You may have seen the Bamboo bike studios that have popped up in Brooklyn and San Francisco, or at any of the Bike expos around the country. They’re pretty, environmentally friendly and have a strong DIY component with the option of taking a class and building one yourself. Personally I was always a little worried that there might be a little too much DIY involved for something that needs to hold weight, at velocity over the average lifespan of a bicycle. Perhaps I’m too finicky. In any case, I was happy to get contacted by Stefan in Berlin who’s part of a trio of awesome guys (Ozon Cyclery) bringing Bamboo Bicycles to Berlin with some serious technical design, build and testing qualifications. Plus they’re really pretty. (the bikes, I mean…)
They’re running a Kickstarter campaign to ask help in financing “$6,000 so we can build three tester bikes and outfit them with high quality components. While a small portion of the money will go to materials and time compensation for the framebuilder, most of it will be spent on the expensive components that our frames deserve. Since we are starting this whole business on a shoestring, dropping several thousand dollars on expensive wheelsets is something we otherwise cannot afford and thats why we need your help!“
Here’s how they describe the project:
“Bamboo has excellent DURABILITY and VIBRATION absorbing qualities, making it more comfortable than aluminum, safer than carbon, and perfect as a daily rider or training bike, just like a custom steel frame. In fact, riding a bamboo frame feels almost EXACTLY like riding a high-end steel frame. So why Bamboo over steel? Because the natural variation in size/wall thickness of bamboo tubing allow us to custom select a tubing set that fits your body perfectly, unlike steel where there are limited tubesets to choose from. This also allows us to better control the ride characteristics according to the wishes of the customer, by including an oversized downtube for example, or more flexible seat stays. Whatever you want! Not to mention the fact that it’s environmentally friendly…”
They also have a pretty cool blog where I found out that NYC’s own Kim Burgas looks to be an early adopter!
