When you need to brake quickly, you wish for tight, firm control of your finely tuned rig.Yes, this African cyclist is ready, willing, and able.
Why bother with expensive brake levers and a complex mechanical system used by many bike owners when you can have finger tip power?
My buddy, hand and body shown in the picture above, pulls hard on the wire around his thumb and hopes for the best when he needs to stop.
He often travels long distances on the rough trails and uneven dirt roads of southern Malawi.
One sees large quantities of cargo - wood, pumpkins, sugar cane, flour, tobacco, bricks, people of all sizes - transported on older, "customized" bikes such as this machine.
These two wheeled bicycles provide inexpensive mobility, a freedom we tend in America to associate with a car.
Large weight loads and harsh conditions take quite a toll on both the rider and bike.
It is quite common to see shacks converted into bike repair shops on the side of major dirt roads.
The "mechanics" at these shops proudly display a collection of old tires, mechanical pumps, and beat up wrenches and other tools.
Purchasing a vehicle is generally an unimaginable "stretch" for almost all rural families.
Thus, bike ownership is golden.
For forty to a hundred dollars, a semi-rolling rig with an old saddle and heavy metal tubes may be purchased. As you can imagine, bikes are used for years and years and years.
Pedals and a functional chain are optional. Gears are very rare.
As I reflect on my time in Malawi, I touch visual memories with bikes in a central role ...
Families of three or four people riding together with five or more bags of goods they plan to sell at the market.
Women with their babies tied to their backs and one hand on the steering wheel while their personal possessions are held tightly in their other hand.
Young male riders swerving down a dusty path with three or four giant 75 Kg sacks tied to the back of their bikes.
An elderly man walking along side his old, partially broken bike with thick piles of wood fastened to every imaginable piece of the frame.
One way or another, bikes continue to roll and wobble forward along bumpy paths and roads within Malawi's countryside.
Each day, as we traveled through the countryside, my eyes spread wide and laughter came forward from my gut as I witnessed Malawi's version of a cycling parade.
Of course the bicycle sophisticates will say that a solid urethane bicycle tire is regressive, because pneumatic tires changed everything.
ReplyDeleteYes, and pneumatic tires created two important things: (1) The moment-to-months danger of a flat, and (2) an enormously profitable industry based on fixing flats.
For over 25 years I've used a succession of flat-proof tires. In the 1980s the best technology involved rubber tubes forced into regular tires. They were heavy. Today's technology involves solid urethane tires.
Remember how heavy hiking boots used to be? They're much lighter today because urethane is shot through with gazillions of air pockets. Same with today's "air-free" tires. Check 'em out online. I've ridden from San Francisco to Los Angeles several times with 'em, and I can tell you, they don't weight any more than pneumatic tube-filled tires, and they're 1000% more efficient and now I've got to find a way to get Jeff Davis in on this secret...