Why Bamboo?
Bamboo has been used throughout history for everything from musical instruments to medicine. Its combination of strength and flexibility make it an excellent choice for building bikes. And since it can be worked without industrial-grade tools – without electricity even – bamboo is an ideal fit for the developing world.
By sourcing the bamboo locally and building the frames locally we add value to an abundant resource and provide jobs and skills for people.
Sustainable
Bamboo's recent gains in popularity in developed nations for things like flooring owe to its sustainable nature. Much has been written about how bamboo is the most eco-friendly and useful renewable resource on the planet. Coincidentally, it happens to be very common in most of the developing world.
Strong
Don't believe that a bamboo bike frame is stronger than steel? Take a look at this video: 600 lbs., carried on a bamboo cargo bike. As you'll see, the frame is fine, but we had to reinforce the steel spokes – with bamboo!
Flexible
Bamboo is not just strong, it's flexible. So it absorbs road shock and is better able to withstand the stresses a heavily loaded bike frame sees. It's also more comfortable to ride.
Long Lasting
Bamboo doesn't rust or fatigue like metals do. It simply need to be preserved properly and coated with a waterproof sealer.
Local
Bamboo is native to the areas we're working, so there's virtually no carbon footprint for transportation, and an extremely low cost for raw materials.
BAMBOO - A Real Frame Material
Craig Calfee was one of the first to introduce Carbon Fiber as a frame material in the 1980's. Since 1995 he has been building bicycle frames with bamboo.
There are relatively very few bamboo bicycles on the road. Calfee Design Bamboo bicycles have been reviewed by two professional bicycling magazines.
Of the people riding bamboo bicycles, the following bits specific to bamboo as a frame material can be extracted from their exuberent feedback:
Bud Baker's Bamboo Bike Blog (http://budbakersbamboobikeblog.blogspot.com/)
"Bud’s initial concerns before riding the bike would have been the geometry, balance, and alignment of an imperfect material of non man made origin. Bud envisioned riding in non intentional circles, serpentine like patterns of his path left behind, or wobbles from flawed geometry. Not the case. The bike tracks perfectly. It has tight maneuverable handling with a feeling of crisp flowing exuberance."
Paul Altenhofen (Calfee Bamboo Bike January 2008)
"The bamboo bike rides really nicely-stiff like aluminum, probably due to the oversize tubes, er, sticks, but more muted like a nice steel frame. There is not much springiness, though, like you would find in steel or titanium-bumps and blips and waves in the pavement don't twang or resonate or bounce like in some frames made of those metals. Hits are not as sharp, nor do they have that hard, stomping-on-a-rock bone-jarring feel of a big-diameter aluminum frame. I don't know how to explain this, it's like talking about music...you have to use words that are relative to other things. Like "blue," a color, is understood to mean "sad" or "melancholy" in music. This bike feels a little transparent-it's tough to pin a character onto it, though. "Alive," maybe? Perhaps because the frame is made from an organic substance-it feels like it is actually working on its own, maybe pushing back against hits. Power transfer is great-it doesn't hesitate in a jump, doesn't seem to flex unfavorably, doesn't creak or groan. Perfect alignment; I can let go and sit up and it goes right straight ahead, no bobbles or wobbles or leaning or arm waving, it goes right where I look."
Jim (Calfee Bamboo Review January, 2006 )
"My new bamboo bike is really pretty amazing. It is unbelievably gorgeous - the photos don't really do it justice, and seeing the frame alone also doesn't do it. The bike, fully built, is just beautiful (with a Calfee barstem made from FSA K-Wing bars, Campy Record carbon compact kit, and Mavic Ksyrium ES wheels - the red spoke really looks trick). I love the way the cables pass through the carbon wraps on the lugs. And I got to spend plenty of time looking at it last week, because it started snowing as I pulled out of the parking lot of the bike shop last weekend when I picked it up, so it sat in my living room all week. But it cleared up this weekend, so I got to ride it for the first time.
Wow. I'll be honest - when I asked my wife for this bike, I was thinking mostly about what it represents in terms of artistry and craftsmanship. I wasn't really thinking about how it would ride. But it really rides beautifully. The vibration damping is amazing. I've never spent much time on a good carbon frame, so I can't give a fair comparison, but compared to the steel, aluminum and titanium frames I've ridden, it seems like a completely different type of vehicle - a hovercraft maybe. Its eerie really - it seems to just hover over the road, like floating on a cloud. And the roads I ride in Connecticut are pretty nasty, especially in January. I also threw it up some steep little hills, and it was stiff and responsive. So now I'm spoiled - I don't see how I'll get back on my "old" primary bike (a custom Columbus Spirit steel frame made by a local builder in Ridgefield, CT). So much for saving the bamboo bike for special occasions. I hope I get to ride it again before we get snowed in for the winter!
So, bravo. Beautiful bike, and a joy to ride. Think I'll go home and stare at it some more."
