Bicicletas de Bambú - Fuente: Cool News

Les dejamos información (en inglés) de bicicletas de bambú.

Fuente: Cool News

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Bamboo bikes

"There's something going on with bamboo bikes," says Jay Townley in a New York Times piece by Malia Wollan (8/12/10). "They're catching on with urban and commuting cyclists," adds Jay, a market researcher. Bamboo bikes are still a relative rarity, but some cyclists like both the bike's "eco-credibility" as well as their distinctive look. Unlike steel, bamboo grows like a weed and can be composted. But interestingly, it has a "strength-to-weight ratio similar to that of steel."

Some cyclists are willing to pay dearly for this: "Nick Frey, owner of Boo Bicycles, builds and sells high-performance bamboo-frame bicycles ... ranging from $3,000 for just the frame to $10,000 for a tricked-out racer." Ironically, super-cheap bamboo bikes -- selling for about $60 each -- will soon be built in Ghana, as part of the Bamboo Bike Projectsponsored by Columbia University. Other enthusiasts are taking a do-it-yourself approach, using one of the "step-by-step, how-to-build-a-bamboo-bike guides on the Instructables web site."

Marty Odlin of the Bamboo Bike Studio in (where else) Brooklyn, offers bamboo bike-building workshops. Marty and his students harvest their own bamboo "from patches on the property of landowners who eagerly granted permission to anyone willing to assist in taming the plant ... Because of high demand, the studio now orders bulk shipments of bamboo from Mexico." He also has created a "mail-order, do-it-yourself bamboo bike kit." Other bamboo bike makers include Signature Cycles, Renovo Design, Panda Bicycles, Organic Bikes andCalfee Design.