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TECH NEWS
Berlin Bike Show 2016 wooden - 7.jpg10 stunning wooden bikes
You don’t often see wooden bikes out on the roads – if at all – but they’re always cool to look at. Here’s a bunch we spotted at last weekend’s Berliner Fahrradschau bike show in Germany.
Coh&Co Gustav
Denmark’s Coh&Co makes a couple of wooden bikes, this one being the Gustav.
“Gus is a lightweight wood and carbon composite frame offering a lively and vivid ride with steep angles that keeps you forward and on your toes,” according to Coh&Co. “Fitted with drop bars and Gevenalle 10-speed parts, you will be treated with the most genuine ride on the road.”
Prices start at around €2,700 (about £2,133)
Aceteam Slim Wooden E-Bike
This e-bike is made of ash and is driven by either a FlyKly SmartWheel or a
Zehus Bike+ hub.
It’s priced at €4,280 (around £3,380).
Kiem Cycles
Keim Cycles makes its stunning bikes from white ash.
They are made to measure and tailored to the spec you want.
Materia Bikes
Materia makes a whole range of wooden frames.
This one is the Fixed Gear Wudu.
This is the Cruiser.
And this one is the Gusto city bike
Crazy chopper-style bike
Ah yeah, this mad thing! I think it’s a promo tool belonging to Melon Helmets. There’s a lot of heft going on here, and not much pedal clearance, although we’re guessing that it’s never going to get ridden far anyway.
www.melon-helmets.com
NaturRad Buffalo
Yes, we know that bamboo isn’t wood, it’s grass, but you try fitting that into a headline. NaturRad says that the complete Buffalo pictured here weighs 9.8kg (21.6lb)
As well as frames, NaturRad makes wooden handlebars in loads of different styles.
My Boo My Densu
My Boo bikes come from Ghana where they’re produced through the Yonso Project, “an aspiring social project dedicated to expanding educational and economic opportunities.”
The My Densu is designed as a sportive road bike and it’s priced at €2,290 (about £1,808) in a mainly Shimano Sora build. The claimed weight is 11.5kg (25.4lb).
Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.
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7 comments
I remember seeing in the Birmingham Science Museum 50 years ago a home-made bike that had been made in Africa. It had a standard frame similar to a sit up and beg style, two wheels (with spokes), a saddle, tyres and a chain, all made of wood, cord and leather. I don't know whether it was capable of being ridden! I don't know what the Museum did with it because it is not now on display at their new site.
Excuse my ignorance Paddy, but how do you take photo of bike standing in garden with no visible support?
Notice that the non-drive side pedal is resting on an upside-down glass.
That said you can take photos of bikes with no visible support quite easily if you have an assistant. The assistant will do their best to stand out of shot but holds the bike upright. The assistant quickly, temporarily moves their arm out of shot for the take and grabs the bike again before it falls over.
I suppose you could also do this without an assistant if you have a tripod, remote shutter and a bit of planning & patience.
Great looking bike Paddy.
There are some nice designs in here, but I reckon my gorgeous Renovo Odysseus is prettier and a more enjoyable ride than all of these. It took a long time to be handmade and delivered from the US, but it's jaw-droppingly beautiful in hickory and walnut and handles like a dream. I've built it up to about 8kg, with enve forks, full ultegra 11spd g/s and wheels with a Brooks saddle, an awesome St Bernard-style saddle-bag and leather bar tape.
LRG_DSC06313.JPG
Bamboo's the way to do it.
So satisfying building your own custom frame, and you don't need to be able ot weld!
There is something going on here, for me at least. The idea that an ordinary person, using only hand tools, could make a bike frame is just fundamentally right. It should be more common and I hope it grows.