Bamboo bikes are, as we recently pointed out, growing in popularity thanks to bamboo's status as the fastest growing (and hence most renewable) plant. The newest bamboo bike manufacturer to enter the spotlight is Calfee Design, a custom bike designer. But Calfee's nearly $5,000 bike isn't as eco-friendly as it appears upon first glance.
The bike, made from organic, biodegradable bamboo picked in the mountain's of Taiwan's Yushan National Park, goes through a number of steps before hitting the pavement. After the bamboo is picked, it is shipped to California, where its stems are smoked, treated with heat,and put together into a frame. The pieces of the bike are connected with hemp fiber lugs and coated with satin polyurethane sealant before being shipped to local dealers across the U.S. and the U.K. So while 60% of the finished product is made from sustainable materials, Calfee's bike also has a hefty carbon footprint that negates some of the environmental goodness of the bamboo growing process.
Bamboo can be grown in a variety of dry areas--even those that lack plentiful rainfall--so why aren't Calfee's bike materials grown, put together, and sold in the same place? The company is assisting entrepreneurs in developing countries with making bicycles out of locally sourced bamboo. Perhaps it should do the same in the U.S. and Britain.
[Via U.K. Daily Mail]
Related:
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Related Stories: | Topics:Innovation, Technology, Ethonomics, bamboo bike, calfee, wooden bike, Ghana, carbon emissions, co2, United States, United Kingdom, Taiwan, Recreational Equipment and Toy Manufacturing, Consumer Durables and Apparel Sector |
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Recent Comments | 5 Total
June 17, 2009 at 7:23pm by matthew homyak
Calfee's Bamboo Bike is certainly eco-friendly! Try conducting a comparative life cycle analysis of steel, titanium, aluminum or carbon fiber and bamboo would win in a landslide. There are logistical supply chain issues with any product, especially with technical ones like bicycles that consist of numerous components but like Voltaire said, "Don't let perfect be the enemy of the good". Progress folks, progress.
June 17, 2009 at 8:06pm by Ariel Schwartz
@Matthew Good points. I suppose my question, then, is why the company is using bamboo from Taiwan when it can be grown closer to home.
June 18, 2009 at 7:24pm by Mark Livingood
With regard to where Calfee gets his bamboo, did you ever consider calling or Emailing Craig to ask, rather than making assumptions based on what you've read elsewhere? There's actually a few very good reasons why he ended up sourcing his bamboo from Taiwan relative to re-vitalizing the economy in a country that has special meaning to Craig and his family. However, with regard to bringing his bamboo production closer to home I'll go ahead and quote from another article where the author interviewed Calfee:
"Calfee uses bamboo imported from Taiwan, but he hopes to find California-grown bamboo soon. "It would allow us to manipulate the bamboo as it grows," said Calfee, noting that it takes three years before bamboo is mature enough to be used in frame building."
Just thought you'd like to know there's a bit more to it all....
June 28, 2009 at 6:29am by burslar burs
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July 13, 2009 at 7:40pm by Bill Wayne
I love Calfee's Bikes! They are most certainly more sustainable than the alternative! We should be doing everything we can to encourage biking instead of driving - and bamboo is even better! I have been scouring the internet looking at every bamboo bike out there and I love what Panda Bikes ( http://www.ridepanda.com ) are doing - a beautiful bamboo bike for under $900. I want one.