Comments on: A couple of weeks with a bamboo WebbWorks Hilltribe

By: Gokhan Ceterez

Gokhan Ceterez — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 11:42:44 +0000

what is the weight of the frame and overall of bike?

thx

By: Vladimir Dzhuvinov

Vladimir Dzhuvinov — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 20:08:07 +0000

Great! Does it theoreticaly float?

By: chris

chris — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 23:23:47 +0000

You say “high weight-to-strength ratio” but i think you mean strength-to-weight

By: Rudy

Rudy — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 04:58:27 +0000

I live in Asia and everything is made from bamboo here! As far as wet weather goes, we have “rainy season” for about 4 or 5 months out of the year – everything stays damp. The things that I see that are made from bamboo that ends up rotting are those structures or things that have not been treated. When it is not raining in SE Asia it is hot, hot hot! So the things made from bamboo here are definitely exposed to both of these climates continuously. Again, the “stuff” i see made from bamboo only suffers when it has not been treated properly. Not sure about the crashing of a bamboo bike, but I know that bamboo is very strong! They use it for furniture, buildings, scaffolding, and even bridges are woven from it. These all would have to be very strong to hold the weight of many people. If bamboo is treated, I think (by seeing all of the many things here made from it), it will and does last a long time.

By: Fromage

Fromage — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 04:43:45 +0000

Aside from riding my bamboo road in all conditions in the US, there are happy bamboo owners covering the globe riding in all climate types.
I haven’t crashed yet, but I’m sure it is durable as I have pushed mine pretty hard.
(Knock on bamboo)

By: James Thomas

James Thomas — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 22:07:58 +0000

Good questions, Matt. I am definitely not an expert on the subject, but I can tell you what I have heard. Before use, the bamboo pieces go through a curing process to dry them out completely. That prevents any rot that might occur from moisture that is naturally occurring in the material, but I assume that it is also critical to seal the bamboo and joints carefully after the frame is constructed to prevent any moisture from getting inside. Calfee touches on their process a bit on their website, and I assume other builders do something similar to prep the raw material. As far as crash durability goes, Bamboo has a high weight-to-strength ratio, which is why it has been used for a variety of structures for thousands of years (this is a pretty good document about it’s mechanical properties if you are interested). Calfee points out on their website that the bamboo models are their “most crash tolerant frames”, so that would indicate that they are less likely than a carbon bike to crack or break as a result of a crash. As I said before though, my knowledge about bamboo is limited, so any of you with firsthand experience can elaborate or correct me if I am wrong.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 21:34:07 +0000

How do bamboo bikes do in wet weather – does it affect them at all? Can a bamboo frame rot if it’s in a regularly damp climate (or crack if it’s in a dry climate)?

Any ideas on what the durability is if you crash?