Simple, sustainable transportation is an essential element in disaster assistance and poverty relief. In Zambia, healthcare without effective transportation will not reach rural villages or poor urban areas. Bicycles fulfil basic needs by providing access to health care, education and economic development. Bicycles empower individuals, their families, and their communities. To combat this, World Bicycle Relief is providing 23,000 bicycles in support of a comprehensive HIV/AIDS initiative funded by USAID and led by World Vision International.
The bicycles for Project Zambia need to be culturally appropriate to the region. This means that they have to be designed for their intended use, and familiar to the recipients because of the legacy of bicycle use in the country. Furthermore, there is a base of spare parts and knowledge as the bicycles come from within the existing supply chain. At the same time, World Bicycle Relief is working to improve the bicycles, while ensuring any changes are backward compatible so that the bicycles can continue to be serviced. Changes for Project Zambia include coaster brake rear hubs; a doubling of the capacity of rear racks; saddles less prone to failure; and the introduction of caged assemblies in the headset and bottom bracket that replace loose bearings.
The new geometry provides more space for cargo especially in the area of the chain stay. To improve the bike handling and stiffness, the new bike will use 26" wheels. The extra wide new main-triangle allows to use a step- through design without giving away too much stiffness from the double top-tube design of the current men's frame (classic men’s frame) and adds much more strength and stiffness over the current ladies frame design (classic lady’s frame with parallel down and top tube). This enables a greater variety of people to ride the same size bike with only one frame design.
To reduce the adverse handling effects incurred by a heavy load, the load needs to be attached as low as possible on the bike. This means that there needs to be more provision to distribute the load over the whole bike instead of attaching the whole load only on top off the rear rack. The new Low-Rider and front rack design solve this problem to the lowest terms.
The new Bike will be a huge step forward in furthering World Bicycle Relief's message of empowering people through the power of Bicycles.