General Cycling Discussion - Bamboo bike

Seen this?

Bamboo Bicycle (http://www.americanbamboo.org/GeneralInfoPages/BambooBicycle.html)

(No, it's NOT mine. There's a discussion about it here in Slashdot (http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/07/26/1633211&mode=thread&tid=126)

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
a tale of a fateful trip.
That started from this tropic port,
aboard this tiny ship.
The mate was a mighty sailin' man,
the skipper brave and sure.
Five passengers set sail that day,
for a three hour tour, a three hour tour………
The weather started getting rough,
the tiny ship was tossed.
If not for the courage of the fearless crew,
the Minnow would be lost; the Minnow would be lost.
The ship took ground on the shore of this uncharted desert isle,
with Gilligan, the Skipper too,
the Millionaire, and his Wife,
the Movie Star, the Professor and Mary Ann,
here on Gilligan's Isle.

So this is the tale of our castaways,
they're here for a long, long time.
They'll have to make the best of things,
it's an uphill climb.
The first mate and his skipper too,
will do their very best,
to make the others comfortable,
in the tropic island nest.
No phones, no lights, no motor cars,
not a single luxury.
Like Robinson Crusoe,
it's primitive as can be.
So join us here each week my friend,
you're sure to get a smile.
From seven stranded Castaways,
Here on Gilligan's Isle.

But how did they braze those luggs onto the bamboo...

I imagine that it rides like carbon-fiber.

Originally posted by danr
I imagine that it rides like carbon-fiber.
No, I think the ride feel more like Ti.:roflmao:

Weird!

Now this is a bamboo bike!

is that really made out of bamboo? the calfee, not the first one.

Yes, Calfee built it a couple of years ago and it was raced in the Ironman Hawaii. Calfee is now doing market research to see if their would be any real interest in it. The frame would cost $2400. It is beautiful, no?

Ohhh, I so want that bike, what a piece of work!!

Originally posted by danr
I imagine that it rides like carbon-fiber.


No, it rides like...real fiber!

I'm sure that first bike was made by the Professor so that the girls had some way of transporting the coconuts around the island when they made coconut cream pie.... :lol:

That professor! He was always so resourceful. How did they manage to stay on the island for that long when they had such a brain available who could help make everything from transister radios to huts, but couldn't fix the boat? :confused:

Koffee

I know they are selling. Just don't know how well they perform. The reason....they are being used for display at surf shops and island clothing stores down in Galveston.

Here's one made in India, every part of it (even the chain!) is made from bamboo and tire is made from secretion of banana tree:

http://www.angelfire.com/sc/saha/nif/dhiraj.htm

Originally posted by acurran
Here's one made in India, every part of it (even the chain!)
I don't think the saddles will put Brooks out of business.
:eek:

How does one market organic bikes - are they vegetable or mineral?
There might be some appeal to macro-biotic, vegan, holistic health types.

Here's another one made out of bamboo: http://www.bme.szm.sk. He made also his own carbon fibre frame...

This one was posted on the SS/Fix board a couple of months ago...

http://www.biomega.dk/

It's the RL01 Bimega Love on the right side of the bikes when you enter their site.

man a non riding coworker was just saying yesterday a bamboo bike would be cool.

So this is the tale of our castaways,
they're here for a long, long time.
They'll have to make the best of things,
it's an uphill climb.
The first mate and his skipper too,
will do their very best,
to make the others comfortable,
in the tropic island nest.
No phones, no lights, no motor cars,
not a single luxury.
Like Robinson Crusoe,
it's primitive as can be.
So join us here each week my friend,
you're sure to get a smile.
From seven stranded Castaways,
Here on Gilligan's Isle.

OH so thats what they said there :)

I couldn't read that without singing it and hearing the original voices and music...

But seriously WOW those babmoo bikes are impressive I've never heard of it before...

where did you get the pic of the bamboo calfee?

I wonder if it works?
I have bamboo growing in my yard but I'm not going to try it. :rolleyes:

But how did they braze those luggs onto the bamboo...

They TIG weld it...

There's one for sale in NYC...
http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/bik/38854506.html

And I know there's a bamboo frame at ...big bike store in Portland, OR. Very similar to the Calfree, might even have been a Calfree, though in my memory it was a custom Seven... and up around the $4500 mark.

Now this is a bamboo bike!

damn that is sweet! it would be awesome if someone rode that in TDF. :eek: