Bamboo (and other woods) bicycles.

[GasSavers_Pete]

Found this on another forum and thought it might be of interest for those posting on this one.

The "Panda models" are the bamboo frames and there is a good technical analysis of the woods vs carbon fibre.

http://www.renovobikes.com/

No connection with the site or the company apart from passing the details on.

Pete.

[GasSavers_JoeBob]

Definitely things of beauty...it'd be nice to have the money for something like that ($3600+ for a bicycle...and I paid $200 for my car!)

[GasSavers_JoeBob]

Definitely things of beauty...it'd be nice to have the money for something like that ($3600+ for a bicycle...and I paid $200 for my car!)

[cat0020]

Works of art, not all that pracical, which is one of principal of bicycles.... I'll stick with my aluminum framed workhorse that doesn't require cleaning material as:

[Lug_Nut]

Pete, You 8@$t@rd! Now I'm half considering a 4th bike!
What would someone give me for a 56 cm DeRosa SLX (Nuovo Record), 57 cm Vitus 979 (Super Record), and a custom built, high bottom bracket, Ibis MountainTrials (mostly Deore XT) so I can raise funds towards a Pandurban?

[GasSavers_Pete]

LugNut,
LOL.
Yep I understand your predicament all too well.

I would (wood?) like one myself but they are not legally available here (Australia) due to import and quarantine restrictions.

I thought the technical comparison with carbon fibre was thought provoking.
No need for an autoclave either so that is another plus.

One point did come up though...if the bamboo is good for a frame what about wheel rims?

Pete.

[Lug_Nut]

I think it might be OK for quarantine reasons: The wood is kiln dried and it might be an easy step to have the treatment certification for the wood used to make the frame provided with the frame.
I also expect that the thickness of the wood strip plies used may ease the certificate process. Plywood does not need the certification (for import into the US, or export out of here) because the manufacturing process is considered lethal to insects that might have been in the stock. I believe that any wood over 1/2 in (12 mm thick) requires a heat-treat cert (US). Since the individual plies in plywood are less than that, the sheets are exempt.

[GasSavers_Pete]

LugNut ,
You may well be right. I will check further.

Just at the moment we are running the Tour Down Under (local version of the Tour De France) and Lance Armstrong is competing.

The conditions here are hot , dry and dusty so local riders and riders from places like Portugal and Spain also do well but , as they say , it ain't over 'till it's over !

Pete.

[Lug_Nut]

I've been watching the stages. Not daily, but seeing them helps me cope with the cold, late sunrises and early sunsets.