We will be riding bamboo bicycles from Alaska down to Argentina. Not too many people know about bamboo as a bike frame material, but it has some very interesting characteristics which make it perfect for long distance cycling. In short, this is why we’re going with bamboo:
- The vibration damping of the natural materials is a performance advantage on longer rides. No sour butts! (hopefully)
- Each frame is built to order at Calfee Design and every frame is unique. Tubes are selected to fit the weight of the rider.
- The bike is made from bamboo which has been smoked and heat treated to prevent splitting. Lugs are tied together with hemp fiber, for that all-natural look.
- Calfee Design coats the bamboo with a satin polyurethane to seal it up.
- Attention! It is just crazy how many people want to see and feel the frame. It really is a work of art.
The bamboo bicycles made by Calfee Design even won a couple of awards
- Calfee Bamboo bikes have won awards for Best Road Bike, Best Off-Road Bike and Peoples’ Choice Award at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show.
- A Calfee Bamboo bike won 1st place in the open class at the Great Western Bicycle Rally’s Concourse d’Elegance show.
- If there were an award for “Bicycle with lowest carbon footprint” (least amount of carbon dioxide emissions in the production of the frame), this frame would win, hands down.
Just a bamboo frame, however beautiful, won’t get us far. These are some of the parts we’ve selected to build up our bicycles.
And this is how our bikes look fully loaded:
