Project Rwanda
During Interbike RL had an encounter with his new man crush Tom Ritchey and chit chatted about Project Rwanda.
Project Rwanda is committed to furthering the economic development of Rwanda through initiatives based on the bicycle as a tool and symbol of hope. Our goal is use the bike to help boost the Rwandan economy as well as re-brand Rwanda as a beautiful and safe place to do business and visit freely.
Above is a shot of a bike that was used by coffee farmers in Rwanda as their main mode of transportation and utility.
This bike doesn’t have suspensions or a customized paint job, but it does have high quality brakes.
To help solve Rwanda’s transportation problem, the Coffee Bike Project aims to make specially designed load-bearing bikes available to farmers for a reasonable price on credit and where quality premiums would cover the bike’s cost.
These bikes are sold to the coffee farmers for 70,000francs, about $120 US Dollars. Why $120 you ask?! $100 would be the cost to make these bikes and the other $20 is for shipping costs. A bit on the pricey side for a Rwanda coffee farmer but would definitely benefit them in the end.
Learn more about PROJECT RWANDA.