Found a place in town that sells kits for making a bamboo frame, I might have to give that try sometime.
Have you seen the Calfee? Very cool! I would be afraid of the sturdiness, but apparently it is plenty strong with Calfee offering a 10 yr warrenty. CalfeeDesign
I love those Calfee bikes From what I have read bamboo is nearly as strong as steel and eat up vibration better than carbon, and if I do build one it'll only be a fixie for cruising around with my friends who don't ride very often so sturdiness shouldn't be a huge issue. It can't be any worse off then the wal mart bikes they ride
A couple that came into our shop pretty regularly bought one of the Calfee bamboo bikes and i was really skeptical but it was actually really nice. I only rode it around the parking lot but it was pretty sweet. Not sure how it would last long term but its cool if nothing else.
Are you sure they didn't have one on gilligan's island? That would freak me out cause bamboo is extremely sharp when it breaks... Just snapping off a piece once left a deep gash sideways all the way down my thumb like a razor....
Couldn't you just cover the whole thing with some kind of tape or spray-on plastic coating to decrease splintering?
It would have to be a clear coating so that you can check it for splits and cracks. Similar to laws regarding wooden ladders no opaque coatings that could hide cracks splits that could be seen early to protect you from harm later. As mentioned Bamboo is incredibly strong. It is even used to build scaffolding in asia, and I am not talking one level, they build them big. Plus you have to admit those bikes are sweet looking.
You would probably want to cut it with a fine tooth saw so you don't splinter it in the process... what grade of green would you use? Completely dry or slightly green still?
