Student designs bicycle for Africa

Since several weeks, a steel bicycle is being designed in Uganda. Eline Meesters student of Industrial Design at Delft University of Technology (the Netherlands) works on this challenge as her final project. Main issues in her bicycle design: the bicycle must be robust, not too big and not too expensive. The first steps are successful, it seems that it is profitable to produce bicycles locally.

Bicycles are a popular means of transport in Uganda. It’s cheap and moreover Uganda a relatively flat country. People can cover a four times greater radial distance than walking in the same time and can transport about five times more goods by bicycle. However, the bicycles available on the market are of poor quality and there are high import taxes. There is no local bicycle production, and that is why we want it start producing ourselves.

Eline Meesters produced the first frames with local welders in a workshop in Jinja (Uganda): “After a test phase with the first prototype, I made an improved version of the design of which also the first protypes were produced.” She made a mold that is used to be able to make the exact same frame every time.

From 2015 CooP-Africa wants the start bicycle production in both Uganda and Kenya. CooP-Africa is looking for donors who want to contribute to the development of this project. For more information on this initiative, go to African Bicycle Design – bicycle frame design.