here is a competition to get your creative juices flowing. And maybe a chance to visit Kenya as a prize! Wiki-bike is inviting students, designers and other interested people to submit their ideas for durable and sustainable bicycles and join the African Bicycle Design Contest 2010-2011. A professional jury will judge all contributions and select 5 design ideas in October 2010. The five winning contributions will be awarded with a design team who will develop the design ideas into prototypes and maybe one of these prototypes will be the bicycles that make a difference in Africa. The design team delivering the best prototype will win a 10 day trip to Kenya to train and assist a Kenyan team in producing this bicycle (conditions apply). Go to www.wiki-bike.com for more information.

How do you re-design an icon? Here is an excerpt from the Wiki Bike website: “Via this website we would like to invite you to share your ideas on bicycle designs with the rest of the world. Wiki bike is an initiative of Cycling out of Poverty and is a platform for everyone who believes that a bicycle can make a difference in this world. A bicycle can be a tool to reduce poverty in Africa, improve access to health care, education, potable water as well as being a catalyst is combating climate change. With this African Bicycle Design Contest 2010-2011 we aim to design bicycles tuned to needs of (potential) bicycle users in Africa.”

And check this out for a pretty good solution. In 2009 students from the Technical University of Delft, the Netherlands, designed the CooP bike and made prototypes in Kisumu, Kenya. Now the first 8 CooP bikes have been taken into production in the Cycling Blue Workshop in Kisumu. The CooP bikes are the best choice for street vendors and other small entrepreneurs. The CooP bike is also an excellent choice for private companies and NGOs because it is a multipurpose bike and in the same time a great eye catcher. Cycling out of Poverty and Victoria Boda Boda Sacco are working on making the bicycle accessible to those who cannot afford to pay for a bicycle at once, but who have a vision on how to use this bicycle to improve his or her livelihood. The CooP bikes can be ordered from the Cycling Blue workshop or via cyclingblue@gmail.com.

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Interesting links:
Cycling out of Poverty
Cycling Blue Workshop