A new bicibomba de lazo (bike rope-water pump) installation

. A new bicibomba de lazo (bike rope-water pump) installation, originally uploaded by Levi Waldron.

In this picture, it is pumping about 25L of water per minute from a depth of 20m. The machine is great for a couple reasons. 1. it's useful. It's a huge improvement in efficiency over a rope and a bucket, the next step down in technology. It's way cheaper than a gas pump, the next step up in technology, which costs some 5 times as much to purchase and install and another some Q60/day in gasoline to use. 2. it's aesthetically pleasing. People like it, it's interesting. Gas/electric appliances are boring, all they do is sit there, whirr away, and do there work. With a bicimaquina, someone sits on a bicycle and pedals, but instead of going anywhere they move water or accomplish some other useful thing. When we set up in the Patzicia market, there was immediately a crowd of people there to watch demonstrations of the biciliquadora (bike blender) and the bicimolina (bike grinder). Unfortunately, we still didn't sell any in that market or most other days, because our bicimaquinas cost too much. It's a big problem. The bicibomba de lazo costs Q1800, and the other machines around Q600-900. Given that we receive free bikes from the US and Canada, and that the extra materials to make the machines cost maybe 20% of their retail price, I know we could do much better. There's a big and interesting story behind these finances, in which I am now intimately involved, but I think I would feel more comfortable posting that after the finances meeting tomorrow is done and probably after I am back in Canada. Stay tuned...