Wooden Wheels- A Bike Built Out Of Wood

Ridiculous, surely it is just a gimmick? Well that is what I thought when our partner companies’ director showed me his 40th birthday present. Florian’s parents bought the bike from an Architectural student at a trade fair in Munich as an interesting (and very fitting) gift for a man who builds wooden houses for a living (he’s also a very keen cyclist). It’s fairly light and very pleasant to ride, its fitted with cable disc brakes and even has bent plywood mudguards (I hope they are exterior grade ply). However, its only for pottering round town and wouldn’t suit for long rides, so I had a quick research on the internet and was surprised to find a quite extensive range of wooden bikes. Sojourner cycles produce an impressive Glue laminated (gluelam) road bike, the Cyclery likes to use natural FRPs as opposed to man-made FRPs. Translation: Wood is nature’s “Fiber Reinforced Polymer”, which has been around long before carbon fibre was created in a lab. They look excellent, im sure you’ll agree.

Or if you fancy a bit of flat pack then maybe visit sandwichbikes They produce a range of wooden or steel fork single speed or geared bikes that you can build yourself. It’s sustainable, transport efficient (not only is it saving CO2 in its use, but flatpack saves volume in deliveries) interesting and the fact you get to build it yourself makes it more personal. So, there you are, yet again wood proves its versatility not only as a building material but as sustainable transport solution too. So who knows, wooden cars next?