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originality

with the arrival of eurobike 2024, yet more technology is being brought to the fore, creating a veritable overload of purported advancements in technology, following on from that seen at the dauphiné and subsequently the tour de france, plus the gravel tech seen at the recent unbound race in kansas. it may one day be of great concern to the industry and velocipedinists the world over when an event surfaces at which there is no shiny new technology to be seen. arguably, that situation may already have been reached.

much of that demonstrated through various youtube videos seems, on first acquaintance, to veer perilously close to superficial; existing because they can, rather than the fact that we were all clamouring for the result. however, one highlighted development that may be said to escape such a disparaging categorisation is that of the buffalo bike created by world bicycle relief (wbr) for distribution throughout the poorer, remote regions of africa. wbr has been providing these sturdy, simple bicycles for many a year, to the tune of over 800,000 so far, via donations from its 160,000 supporters, avowedly empowering over four million individuals.

in its simplest form, the original buffalo bike, developed by sram, trek, giant and karasawa is as basic and robust as bikes used to be in the early part of the 20th century. however, despite the industry's apparent obsession with the number of gears that can be applied to the modern road, mountain or gravel bike, the buffalo bike featured a single sprocket freewheel. though articles on the wbr website have shown the buffalo festooned with substantial amounts of cargo (see above), often on a par with that which we in the western world would consign to an e-cargo bike, it seems that in many cases, necessity is truly the mother of invention. in other words, what other options are available?

but in a demonstration of relatively simple technology that may prove to be a boon to those charged with transporting filled milk churns across the plains of uganda or namibia, wbr have announced the buffalo two. this now offers two gears, provided by way of two rear sprockets and, believe it or not, two separate chains.

rather obviously, the more remote regions of africa are hardly replete with a wide choice of bicycle shops, meaning resilience and ease of maintenance are high on the agenda. the new, patented, two-speed freewheel allows the changing of gears by a brief period of backpedalling, augmented with a double chainset up front that has a low gear for climbing/hauling heavy loads and a high gear for flatter terrain. the 1/8" chains therefore have no need of moving between sprockets, prolonging their working lives and connecting via the increasingly common quick-link. that addition of a second chain also provides the benefit of allowing the rider to continue, even if one of the chains breaks.

updating the gearing system has provided fringe benefits that include dual-pivot caliper brakes (replacing a backpedal coaster brake on the original) and wide and strong aluminium wheel rims laced to the hubs via a three-cross pattern, improving reliability and strength. it also maintains the original premise of the buffalo by remaining simple enough to be maintained by wbr's mechanics, drawn from the local workforce. so despite all the electronica and 3d-printed doohickies and components on show at eurobike, the buffalo bicycle utility s2 received a eurobike award in the bicycles section, and deservedly so.

of course, in order to build on the success of the buffalo bike, world bicycle relief needs funding; if you've been found drooling over some of the technology on show at eurobike, checking the bank account to see if you can afford such luxuriance, why not shelve that idea for a few months, and instead, donate that amount of money to world bicycle relief. they need it more than you do.

donate to help buy a buffalo s2

friday 5 july 2024