Bamboo Bike A Reality

markjugg writes "The American Bamboo Society has a page describing a working bamboo bike. This is a strong step towards making bicycling more sustainable, expecially in contrast to aluminum, one of the most resource demanding materials that exist."

it's been done...

[hangingonwords]

i've seen this before on a show called gilligans island...

Bear alert!

[Anonymous Coward]

This would work fine, except that pandas eat bamboo. Better not get into a forest with that bike.

Seems like a hoax...

[fmita]

They're probably just trying to bamboozle us...

Attacked By Endangered Species

[Eberlin]

This is all good until someone gets attacked by a Panda. Yet another version of "meals on wheels!"

Next Week...

[Davak]

Next week we can all read about the follow up stories from the America Plastic Association, the American Balsa Wood Collective, and the Society for the Reuse of Aluminum Foil...

Davak

It must be fast.......

[omar.sahal]

so I can escape any rogue pandas.

hemp

[Anonymous Coward]

Why not just make the bikes out of hemp instead?

Re:strength of bamboo

[gwernol]

Before you say that bamboo is weak and easily dismembered, here's a quote from the article:

"But Flavio makes me see things differently: Bamboo is a resource of immense potential. And it is strong too. What makes it possible to build bicycles from it is that it is stronger than steel when strained in the longitudinal direction, 17% to be exact."

While resistence to longitudinal stress is a good thing, many of the strains on the frame of a bike are not longitudinal - there is a lot of lateral flexing as you pedal. Bamboo is prone to splitting and fracturing when under lateral strain. I would really hate to have one of those collapse under me due to lateral stress fractures. All those sharp slivers of bamboo right under my crotch? No thanks...

Re:strength of bamboo

[dAzED1]

holy crap! well, I guess I'll have to make sure to tell all my biking buddies to make sure that all strain exerted on their bikes is "in the longitudinal direction," versus the normal strains that are put on bikes (twists, various directions, etc).

And next time I'm hit by an suv while riding a bike, I'll be sure glad the bike shattered into bits instead of staying in one relative piece!

Did the people who did this previous work in MS's "innovation" department???

Re:Mountain biking

[salimfadhley]

I think you could make a decent mountain bike, however the problem will come at the joins. Accordign to that photo, the frame is made of lugs that have been glued to bamboo poles. Carbon fibre frames are made in a similar way. The challenge is to find an adhesive that is able to bond nicely to metal and bamboo. The other problem with bamboo is that you cannot guarantee it's regularity in the same way that you can with an artificial tube... I guess that is where craftsmen come in. Not all bamboo tubes are created equal. A lugged frame is normally made by braising metal lugs to metal poles with a bit of solder. Lugged frames are known for being tough but really heavy.

Re:More Sustainable than Aluminum ??

[Anonymous Coward]

One report said that production of 1 kg of aluminum dumps 44 kg of CO2 into the air.

That HAS to be a lie! If there was really that much, we'd all be crushed!

Re:it's been done...

[whiteranger99x]

i've seen this before on a show called gilligans island...

Go figure, the Professor could make Bamboo Bikes, Timeshares, Coconut powered-radios, a nuclear reactor and yet they couldn't simply patch a fucking hole in the goddamn boat, The Minnow...wtf?!

Re:strength of bamboo

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, but steel/aluminum won't rot, won't get eaten by bugs

Hmmm yes, what we really need is an environmentally friendly biodegradable substance that won't rot or get eaten by bugs. Best of both worlds.

extraordinarily plentiful

[SnappingTurtle]

bamboo is much more environmentally friendly than metals while being extraordinarily plentiful

This sounds great to me, but man I hope that bamboo doesn't work its way into my garden. Has anybody here ever tried to weed bamboo out of a garden?

My mom planted bamboo once, and then, a few years later in the course of reorganizing her garden, asked me to dig it out. Ugh! That stuff is worse than an Outlook virus! It sends out needle sharpd shooters in all directions. If you see a single stalk poking out of the ground, it might have sent out shooters ten feet all around it. The only way I was able to finally dig it all out was to wait until after a heavy rain and basically just turn the "garden" into a mud soup pulling it out.

Turns heads in Christiania

[123123123]

It turns heads in Christiania [christiania.org] because it is the only bike that doubles as a hash pipe [smokedot.org].

Re:strength of bamboo

[jackalope]

That's it! The cheese whiz bicycle! Won't rot, won't get eaten, and plentiful too!

Re:strength of bamboo

[Ed Avis]

Bamboo canes are hollow, right? So just use aluminium rods with bamboo cladding round the outside. You get a strong and stable bike, and still get all the eco-friendly posing opportunities. It's not as if anyone will try to cut the bamboo open to see if you're cheating.

Make it out of...

[mcd7756]

sugar cane!!

Sweet!

Re:Attacked By Endangered Species

[RiffRafff]

I hate it when that happens. [pvponline.com]


(Now, some extra crap to fill space and defeat lame lameness filter) blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

Re:it's been done...

[gad_zuki!]

Yeah its an old joke, but if memory serves he did fix it but Gilligan managed to sink it or lose it at sea. If they really wanted to get off the island they should have just shot Gilligan with a bamboo gun.

"Whatcha building there Professor?"

"Err, something that'll get us off the island and you're going to be the first to leave."

"Gee, that sounds great Professor! When am I leaving?"

"Now."

*bang*

Gilligan's Island

[heli0]

They had a bamboo bicycle that powered the washing machine.

Did anyone see the episode where the professor made a bamboo car? Why he didn't just make a bamboo boat is beyond me.

Re:It wil make you fat

[dev_sda]

yeah, smoking hemp twine will get you high, just like masturbating will make you go blind.

Re:strength of bamboo

[Just Some Guy]

Add to that the possibility of very simple reinforcement by wrapping it at key points with a strong thread and/or laminating it with reinforcements...

Once again, duct tape saves my ass (and other stuff).

flaming hoops

[yintercept]

Bamboo is also flamable...which leaves out common activities like jumping through flaming hoops, or over a burning tar pit. Being made of wood, I really wouldn't want to ride a bamboo bike while juggling chainsaws. There are lots of arguments against bamboo bikes.

Personally, I would love to see more natural fibers in bikes. Rather than making the whole bike from bamboo, making just a few pieces helps reduce the consumption from the titanium mines.
Sig: Flamable materials are dangerous, which is why I always make sure the products I buy are clearly marked as "inflamable."

Every teenager's dream

[Mr_Icon]

Kids, to those of you who just don't have enough reasons to be picked on and beaten up in middle school, we give you... THIS BAMBOO BICYCLE!

Complete with a detachable frame for easier caning.

Re:That's even more sustainable.

[timeOday]

Dear Poster,

Please use emticons in your future postings so we know whether to laugh with you or at you.

Thanks,
The Slashdot-reading public.

Hmm

[Julian Morrison]

Wonderful. Right up until you pull a wheelie, and the frame shatters and spits you from anus to esophagus. Yegads, but that's a big splinter you've got there, son!

Re:strength of bamboo

[JeanBaptiste]

Hmmm yes, what we really need is an environmentally friendly biodegradable substance that won't rot or get eaten by bugs. Best of both worlds.

or pandas....

Impress me...

[Wandering Goliard]

*knits, waits patiently for bamboo Intel chips*

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:flaming hoops

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude (or if you're French, doude), you can't ride a bicycle while juggling chainsaws anyway because you can't steer.

Your complaint will be valid when they make the bamboo unicycle.

True, bamboo does burn, but not very easily. You might as well worry about an aluminium frame suffering a thermite reaction. And, since drilling holes weakens bamboo (it encourages splitting), a composite bike would actually be less sturdy than an all-bamboo bike.

Nothing you buy is flammable? So you have no soft furnishings and your clothes are made of copper foil?

Re:strength of bamboo

[Anonymous Coward]

We can't use solar, 'cause it takes up too much of the desert, displacing lizards and sand fleas.

We can't use solarvoltaics, because they require the use if REALLY nasty shit to produce them.

Looks like the only thing we can use is degassing shit.

Re:strength of bamboo

[binarybum]

hmm. no, most environmentalists aren't level headed enough to wait to leap out at you. They're usually leaping out before you even get there.

I can't wait to get one

[binarybum]

I'm going to keep it in my garage with my Segway(tm) and my electric car.

I'll order one as soon as I finish this bag O-lean chips!

Re:strength of bamboo

[Anonymous Coward]

These planes had more "horse power" in the glue than in the engine.