Vélo Cuba Bamboo bicycles through the streets of Havana
HAVANA, Augh. 10th Vélo Cuba undertook this ecological project in 2022. Specialists from the Cienfuegos Botanical Garden told them what type of bamboo to use, while from Pinar del Río they prepared a natural resin.
Among the urgent measures to alleviate the transportation crisis in Cuba, the Ministry of Transportation (MITRANS) has recently called for greater use of bicycles as an alternative.
In this context, a workshop in Havana is manufacturing this type of vehicle, but with special characteristics: its structure is made of bamboo.
Vélo Cuba, a Cuban cycle mobility enterprise led by women, has been promoting the use of bicycles since 2014 through rental services, tourist routes in the city, and social initiatives.
In addition, it collaborates with the City Historian Office in the management of the Ha’Bici public bicycle rental service in Old Havana and has a mechanics school for these vehicles.
However, in 2022 they decided to undertake the bamboo bike project, which has “a lot of research and productive chaining,” project director Nayvis Díaz Labaut told SEMLAC at the time.
With the idea of substituting imports, Díaz Labaut assured last year that she was researching with specialists from the Cienfuegos Botanical Garden to find out the type of bamboo that each part used, while they connected with people in Pinar del Río who would prepare a natural resin.
“The jute we are going to use is from Granma; we are going to replace the fiberglass with another produced in the country,” she pointed out.
