To fit the fat tire. My mountain bike's chainstays bend inward to accommodate a large size tire. I did not want to try to bend the wood on my first bike and since this bike is intended as an upright cruiser I don't mind the long wheel base. I'm curious about flex myself. I'll have it built up in a week or so.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...46950791304015
^^^
Interesting video about bending bamboo
How is your frame? Has the flex or ride changed as you've put on the miles?
I'm also intending to build a long-tail. One thing I don't care for with my XtraCycle is the handling characteristics when I have a lot of weight on the snap-deck. With the weight up high the handling becomes pretty twitchy. To improve that I'm thinking of going with a small rear wheel, 24 or maybe even 20 inch.
--A
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For a proof of concept experiment I bent a 1 1/2 inch piece of bamboo the other day. As the video shows I filled it with sand, but I only have a small torch with a fine flame tip. Although not absolutely necessary a larger torch would have been very advantageous. It took some time but it is possible. Bamboo will take and hold a bend. It does bounce back, so you would need to make a jig to be able to repeat the same bend in two pieces.
