Maya Pedal Turns Bikes into Tools for Laborers

Maya Pedal Turns Bikes into Tools for Laborers

Bike machines include corn mill, water pump, and washing machines
By Kelsey Molseed

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Maya Pedal makes its bike-powered machines by hand using concrete, metal, and donated bikes.
(Photo courtesy of Maya Pedal)
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In Guatemala’s indigenous communities, salaries are as low as $2 to $3 per day and are dependent on how efficiently a person can work. So when Maya Pedal created its first bicimáquina (“bike machine”) in 1997, the potential to improve lives was very real.

That first bicimáquina allowed the user to mill grain at a rate of 3 pounds per minute—a process that takes much longer by hand. Today, Maya Pedal’s machines include blenders, washing machines, nut shellers, trailers, and two types of water pumps. The organization also has prototypes for tile makers, metal sharpeners, electricity generators, and wood saws.

The bike machines utilize cycling to increase efficiency without using electricity. “Guatemala is a country that needs alternative energy sources,” says Mario Juarez, director of Maya Pedal. “People don’t make enough money to pay large energy bills.”

Maya Pedal’s website includes step-by-step instructions for each of the bicimáquinas, so why not turn your old bike into a blender? Or maybe you already have a blender, in which case you might consider donating that old bike to Maya Pedal, which depends on bike donations from the US and Canada. “In our country, we use bikes until they’re spent,” says Juarez. “We’re not like first-world countries who say ‘Oh I’ll just buy another.’”

http://www.bicycling.com/news/featured-stories/maya-pedal-turns-bikes-tools-laborers

(Short article, no more at link.)