The 122nd annual staging of the 161-mile Paris–Roubaix bicycle race occurs on Sunday. Riders have to endure sections of rough terrain capped with bumpy granite setts. The race, when wet, famously leaves riders caked in mud from northern France’s former coal-mining region. However, for the past several years, the riders have more normally ridden through unseasonal dust clouds kicked up by other riders and a motorized entourage. The dust and the poor surfaces are similar to road conditions in sub-Saharan Africa, where the Buffalo bike excels. This robust transport bike isn’t aerodynamic, lightweight, or hugely expensive like those used on the Paris–Roubaix, but nevertheless, it shares technicians.
Bike tech designers who have worked on drivetrain systems for advanced bicycles for the world’s best professional riders in punishing races such as Paris–Roubaix have also worked on the gearing innovations used on the latest version of the Buffalo bike, the Utility S2. This bike—designed by World Bicycle Relief for use in challenging conditions in Africa and South America—features a drivetrain with two chains.
The Buffalo’s Utility S2 new AK2 system took two years to develop and has been patented with the help of U.S. parts manufacturer SRAM. One of the co-founders of SRAM founded World Bicycle Relief, a global non-profit social enterprise. SRAM gearing systems are used on bicycles raced by pro riders.
The new drivetrain allows for two gears, high and low. The bicycles SRAM technicians typically design for—such as those used by professional riders—have 20 or more gears. World Bicycle Relief operates in Sub-Saharan Africa and South America, where rough terrain and extreme heat are the norm, and where bicycles must be easy to maintain and capable of carrying heavy loads.
A bicycle suitable for everyday use in Sub-Saharan African or South America must be tough and have as few breakable parts as possible. External derailleurs—the fiddly fragile mechanisms that shift a chain between cogs—are easily damaged, are hard to service in the field, and don’t work well in muddy or dusty conditions. Internal gears—such as those popularized by Sturmey-Archer—work better in such situations, but they are expensive and fiendishly tricky and costly to fix.
For the latest Buffalo bike, technicians from bike companies SRAM, Trek and Giant created a system using a switchable freewheel and two chains. Through a backpedal motion, the freewheel on the Utility S2 shift from one chain tension to another, high gear or low. The system is relatively low-tech and, without external derailleurs or wiring, not so easily damaged.
The bike is made at the Giant factory in Taiwan and shipped to World Bicycle Relief’s seven program countries: Zimbabwe, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, and Colombia. The cost of one bike is about $180 (a professional’s Paris–Roubaix bike costs upwards of $15,000). Though Buffalo bikes can be purchased, those on the programs—such as children seeking to cycle to school—often receive them for free.
The Buffalo bike’s frame is made from steel, and there’s a kickstand for easy loading and unloading. Pro machines are generally made from carbon composites and don’t feature kickstands.
World Bicycle Relief says the Utility S2 is a “tool for empowerment, [facilitating] access to education, healthcare, and economic opportunities.” Coupled with the rider, adds the non-profit, the Buffalo Bicycle becomes a “fierce force for change.”
Founded in 2005, World Bicycle Relief has distributed over 870,000 bicycles, many in Africa.
Bicycles have long been an integral tool for people in Africa and elsewhere for transportation, water collection, and economic development. The most common bicycle found in Africa is known locally as the “Black Mamba.” This is a heavy, sit-up-and-beg transport bike made in India using an old design. Millions of people across Africa use such bicycles. Both versions of World Bicycle Relief’s Buffalo are more technologically advanced than the Black Mamba and often twice the price, too. Naturally, none of these heavy workhorses could be successfully raced on the Paris–Roubaix classic.
