Green | July 06, 2008 | 8 comments

Cyclists prefer handmade bikes

source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2008/07/05/HOJR103FQK.DTL&o=0

meligrosa
Truly amazing and inspiring (as a bike lover - engineering, sustainability, joy and all the good things riding a bicycle brings to your personal experience).

The San Francisco Chronicle today published a great article about:
1) Craig Calfee (his bamboo designs, custom frame bikes and Ghana travles/programs "It is wonderful to work with natural materials that just grows out of the ground")
2) Mike Ahrens (Ahrens Bicycles, grew up in San Jose riding BMX and dirt bikes)
3) Bernie Mikkelsen (Mikkelsen frames, built primarily with steel material, "Carbon breaks? Throw it out. A steel bike never dies")

The rest of the article is here (all 3 bike makers):
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/05/HOJR103FQK.DTL
  1. groups:
    Green,   Art and Style,   Earth and Science,   Design
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    Green,  Art and Style,  Earth and Science,  Environment,  14 more
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8 comments // Cyclists prefer handmade bikes // Video

  • kalais
    • 0
      kalais  

    • Fantastic: Bamboo is the timber and steel of the our decomposable future. I had seen it being used for housing construction and now this.. I hope it catches on. And I hope more uses are found!

    • 3 years ago
  • mcamargo
    • 0
      mcamargo  

    • I will be attending Yamaguchi's frame building class in September and this video is super motivational for all aspiring bike builders out there.

    • 3 years ago
  • usman6
    • 0
      usman6  

    • This is a great way to support the working class and have good bikes. My old bike just messed up, I might want to get one of these.

    • 3 years ago
  • 1percent
    • 0
      1percent  

    • 2 of my three bike frames are handmade in the USA.

      As well, I prefer to handbuild all my wheels.

      No bamboo though.

      Having assembled everything on my ride down to the wheels gives me a greater appreciation for my ride.

      Ride on!

    • 3 years ago
  • PlatoTacius
    • 0
      PlatoTacius  

    • I would never have imagined a bamboo bike...my first question was, how is it joined..? Then when I saw the finished product, I'm thinking, what a beautiful masterpiece, I love the curves of it, horns and all...what a great place to ride to work for him...all of the bike shop stories are very interesting...some high tech stuff...good post, meli...

      Ironically, I had the bike with the banana seat, when I was a kid...I found it in a junk pile and my dad let me put it in his car to bring it home and fix it...my total cost when finished was about five dollars, not counting my labor...but the good thing was, that I could take a rider and both could sit down...the way of the banana has since passed into oblivion...

    • 3 years ago
  • powerup
    • 0
      powerup  

    • I am glad someone stood up and challenged the conventional metal bike.I believe it will be very light weight and it will handle the road well.Kudos to those designers.I hope they start exporting soon.Thanks Meligrosa interesting atricle.

    • 3 years ago
  • huntre
    • 0
      huntre  

    • I'm supportive of anyone who works on improving bicycle performance to get more folks riding them.
      Especially touching in this pod is Bernie's friends maintaining his bike shop while he was in the hospital. They're the kind of people who make life really worth living.
      (psssst...hey dagos...I don't see a banana seat or a wheelie bar in that chart...what gives?)

    • 3 years ago
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