200 LB.

The maximum capacity of the Buffalo's integrated rear rack. Its weighted kickstand allows easy loading of goods; fenders and a chainguard protect riders from grease, mud, and rain—especially useful on unpaved roads.



59%

Boost in academic performance among students in Zambia who received a bike. Attendance increased 27 percent.



5 X

Increase in load one can carry on a Buffalo bike compared with walking. Farmers can haul more products to market, make more deliveries, and increase their family's income.



50 LB.

Weight of each bike. The Buffalo comes with puncture-resistant tires and heavy-gauge rims. Most are black with a white buffalo emblem; bikes in South Africa are yellow; a few distributed by UNICEF are blue.

The Buffalo Bicycle—a $134 steel workhorse—has saved or materially improved the lives of 190,000 people in developing countries who don't have access to transportation. Few other bikes can claim to have such a positive impact on so many.



The nearly indestructible bikes are distributed by World Bicycle Relief, a nonprofit arm of component-maker SRAM, to the rural poor in a dozen African nations. The organization donates most of the bikes to aid workers and school children, many of whom walk 10 miles or more to class each day. The bikes also can be bought by rural farmers and entrepreneurs, often using micro-loans, who can load them with up to 200 pounds of milk and other products. This allows them to carry more goods to market—and earn more money—than if they had to walk. In Zambia, which has one of the world's highest incidence of AIDS, health-care workers ride them to reach many more patients than they could if they traveled by foot.



Each bike is designed to withstand five years of hard use on Africa's sunbaked, washboard roads. "Our bikes are extremely durable and much tougher than other bikes we see in developing countries," says Charles Coustan, WBR's executive director. There's also an elegance to them befitting their noble mission--the tight curve of the chrome bars, the twin top tubes, the sharply sloping seat tube remind us of old British touring models. And this makes us love the Buffalo Bike even more.



You can help purchase a Buffalo Bike for someone in need at worldbicyclerelief.org

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