Hi, just back from a couple of weeks traveling around Peru w/my son.

I did not do any bike riding, but did enough rugged day trekking to return 7 pounds lighter (!) after lots of aerobic workouts at high altitudes (also came home with a sprained ankle, a bruised tail bone, and a sore right hamstring).

I did see a fair number of bikes, though....most being used as day-to-day transportation and in some cases cargo haulers. I only saw two riders out for a "recreational" ride kitted out in bike gear, both on mountain bikes on a Sunday morning ride. The rest of the time it was folks using bikes to get somewhere or haul something.

Without further ado, a tribute to the hard-working bikes of Peru...

Typical three-wheeled cargo bike in Pisaq, Peru. Pisaq has a large market and a lot of the stall vendors use their bike to haul stuff to market. (at the bottom of this thread I have a detailed shot of the interesting rear brake).



Most of the bikes I saw were like this - Asian-made mountain bikes (notice the package strapped to opposite side of bike).





Two Bike Forum members stopping by the library to catch up on BF posts? This is Lamud, Peru, northern highlands.





Snapped this on a highway in far Northern Peru coming out of the mountains. There are three live goats trussed up on the back of this Chinese moto taxi (sorry, couldn't catch the front of the taxi). The passenger in the back seat evidently rode his bike up into the hills to get his goats and has caught a moto-taxi ride home (or to market).