Re "Bamboo bike quite the offshoot," June 18
Third World citizens building their own bicycles out of bamboo? Reality check needed here. The frame represents a very small fraction of the cost of a basic bicycle. Even if an average Ghanaian manages, with great effort, to cobble up a bike frame from bamboo, that bike is still going to need manufactured rims, spokes, hubs, chain, bottom bracket, cranks, pedal axles, front sprockets, rear gear cluster, derailleurs, seat post, seat, brakes, cables, levers and more. And even the bamboo frame will need manufactured metal inserts at the steering head, bottom bracket and axles.
