Yorkshire-based Bamboo Bikes have added a cyclocross model to their bow, alongside their standard 26in-wheel mountain bike. The 'cross bike will be available from 13 April at Blue Door Bicycles in Crystal Palace, London, following a demo day launch.
A hundred bikes will be built this year, and over the summer they will also be available through the Edinburgh Bicycle Co-op, Bamboo Bikes MD Rachel Hammond told BikeRadar.
The frame was designed and engineered with help from two Oxford Brookes University academics, James Broughton and Shpend Gerguri, and fuses vibration-damping bamboo poles with organic flax fibres. The designers say these complement the wood’s stiffness with strength and flexibility.
The frame – built at the company’s Scarborough factory – has also been put through rigorous British Standards Institution test procedures. The bike is built with a mixture of Shimano 105/CX50 components and costs £1,899.
James Hards, who rides for the Team Bamboo Bikes MTB squad, has given the cyclocross bike a test run: “Impressed does not begin to describe how I felt on it; quickest bike I've ever ridden.”
The CX bike being put through its paces
Bamboo has been gaining popularity as a bike material for a number of years, especially among bespoke framebuilders. At the North American Handmade Bicycle Show this year, bamboo was used in the Glissando and Boo Bicycles' MTB and cyclocross rigs.
For more information on the bamboo cyclocross bike see www.bamboobike.co, www.bluedoorbicycles.com and www.edinburghbicycle.com.