Research begins...

The call goes out to knowledgable parties inside and outside of the Kona family.  The following is from Kirby, a friend, from Mackintosh Lautenbach Architects located in Nambia:
---------------
Morning Dan,

Great to hear from you and trust Kona is having a bumper year again. The cause sounds like a good one, great to see Kona getting involved.

Theres been a fair amount of research into the ideal "Africa" bike,  and you have hit a number of the problems squarely on the head already. Have a look at these links below :

Major problems in Africa:

1. thorns
2. lack of spares
3. lack of service repair skills and facilities
4. diverse terrain (some parts damn hilly, so singlespeed is ok in most areas but not always)
5. really crappy roads ( corrugations, sand etc)
6. long distances (water carrying capacity)
7. dangerous drivers (trucks etc)

Bike design features:

1. Strong simple steel frame (its repairable anywhere, and if its thin enough does a decent job of eliminating trail buzz)( Styling ala smoke, in black or gray  or a really unique bright colour so that its instantly noticable for what it is and therefore less likely to be stolen)
2. Strong simple wheels 26 or 28 inch for rural africa is best. Need to check how much the 26 " MTB tyre has replaced the older 28" style, but it is an ongoing process.
3. Stong simple brakes, most cable brakes around here end up disconnected due to lack of spares once cables snap or pads wear out or misalign. Most cables and brakes on low-end bikes are very poor quality , hence they only last a while. Decent stainless cables and stong canti's with good pads would go a long way to lasting longer)
4. Big volume tyres for sand performance and suspension action. Semi slick, easy rolling is important Need a little tread for gravel, distances are long not technical.
5. Puncture resistance : We have a lot of experience here, Namibia's interior is a thorn factory. Bottom line is Tubeless with Stans latex solution gives 6 months to a year with  minimal  reinflating and no removing of the tires. Any other system or combination thereof ( thorn proof tubes, puncture additives or tire lines or even all three) gives limited relief ( like several stops a rideto pump or patch!), because the embedded thorns move between the layers of inner tube and outer tire and continually displace the sealant and allow air out.  In a tubeless setup, thorns throught the casing are shaped like a plug and don't wiggle and any minor leakage is taken care of by your latex or sealnt. So, you need a cheap tubeless system and dispatch the bike with some extra sealant and a valve key, that more sealant can be added in time. So it might be something to look into a cheap tubeless system, if something like this exists.
6. Big comfortable saddle ( as found on the Hot Rod!) Then your saddle and tires do the suspension work.
7. Comfortable bars and grips, these are Humanitarian aid workers not XC racers
8. Carrying capacity, front basket, back rack , speak to the guys to see what they are dispensing and wheter it needs to be kept cool, ie will there be a sort of insulated box thats            lockable.
9. Gears remain an issue, as said most areas are okay in single speed, some are not. Internal gearing would have to be fire and forget  as no one can service that technology. Derailleurs / cassettes are also pretty dodgy, once they go out of tune, they tend to get convereted to single speed. Wouldn't recommend more than 5 or 7 speed and certainly stay      with the heavier gauge chain , no HG's or IG's!
10. Sturdy Flat pedals with decent bearings, amazing how many bikes around here have the platforms pedalled off and the guys are riding on the axels!
11. Send the thing with a "survival pack" containing:plastic laminated card with basic diagrams showing basic maintainace tasks, like tires lube etc. And the following: pump, 1 x  schrader tube, lock, valve key, extra tire sealant, 2 x tire levers (metal), wheel removal spanner / cone spanner and a decent supply of a wax based lube ala White Lightning.

I have a little list of things to make Kona's better, but I'll send that through on a seperate list.

Have a great weekend!

Kirby
ps Sanderine says Hi!