Reader’s Completed Bikes!
Another great bike from earthbound bikes in the UK
Jeff S. from Santa Cruz
Ben’s Bike
Gabor’s KoBike
Kosayno’s Bamboo Mountain Bike
Innovative Bottom Bracket design for a mountain bike from “tomorrowbikes”
Bikes and Insight from Fox.Gao
“About two years ago I saw a vedio about Calfee Design bamboo bicycle, that attracted me and I began to make the bamboo bicycle by myself.
I made several bamboo bicycles and now I treat it as a habit. I spent most of my off hours to research and build. Pls see the attched files for one of my bamboo bicycle.
As you blog wrote every details of making the bamboo frame—but I can’t open most of the pictures, I compared your process with mine, most of that is similar.
I treat the seatpost very simple—I have a hand tool can dig the hole into the poles for the dimater (25.4 or 27.2) as I want, so I just dig the hole and put the seatpost into the bamboo poles, and then lock on the bamboo poles. I didn’t use a metal poles into the poles as you done. The bicycle I rided over 3000km and still OK. ”
Brooklyn Bamboo Bike School
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tech-transport/happy-authentic-bamboo-bike.html
One very interesting thing about this approach is the use of foam blocks. Clearly this reduces the amount of epoxy and fiber you have to use while cutting down on weight. It’s not clear to me whether the ends of these tubes have been mitered or not. This approach is much more like that used on carbon fiber bikes, where a foam frame is built, carbon applied and then the foam gets melted out using acetone. I would assume they leave the foam in here.
Link to the bike school:
Posted by Kobike on April 19, 2010 at 10:50 am
Hi,
This blog is great, you collected a lot of information here.
I already made a bamboo bike last summer and it works perfexctly. Now I’m working on the 2nd, improved one. Unfortunately I don’t have a “how to do ” description, but It is planned…
There is a photo of my bike in the website I linked.
Kobike from Hungary/Europe
Posted by mmann1123 on April 29, 2010 at 8:42 am
Wow bike looks great. If you want to write up a little bit about what methods you used I would be happy to feature you on the blog. For instance how did you mount the rear brakes? What type of hemp or fiber did you use for the joints? etc etc. Thanks for your interest hope the second bike goes well.
Posted by Kobike on June 30, 2010 at 5:32 am
Hi again, I finished my 2nd bike, it also looks nice and the weight of the frame is 1,64kg only.
Here you can find photos:
http://picasaweb.google.hu/bamboobikeboy/BamboobikeS2?feat=directlink
I’m working on a web site, untill today there are not so much information there, but I’m writing it continuously:
http://sites.google.com/site/kobikedesign
Posted by Ben on July 23, 2010 at 4:09 pm
I finished my frame, and have pics if you are interested. Thanks for the great blog, it was loads of help while building this!
You can see the pics starting here:
http://img256.imageshack.us/i/dscn0505go.jpg/
Posted by wenzday on August 12, 2010 at 8:43 am
Hey, great work!
Maybe we will build a bamboo cargo trailer.
(Also, do you have pics of your Kayak project somewhere?)
keep on biking!
-wenzday
Posted by Enda on October 4, 2010 at 8:48 am
Hey, hoping to build a bamboo bike of my own but I’m having trouble finding a suitable supplier that will ship to Ireland. Anyone out there know of any European based bamboo suppliers or reliable suppliers who ship internationally?
Posted by The Oasis Projekt on February 17, 2012 at 2:01 am
You might get in touch with Jason at Earthbound Bikes in the U.K.
Earthboundbikes.com
Cheers!
Dug
http://tr4f.wordpress.com
Posted by James Wolf on May 4, 2011 at 9:20 am
Nice to see more amateur builders enthusiastically building these bikes. Its like wood strip canoes, regular folks just like the build process more than just buying a pre-made one – interesting!
Posted by Michael S on May 9, 2011 at 9:42 am
I made a bamboo fixed gear using some of the good information on this site. Thanks!
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100317877946898.2725729.5717378&l=5cfc70407f
Posted by Drew Diller on June 2, 2011 at 11:49 am
I finished the world’s first bamboo snow bike:
So far it’s seen a good amount of summer use, and has survived lots of rock gardens, a few crashes, and a handful of 1 foot and 2 foot drops.
Posted by Evan on June 13, 2011 at 11:45 pm
Here are a few that me and my buddy made:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64037791@N03/
These are bamboo bikes 7 and 8 for us, we have three more that will be done this month. We started just doing it for fun in our spare time a few years ago, but so many of our family and friends want them, we’ve just kept on going.
Posted by Drew Diller on June 16, 2011 at 11:28 am
Evan, I like your split-top-tube-into-seat-stays approach. Been thinking of doing a similar one, glad to see it put into reality first. Your joints look very nice as well, thumbs up.
Posted by Evan on June 16, 2011 at 7:47 pm
Thanks for looking, and for the comment Drew, very nice of you to say. Thats a bike I built for my wife, I’ll post pictures of my road bike soon, it’s a black bamboo bike of similar construction to my wife’s, but it needed a third tup tube brace that bends down to meet the down tube for added stiffness. My wife is small and light enough that she can ride that bike fine, but for me (6’1, 210lbs) just having the two beams was a bit springy. three makes it nice and stiff. If you’ve been thinking of doing it you should, its fun. I like the pictures of your stuff, I haven’t done a mountain bike yet, its on my to-do list. I love talking shop with other builders.
Cheers
Posted by Kobike on June 17, 2011 at 3:14 am
Evan, here you can find pictures of my bamboo MTB, I hope it helps to realize your project 🙂
https://picasaweb.google.com/kobikedesign/BambooMTB?feat=directlink
Posted by Evan on June 17, 2011 at 8:55 am
Nice ride man! Thanks for sharing, I am definitely inspired to try a mountain bike. Right now I’m finishing a road bike, a fixie for a friend of mine, and a cyclocrss bike now, but as soon as those are done, I think I’m gonna make a run at the MTB. Thanks Kobike!
Posted by Max Tubman on August 3, 2011 at 4:14 pm
Check out my bamboo bike project at pmconbamboo.blogspot.com. Got a lot of good ideas and help from this page so thanks everyone for sharing!
Posted by dillerdesign on August 3, 2011 at 6:18 pm
Hey Max, looking good, I liked your bit on “why do bamboo / cancer rides / biking / anything at all?”
Because you want to, that’s why.
Posted by Max Tubman on August 4, 2011 at 6:23 pm
Heck Ya! Thanks for check it out!
Posted by Iain on September 15, 2011 at 7:19 am
Your site was a great source of info when building my bike, thanks!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/51027666@N05/sets/72157627675337650/with/6108540147/
That’s a link to a set of my bike.
Cheers!
Posted by Robert Kope on October 13, 2011 at 2:19 pm
Michael,
Your blog was a tremendous help to me in my project too. I also make split bamboo fly rods and wrote an article for an online rodmaking magazine about building the bike. It can be found in the July, 2011 issue of Power Fibers
(www.powerfibers.com/PowerFibers_Issue_44.pdf) on page 38.
Thanks,
–Robert
Posted by mmann1123 on October 13, 2011 at 2:39 pm
Wow. Awesome. Im also a fly fisher. I haven’t used a bamboo rod before. How do they cast?
Posted by mmann1123 on November 30, 2011 at 2:52 am
Yeah sure. Send some links!
Posted by Jason O'Nions on November 30, 2011 at 8:33 am
Thanks!
http://www.earthboundbikes.co.uk
Theres also a load of pictures at: https://picasaweb.google.com/106325259817325711451
Posted by mmann1123 on December 4, 2011 at 3:44 pm
Jason, thanks for sending the info. If you could write up a little blurb about your company and the materials etc that would be great. I could add it to the description on my “Buy One” page.
Posted by Jason O'Nions on December 4, 2011 at 3:57 pm
Brilliant, I really appreciate it!
We are a fledgling company seeking to promote the merits of bamboo as a material for bicycle frames.
Bamboo provides a superior level of vibration dampening which creates a uniquely comfortable ride.
All of our frames are hand made to custom specifications, using heat treated bamboo and hand wrapped carbon fiber joints, with each frame requires approximately 40 hours of labour.
Thanks!
Posted by janhagedorn on January 7, 2012 at 4:48 pm
Hi Mike,
I tremendously appreciate your site, it really is among the first places to go, if your out to built ur own BambooBike!
I just started my own project and I certain your blog is gonna be one of my topsites within the next months;)
I’m documenting my project on bambusvelo.com, where I want to show , that it’s possible to built such a bike without being a bike nerd prior to the project ;P
So if u got a spare sec, have a look around. I could use some help in the design process. (It’s in German, but I’ve built in Google Translate, so I hope u can get most of it)
Anyway, thanks a lot again for the help ur already providing through this page!
Cheers
Jan
Posted by Jimmy on January 19, 2012 at 11:51 am
Hey man!
Well, it’s been a long four months, but I’ve finally done it! I’m a beginner bicyclist and I suppose frame-designer now, and I followed your detailed instructions to the letter. I’ve ended up with an attractive single-gear bike like I wanted! Thank you so much for this blog!!
If I post a picture of my bike, will you put it up in the gallery? Thanks for the inspiration!
Posted by mmann1123 on January 19, 2012 at 5:53 pm
Yeah please post them online and I will put them on the site! Congrats!!
Posted by marcin on February 3, 2012 at 2:10 pm
hello!!
If you can please add my bamboo bike to your site:
http://www.biq.cc
thanks 🙂
mar
Posted by Drew Diller on February 10, 2012 at 2:25 pm
Made another snow bike, this time with a Gates CenterTrack belt and an old Left with some aftermarket clamps.
More:
http://dillerdesign.com/random/bike/fat_bamboo_v2/
Posted by Earthbound Bikes on February 11, 2012 at 4:23 pm
Hey again,
I have recently finished a mountain bike, would you be able to add a pic to your ‘other peoples projects’ ?
https://plus.google.com/photos/102938132265479081313/albums/5706497755310292929
Thanks!
Posted by The Oasis Projekt on February 17, 2012 at 2:05 am
Going to make a cross country 5,000+ mile trip on a bamboo recumbent bike to bring awareness to human trafficking, and raise funds for the victims of trafficking…
Anyone know where I could find plans to make a bamboo recumbent?? 🙂
Dug
http://tr4f.wordpress.com
Posted by The Oasis Projekt on March 2, 2012 at 4:10 am
*UPDATE*
Found an awesome maker of bamboo recumbents, listed info on my site, but really excited!
Posted by Blair on April 12, 2012 at 1:28 pm
This site was an incredible help for my project. I followed pretty closely the process that you used, and my bicycle turned out great.
I did mine for an elective course in my mechanical engineering program, called ‘Single Track Vehicle Design’. I completed the bike in only nine weeks, start to finish. One of the biggest challenges was heat treating the bamboo; the only decently priced bamboo I could find was still green, so I had to figure out how to dry it–and quickly!
As a result of this being for a class, I did a full engineering report. It includes the full fabrication process with several photos, technical drawings, a complete set of engineering targets, cost analysis, weight analysis, and heat treatment data.
Thank you so much for keeping this site here, couldn’t have done without it. 🙂
Posted by john kendall on May 4, 2012 at 7:07 pm
Check out our bikes at kendallbikes.com
Posted by Alex on June 27, 2012 at 9:03 pm
Here is an instructable on my bamboo cargo bike.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Intro-How-to-Design-and-Build-a-Bamboo-Cargo-Bik/
Posted by Juan Estrada on August 13, 2012 at 2:29 pm
” It’s not clear to me whether the ends of these tubes have been mitered or not”
Looks like it’s not. Their faq section explains how they used to miter and tack with epoxy filler then decided to switch to making the foam lugs into which they butt the square cut tubes.
Posted by Juan Estrada on November 26, 2012 at 2:12 pm
My bike: http://flic.kr/p/dwrJ5K
Almost finished. It’s rideable now, but still missing the front derailleur (seat tube doesn’t fit standard clamps, will try a fiber-resin attachment for a braze on derailleur) and shifters (waiting for the bar end adapters to arrive).
Thanks for all of the valuable info!
Posted by Cameron Brown on January 11, 2013 at 8:14 am
I just finished building my own road bike, take a look:
http://www.cameronbrown.ca/blog/2013/01/how-to-build-a-bamboo-bike-part-1-plannin-things-n-fetchin-stuff/
http://www.cameronbrown.ca/blog/2013/01/how-to-build-a-bamboo-bike-part-2-cuttin-things-n-wrapin-it-up/
Posted by mmann1123 on January 11, 2013 at 3:34 pm
Make sure you post your photos on the world bamboo bike map
https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=201275941976874634675.0004b5e25f223369ab9ed&msa=0&ll=1.406109,-148.359375&spn=172.392108,79.453125
Posted by Michael Beck on January 24, 2013 at 7:05 am
Hello! Take a look at our upcoming bamboo bike build/tour! We will probably be fairly busy on forums soon, as we are sourcing materials and gathering the group of people now!
http://thepoosh.org/southern-european-bamboo-bicycle-tour-2013
Cheers from Michael at thePOOSH.org!
Posted by Joshuah on April 22, 2013 at 12:05 pm
is there anyway you could get me fox.gao’s contact info. I am living in china and would love to know where he found supplies.
Posted by Evan on June 16, 2013 at 6:19 pm
Our company (valid Cycles) was recently featured on NPR’s Science Friday, Check out the video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UnZGikeiRU&feature=youtu.be
Posted by Juan Estrada on January 28, 2014 at 3:09 pm
Here’s a pic of my second bike, this time it’s a mountain bike:
Posted by Crazy Taxi City Rush Hack on September 20, 2014 at 8:51 pm
What’s up, all is going sound here and ofcourse every one is
sharing information, that’s truly excellent, keep up writing.
Posted by Mason Cooley on November 1, 2015 at 4:30 pm
Posting this project which is in process. Trying orthopedic wrap which Calfee is using for his new DIY kit. Follow the link to my project here. http://bamboo-bike-build.blogspot.com/