Bamboo Bikes… Safe, Comfortable and Elegant

By: Komang Kurniawan, Chairman EBPP & GM EBBB

The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in significant economic changes; many people have lost their jobs because their companies have closed, while many find it difficult to get food for their daily needs.

This has had a negative impact on East Bali Bamboo Bikes (EBBB), a small social enterprise created by EBPP management in 2017 with the goals of up-skilling our existing small bamboo team and creating jobs for enthusiastic youth, focussing initially on those aged 18+ in the most isolated Ban village hamlets. Producing high quality bamboo bikes and other hand-made bamboo products from locally sourced bamboo, this year also experienced minimal production because we’ve had no orders since March due to the pandemic! The types of bikes built by EBBB are MTB, City bike, Fixie, BMX, Tandem and Balance bikes as well as beautiful laminated bamboo accessories of bottle holders, smartphone holders and mudguards.

In addition to bamboo bikes, EBBB has built five custom bamboo Wheelchairs for children with disabilities, sponsored by Bali Beach Wheels, and most recently, we’ve designed and built a prototype children’s Bamboo Skimboard that is now being enjoyed to the full by our latest client’s 8 year old son on the Seminyak & Kerobokan beaches!

We accept orders of all sizes and types according to consumer needs, so that the buyers can ride their bikes everywhere with a sense of safety, comfort, and elegance.

Bamboo Skills Training for Local Youth

EBBB also provide training for young people who want to learn how to build bamboo bikes and make high quality bamboo crafts so that they can train others with the aim of establishing small businesses in their sub-villages. This year, due to the pandemic, we could only provide 3 months intensive hands-on training to three young men, who learned to build bamboo bikes complete with the installation of components and how to make various bamboo handicrafts, including: balancing dragonflies, snakes, toy vehicles, marine biota. In 2021, we plan to continue the training for three more groups of youth for three months periods.

For customer service, we can provide shipments abroad as long as there are no import rules or restrictions from the country concerned for the acceptance of bamboo products.

Let’s ride for an environmentally friendly, healthy soul and strong body. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you. •