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Bikes with bamboo frames are becoming increasingly popular. (Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP/Getty Images)
Bamboo bikes are becoming increasingly well known in pop culture, and consumers are taking an interest on both the east and west coast.
Many people in New York and Los Angeles are taking time to expand their knowledge about a forgotten item known as the bamboo bike. The Bamboo Bike Studio in Brooklyn, NY has their classes booked until April with people looking to build their own bamboo bikes. Masuelli Bamboo Bikes in California are mass producing the hot items for the less mechanically inclined and recently showcased their design in San Francisco.
Bamboo bikes made their first appearance in our society on April 26, 1864. The item has been around in some areas but not readily available for the masses in the U.S. until recently. Bamboo is an ideal component for bicycle manufacturing due to its rapid growth. Bamboo stalks have been known to grow three feet in one day though not all pieces are suitable to make a bike frame. Bamboo also makes the bike frames more flexible for riders who are hitting rough terrain, engaging in extreme riding involving ramps, or riding those who are just cruising around their neighborhood.
The Bamboo Bike Studio in Brooklyn has open classes after April where customers can learn to make their own lightweight, recyclable, and sturdy bikes for around a thousand dollars. If you’re not a do-it-yourselfer—Masuelli Bamboo Bikes are being priced at between $1,000-$1,600 dollars. With high fuel costs and high unemployment rates many citizens throughout the nation are finding supplemental means for transportation in an effort to avoid the taxation on fossil fuels.
Bamboo bikes have all the ingredients to become a new fad in America. Only time will tell how long the recent interest in the bikes will last.
