Not all inventiveness is utilitarian (or, business can be fun and fun can mean more business…). Such is the case with this video by Eric Kabera – the maker of the genocide film “100 days” and inventor of Hillywood – Rwanda’s version of Hollywood. In it he interviews Alphonse Maniriho, an unschooled young 23 year … Continue reading “Video: Ultra-Customized Rwandan Bicycle Taxi”
Peter Kahugu of Banana Hill just outside Nairobi makes a living using his bicycle. And no, he is not a professional cyclist. AfriGadget reporter Afromusing and I had an opportunity to interview Peter who has modified his bicycle with a belt, a set of tensioning pulleys and a grinding stone to make it a knife-sharpening … Continue reading “The knife-sharpening bicycle”
4 brothers in Western Kenya have begun solving water problems by creating waterpump windmills out of old bicycle parts and roofing materials. They have created 30 of them and are making good money doing it. This is another story of Africans solving their own problems using local materials: The four Ututu brothers had inherited a … Continue reading “Kenyan Windmill: Bicycle Parts and Roofing Materials”
Another great picture and story from Mark Steudal who sends this image and description: This is a motorized bicycle, made in Kisumu, Kenya and purchased in Kakemega. They hold about 2 liters of petrol and can get theoretically around 50 km a liter. They cost around 7,000 Kenyan shillings. To start the bicycle you start … Continue reading “$100 Bicycle Motor Gets 50 km per Liter”
One thing that I’ve always been amazed with is the limitless uses that bicycles are put to in Africa. It really is amazing to see them hauling everything from people, to 10 stalks of bananas, to coffins. The “Black Mamba” bicycle – Low cost, steel-framed, traditional bicycle imported to Africa from England in the 1900s, … Continue reading “Bicycles: Transportation for Everything”
