Man's fascination of the bicycle and a thirst to motorize it, is flawlessly demonstrated under the rule of Fidel Castro, on the island of Cuba. The Cubans passion and necessity due to transportation problems plaguing Cuba, fabricated the Riquimbilis. The Riquimbili is a homemade motorized bike.
"Necessity is the mother of all invention," as the saying goes. Cubans, of all ages, wait hours for irregular bus service. Just for the chance and a hope to find a place to hang on on the gravely overcrowded buses. In many cases walking to and fro is much more less time consuming.
Enter the illegal Riquimbilis, Chinese bicycles with no gear reduction. Each motorized bike unique to each of its makers resourcefulness. Made out of any motor powerful enough to propel the bike. Many are made out of chainsaw motors, water pumps, electric generators, fumigator motors, and the most popular power boosters from old soviets tanks. The fuel tanks are often made of discarded plastic soda bottles.
Riquimbilis are used to transport not only people but smaller items such as groceries and other personal needs. These bikes have been estimated to exceed 65 miles an hour. Many riders have the scars to prove the prowess of the motorized bicycles. As one might image, racing has become a hot pursuit with many of the owners of Riquimbilis.
1996 American cars from the 1940's and 50's reappeared on the scene, now grafted with diesel engines. These special taxis cover important routes within the Capital, and can carry up to six passengers. Fare is 10 Cuban pesos. It is now commonplace to see one of the old luxurious Cadillacs imported by local bourgeoisie, limping along an avenue, and contributing to pollution by emitting a large column of black smoke from its exhaust.
In the era of circa 1920 through 1950 Cuba was a tourist trap and resort for many Americans. During prohibition many Americans escaped regularly to Cuba, where drinking alcohol was legal. Baseballs, Babe Ruth, was known to frequent Cuba during the off season to participate in his other sport; drinking mass quantities of alcohol.
Sanctions were imposed on Fidel's government by the U.S. And are still ongoing to some extent. Since the 1990's, major European countries and Canada have been trading with Cuba and have helped to slightly build the economy up. The majority of Cuban people are poor.
There are few jobs but people have other important aspects to their lives; music for example. Music plays a big part in Cuban culture and it is common to hear live music echoing through the streets.
Music plays an integral part of the Cuban culture, however, there is a louder noise coming through the streets of Cuba, the riquimbili. The riquimbilis often quite noisy due to the assorted motors used. But at over 120 miles per gallon, many Cubans have figured out a cheap way to travel Cuba.
A special thanks for eDJ from motorbicycling.com/ for bringing riquimbiliis to our attention.
