Bamboo bike...hmmmm...
 

I don't know about this as viable frame material, though it looks sort of cool.
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_hKszwMOc2rY/St...2/IMG_0616.JPG
Any opinions?

Well, they do build scaffolding hundreds of feet tall out of the stuff in Asia.

I think it's a lot like carbon fiber: very strong along the long axis and relatively weak along short axises.

Saw a couple at a custom bike show in San Diego - last year? The company sponsoring the construction of them is nonprofit (maybe?) and promoting them as economical, green transportation solutions, particularly in Africa, where they are made; this is a rough recollection.

They exhibited 3 or 4 models. Sales guy said they're very strong. I lifted one and it was pretty light too. Pretty cool. I wonder how they're doing.

I suspect the main deal is that it depends upon what kind of bamboo is used. Some is suitable for structures, some is not. Most folks think of the bamboo that's mostly hollow, but the structural bamboo can be almost completely solid. I suspect for a bike frame with such short lengths, you could get away with a compromise.

http://bamboofenceblog.files.wordpre...nce-rolled.jpg

Its already been done on Giligans Island :D

by this man:


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1265239607.jpg

Calfee's been building one for several years now. Still a novelty, but kinda cool.
I think the bike in the pic at the top of the page should go about 14lbs based on the carbon lugs on the frame.
Interesting though, Campy Record shifters and derailleurs, but a Dura-Ace 7800 crankset. That's straight blasphemy in the bike world.


http://www.calfeedesign.com/pages/images/NewBamboo.png

better wear a helmet with that bad boy.... just in casehttp://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1265240855.jpg

nice paint job...:)

IIRC, the japanese used bamboo in the structure of the zero.

I dunno, a little bondo and some paint and you could make steel or aluminum tubing look just like that.

http://www.prickmag.net/phatridesmarch06feature1.jpg

(Indian Larry's Tiki bike)

Yeah, and its sparked a diy revolution of people using carbon tape (and then epoxy) to build frames.

As to the DA crank w/ campy shifters, I've ridden Record for 15 yrs or more, and someone just gave me a modern DA bike (older Madone w/ newish DA stuff) and wow, is that crank stiff and direct. I never thought a small guy like me could benefit from a stiff crank, but it just feels right and efficient. Yeah, I know Campy makes something similar now, but its uber expensive and frankly not as elegantly simple. Still prefer the solid feel of Record shifters though.

seriously? that is really cool.

These are very cool hardwood frames:

The Renovo Bicycle - Renovo Hardwood Bicycles

They did make track rims out of wood in the 70's. Maybe even in the 80's. I saw them at Ernie's and Montrose When I started in the early 80's.

I like the idea of bamboo for, I would think, absorption of vibration. And if it's structurally sound, that's a plus. Makes sense to use carbon lugs, too, as I don't know how the tubes would be adhered to each other.

The concern is what would a rider like Armstrong or Cavendish do to a frame like that when putting out 500 watts in a field sprint. :eek:

I would think it would flex too much.

Those Renovos are HOT.

That's what I was thinking.

As with tennis raquets, I thought the move to composite material was to lessen the flexing of the frame.

Bambo is strong, but can bend a lot as well.

-Z-man.