DScott

Uh, we all do. That's kinda why we're here, isn't it?

Allen

My basement build.

They are fairly easy to build in that you don't need a lot of specialized tooling.
They also ride glass smooth.
Bamboo is a bit flexy for my tastes in a road bike, but for a dirt road bomber/cruising around bike I love it.

schnee

You've ignored the several times when people said it's the smoothest ride they've ever had

Glad you ended your blather with the cowardly cop-out of 'just my opinion'

It backs up the fact that there's nothing factual or even worthwhile in your posts and you know it so you give yourself some weasel words to back out from it later when you're proven completely wrong

Carbon Unit

Calfee gets around the flexy part by using larger diameter bamboo and re-inforcing the bottom bracket area.

iab

Now you are just being obtuse.

Let me rephrase, carbon is different from steel is different from aluminum is different from titanium is different from bamboo.

To say one is better than another is just a stupid pissing match, as well you know.

To discount bamboo for whatever reason is just as assinine. It is different from other materials, period. You may want to discount it as an option, but maybe there are other people who would like to try the difference. I don't have direct experience with the material, but I am willing to trust that Calfee is not full of BS and try it out to see the difference. You rather be a curmudgeon, nice.

BTW, this is true for everything except lugged carbon, that is just a stupid choice. I have yet to hear or read anything that says lugged carbon is lighter, stiffer, stronger or better riding than monocoque carbon. You'd have to be a real poseur to ride lugged carbon.

Carbon Unit

I think that lugged carbon is a better choice. Companies like Crumpton, Parlee and Calfee use lugged carbon because it makes a stronger frame than a monocoque frame. A frame typically fails at the joints. A lugged frame is stronger at the joints. A monocoque frame is bladder molded and can have thin spots in some of the curves of the frame. Lugged frames use pre-cut tubes of uniform thickness and lugs are thicker so the stresses are directed away from the joints. Lugged frames are more impact resistent than a monocoque frame.

Also, a lugged frame can be lighter than a monocoque frame, for example the Calfee Dragonfly.

If you want to read about the differences in carbon frame building methods and are not easily borded then read the attached link.

https://www.calfeedesign.com/whitepaper1.htm

coasting 

now i'm worried. i have a lugged carbon frame from merlin and i keep thinking the joins will seperate.

sixpack

Why so mad? It is simply his opinion. In fact it looks like those who have have actually RIDDEN the bike seem to agree with him. Heavy and flexi but it had a nice ride quality. I believe they compared the ride to a nice carbon frame.....

https://www.roadbikeaction.com/fly.as...xid=67&cid=160

milnerpt

you think CF explodes? try getting dropped on by a hungry panda. every material has its downfall

Carbon Unit

Bamboo weights more than carbon but less than steel. A bamboo frame will weight about 3 lbs. As far as flexy, it depends on how it is built. Any frame material can be flexy if it isn't designed right.

sixpack

Being a road bike....wouldn't you think Calfee would have made the frame used in that test with as little flex as they could?

kergin

Uh-huh... not all road bikes are designed with crit racing in mind. Maybe Calfee was aiming at a general riding bike?

sixpack

A bike with racing geometry and a bottom bracket that
feels like it is dragging the ground....sounds like just what I want in a bike....Schizophrenia...A bike
that does not know what it is supposed to be.

Quote from the road test.... .

"The angles are steep enough to say race bike while the ride quality bespeaks the comfort of a touring bike. The Bamboo shone in fast, arcing turns. At just under 20 pounds, you can feel the weight. For some, the worst of it came on out of the saddle climbing sprints where they felt the bottom bracket was dragging on the ground."

coasting 

having never ridden one, i can only go on what the owner said.

smoother than carbon. his one came in at 17 lbs. very nippy in turning and very comfy on long rides.

Carbon Unit

I think Calfee could make the bike with no flex if they wanted, but then it would ride more harsh. I think the audience this bike is targetting is the people that want to ride for hours on end but are not competing in crits.

I know a guy that has two Calfees, a Luna and a Bamboo. He competes in crits with the Luna and uses the Bamboo when he wants to get in some long miles. He said he was shocked the first time he rode the Bamboo. He said that you can ride over the roughest patch of road and even cobble stones and hardly feel the road. He said that it will put a smile on your face.

The bike appeals to me because I am not a racer, but I will ride centuries or group rides of 60+ miles. The Bamboo would do well in this type of riding. However, I already have a Calfee Tetra which rides very nice already, but probably not like the Bamboo. I am not in the market right now for a $5,000+ bike or I would buy a Bamboo without hestitation.

iab

Ummm... You don't think I was serious with what I wrote, do you?

Carbon Unit

When I read it the first time, I thought you were serious, but after re-reading it I realize that you were joking. I hit the BF today before drinking my coffee. I guess I shouldn't respond to a post until I am loaded up with Caffeine.

garysol1 

I would love to ride one and see for myself. I hate the thought that Calfee would put a bike out there just because he can and it sounds like your friend really likes his. I have been wrong before and Ill be wrong again I am sure.

Carbon Unit

How the bamboo bike started is that Craig Calfee had bamboo growing in his back yard. Craig's Pit Bull would chew on the bamboo and it hardly made teeth marks in the bamboo. Because the material was so hard, Craig decided to build a bike just for a conversation piece. Well, it turned out that the bike has great ride characteristics. Who knew it would actually be a good material to build a bike from.

I see no reason not to build a bike from Bamboo. It will appeal to a limited number of cyclist, but it will appeal to some and it appeals to me.

bikeideas

FYI, the term third world countries was replaced with developing countries in the '80s, as the proper vernacular when referring to nations less economically fortunate, at least by those who served in some of those countries. BK Fiji, 1983

nycphotography

Replaced by who? I didn't realize there was a single authority who could dictate what terms we are allowed to use when speaking. (not that there's a shortage of pompous twits who wish they were the authority.)

RLRider

I use bamboo for hand making tobacco pipes (one of my many other hobbies), to me that thing is ultra cool!

bikeideas

Replaced by smart people who move between cultures and assist governments who request their assistance in helping their country improve. There is a lot of paperwork associated with this process and words, especially translated into many languages, are very calculated and thought out.

By addressing a nation as third world, that implies that there is a first and second world, which starts the conversation off on the wrong foot if you are a diplomat.

nycphotography, implies an artist maybe? Be more compassionate.

OK, bamboo bikes, any more builders?

Griffin2020

To all of the posters referring to these as "wood" bikes. Bamboo is a grass, not a tree.

merlinextraligh

Needs these rims: