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I would like a wooden bike but that guys comments make me laugh – he goes on about carbon fibre breaking and being made from hydrocarbons but read how he makes his bikes – glued together with epoxy resin and then covered in polyurethane. Just like carbon fibre bikes then 😆

They’ve been around for ages, like bamboo bikes.

http://www.renovobikes.com/

They look quite nice, not sure what the disadvantages are.

Price I guess, more than titanium.

Very nice though:

I was speaking to my bike rental guy and he’s trying to lace up a wooden wheel. The rim looked lovely but he said it was a real nightmare of a job. Heavy isn’t the word though!

The bit on the 29er page is interesting: Badash 29er. One of the testers snapped a chainstay in a crash. So they glued it back together, and then tested the frame to destruction to see how repairs would hold up. Naturally it failed… at the headtube.

Pretty bikes too, very pretty. Anyone want to lend me a couple of grand? 😉

I saw one of the bamboo frames, it was nice but riotously expensive for something that was heavier than alu or carbon

I woodn’t

They’re lovely. Price is the only obstacle …

BTW where can I get enough Hickory in this country? or would Ash be more suited if I wanted to have a go at rolling my own.

Price is the only obstacle …

and weight, and stiffness.

Usual frame material BS by somebody peddling what they make – I note how he disses the durability of carbon, yet doesn’t include a carbon tube in his tubing impact test 🙄 I’d be rather more impressed if he was citing the A380 or B787 as being made from wood rather than the Mossie.

The thing about the Mosquito was its ability to keep flying after absorbing incredible damage – at least that’s my understanding of it.

I think you’re getting confused between the Mossie and the (geodesic framed) Wellington. Various advantages (all of which cf composites do better) to the wooden construction, but damage resilience wasn’t one of them.

I write as a Mossie fan!

I’ve been thinking about a project wooden bike for a while now, but these are slightly disappointing compared to some others I’ve seen done – especially as they are commercially available. The things putting me off have always been the interface between frame/forks and other components though – I could turn a wooden headset, and even bearings if necessary for example, but can’t see how you’d make a lasting threaded BB shell or mech hanger without metal inserts – which pose problems of their own.

BTW where can I get enough Hickory in this country? or would Ash be more suited if I wanted to have a go at rolling my own.

If you’re serious, I can get you very good quality hickory as used by some top bowmakers – who need very tight, straight and even grained stuff. Their logic behind using hickory is the very predictable qualities it has along a given length. Other timbers that are typicallly used are things like lemonwood and greenheart. Often these are laminated up with contrasting timbers to modify the characteristics of the bow and make them look a bit more bling. The black walnut, wenge, purpleheart and so on (as on some of the bikes on the site) are all used for this reason in bowmaking. Though stuff like lemonwood and hickory are expensive, the volumes used in a frame would be fairly low – so possibly less expensive than you think, though certainly, I’d consider ash as a good (cheap) alternative if I were messing around with ideas. Difficulty is getting ash with the same predictable nature as the above – but I’d consider it a good option, particularly in combination with other timbers.

Nice….