Bamboo Mountain Bikes in Africa

You can build your own bike from strong natural materials like bamboo.
But can hand built bikes end poverty?

Read Grow Your Own Bike:
http://pedalpushersonline.com/index.php?CID=1176

In article . com, says...
You can build your own bike from strong natural materials like bamboo.
But can hand built bikes end poverty?

Read Grow Your Own Bike:
http://pedalpushersonline.com/index.php?CID=1176

Considering that you will still need resins, glues, and wood-working tools to build the frame and tyres, chain, chain-
ring, cranks and pedals, bushes, bearings and brakes to go with it, I have my doubts. Those horrible cheap bikes no-
name bikes you can pick up from warehouse shops retail from as little as $100 or so, and I can't imagine the metal
frame making up a significant part of the price. Maybe a better option would be to lobby to 'repair' the increadibly
unfair trading and subsidy system that the western world uses to its advantage and which significantly depresses the
economies of the third world. In the mean-time, donate your old frames and components to those groups who refurbish
them and on-send them to the third world.
Mike