Commuting - Interesting Reuters Photo

Ran across this picture on Yahoo (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/031212/ids_photos_wl/r785855875.jpg&e=17).


An enterprising Chinese man pushes his bicycle loaded with recyclable plastic containers for resale to a nearby depot in Shanghai December 12, 2003. China is resolved to tackle a growing rich-poor gap and put the economy, which grew a robust 8.5 percent in the first nine months of this year and sparked concerns of overheating, on a more sustainable footing. REUTERS/Claro Cortes IV

I forget the site but there's one on the WWW that has pictures of all sorts of bikes being used for all sorts of utility purposes, a lot in third world countries. There's an interesting article in the recent Cycling Plus, out of the UK, on Hero bicycles, manufactured in India. I'll have to research the page on the third world bicycling, it was pretty cool to see how the bike is used a s a beast of burden in other countires.

Please do post that URL, if possible. Thanks! http://smilies.crowd9.com/contrib/sally/spinface.gif

>>>>China is resolved to tackle a growing rich-poor gap and put the economy,<<<<

This is nonsence. What China is resolved in doing is getting rid of cyclists like this guy and putting cars on the roads thinking this cure their massive poverty. It won't.

After a screw up by the airline my wife and I ended up in Bangladesh for a couple of nights. Outside I could see people using bikes to carry 2 or 3 Oxygen bottles for gas welding!
Do you know how much those things weigh? I also remember a pal of mine from the US who did a lot of business with the Chinese saying a locally made bike was guaranteed to support up to 500 lbs on the front wheel! Yikes! And I was worried about loading up my commuting panniers too much lol

...I could see people using bikes to carry 2 or 3 Oxygen bottles for gas welding! Do you know how much those things weigh? I also remember a pal of mine from the US who did a lot of business with the Chinese saying a locally made bike was guaranteed to support up to 500 lbs on the front wheel! Yikes!
I remember reading about a Chinese bike weighing 50 lbs., as if that was crazy. Well maybe it wasn't so crazy. I can't see carrying oxygen tanks on a lightweight bike, not for long.

Hows this strike you for ironic?

Inside the huge Goodyear tire plant in Union City, the maintance personel use bicycles to go from one end of the plant to the other. They also ferry parts and tools with them. Many of them use solid tires, because of the little wires that mannage to cause punctures in tubed tires. Bikes, making more car tires? :p

Yes, the bikes were really solid looking and had the lever type brakes with rigid linkages rather than a cable and the wheels are steel and about 1.5 inches wide :)