Sublime hardwood performance bicycles

[Alex Franke]

There have been a couple of posts here before with some very creative wooden bikes, but these guys take the material very seriously for performance, with an absolutely gorgeous result. Their site has some interesting information about how wood compares to some of the other popular materials for high-end bikes, including carbon.

http://www.renovobikes.com/

Here's a review with more great photos: http://bikesocial.blogspot.com/2009/...n-bicycle.html

Why wood? http://www.renovobikes.com/wood-seriously/
Gallery of old wooden bikes: http://www.renovobikes.com/really-old-wood-bikes/

[pelligrini]

Cool stuff, not exactly inexpensive though.

[kenwood]

Cool stuff, not exactly inexpensive though.

I wouldn't expect handmade, complex, fine laminated joinery in the form of a high-performance bicycle to be cheap. I don't think Asia's going to copy this one either...

[cabinetman]

Definitely different looking...I would ride one. I wonder if they float?

.

[JR]

Pretty cool! They're pretty hand-wavy about strenghth/weight, though.

JR

[jon_ramp]

Cool stuff, not exactly inexpensive though.

But in the ball park if you compared to a high end cromo, aluminum or carbon frame.

[natausch]

I do wonder about the headstock strength, can't be much more of an inch of wood surrounding the stem.

When I was younger and dumber I had a headstock weld split on my steel frame during a landing on my single track bike. Luckily the handlebars, stem and front tire stayed with the frame, otherwise I'd probably be dictating this post to a helper monkey.

[BigguyZ]

I don't think the pricing is out of line, given the market they're in.

But handmade? It's all made on CNC machines, which they note. I think Asia has CNC machines. Not saying they're going to copy it, but they have the capability....

I wouldn't expect handmade, complex, fine laminated joinery in the form of a high-performance bicycle to be cheap. I don't think Asia's going to copy this one either...

[LinuxRandal]

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-...amboo-Bicycle/

I think this was discussed a couple years back: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=121628758


With gas I hear more people talking about biking or adding those small Chinese motors to a bicycle for longer distances.

[JR]

The head of Renovo was interviewed at Sea Ottter. The video is interesting, showing a cutaway frame and a little display of the material's resiliance to imipacts.

He also talks a bit more about weight. The highlighted TT bike's "under 2 lbs." weight is a real yawner. H says they can get road bikes down n to about 17 lbs, which is unexceptional in today's carbon-fiber world. They sure do look nice, though.

JR

[Alex Franke]

Here's another one I just found out about. This bike is ALL wood. They're trying to set a land speed record for all-wood bicycles... I didn't even know there was such a thing.

http://www.splinterbike.co.uk/