Ignoring the International Cycling Union‘s mostly arbitrary rules for what a bicycle is “supposed” to look like (at least if you want to race), there are actually reasons that the bicycling world has standardized around a few common parts and designs. Especially regarding the drivetrain, almost all bikes use a chain, a freewheel, and a derailleur if there are gears to shift because these parts are cheap, reliable, and easy to repair. But if you’re off grid in a place like Africa, even the most reliable bikes won’t quite cut it. That’s why a group called World Bicycle Relief designed and built the Buffalo bicycle, and the latest adds a second gear with a unique freewheel.
Bicycling YouTuber [Berm Peak] takes us through the design of this bike in his latest video which is also linked below. The original Buffalo bicycle was extremely rugged and durable, with a rear rack designed to carry up to 200 pounds and everything on the bike able to be repaired with little more than an adjustable wrench. The new freewheel adds a second gear to the bike which makes it easier to use it in hilly terrain, but rather than add a complicated and hard-to-repair derailleur the freewheel adds a second chain instead, and the rider can shift between the two gears by pedaling backwards slightly and then re-engaging the pedals.
Of course a few compromises had to be made here. While the new freewheel is nearly as rugged as the old one, it’s slightly more complex. However, they can be changed quite easily with simple tools and are small, affordable, and easy to ship as well. The bike also had to abandon the original coaster brake, but the new rim brakes are a style that are also easy to repair and also meant that the bike got a wheel upgrade as well. Bicycles like these are incredibly important in places where cars are rare or unaffordable, or where large infrastructure needed to support them is unreliable or nonexistent. We’ve seen other examples of bicycles like these being put to work in places like India as well.
Thanks to [Keith] for the tip!
Interesting idea. I really wonder how well two chains will work: You need two exact lengths, they’ll stretch and wear differently, and sooner or later a chain will be thrown.
And that plastic chain guard? How long will that last? Fortunately non-critical to function, and cheap and easy to replace.
I wrenched in a bike shop for many years, and competed semi-pro for at least a decade.
I’m pretty comfortable with bike failures.
Most of these feel like they were designed by people who don’t actually ride bikes. That chain is going to break WAY before the other components.
They spent how much effort getting rid of the derailleur to make the bike repairable with an adjustable wrench? Id love to see them change a chain with just an adjustable wrench. No cheating with universal links. Those are the weakest part of a chain so you would be asking for it to break again.
Derailleurs do break. I’ve seen it happen…maybe 15 times over the (literal) many hundreds of bikes I have worked on.
Compare that to the…40+ chains I have personally broken?
I don’t know what ‘Africa’ is supposed to mean in the author’s mind as it encompasses more than 50 wildly different countries that are very much not off grid but being born and having spent a significant amount of time on that continent I can assure you that you will have an easier time finding a place to repair your bike over there than almost anywhere in Europe or the US.
And by repair I don’t mean just ordering a new part to swap and call it a day, I mean actually welding parts back together or patching air chambers and tires.
Every major city in Africa has a marketplace where you can find and have repaired almost anything mechanical/electronic.
Meanwhile in Europe people will throw microwaves, laptops, and washing machines the second they hear a weird noise