The Bamboo Bike, an endeavour that aims at building bicycles in a sustainable fashion using bamboo as the primary construction material, is a joint project run by Craig Calfree of Calfree Design, a high tech bicycle design firm based in California and The Earth Institute at Columbia University.
The bicycle is the primary mode of transport in Africa and it is used for everything from personal transportation to moving medicine and the sick to hospital. Sadly, the design used in most of Africa has not changed for the last 40 years to take into account the different ways in which the bicycle is used. In fact, most bikes in use in most of Africa today are based on a colonial British design tailored to individuals travelling short distances on smooth roads.

While making bike frames based on bamboo is not a new idea, most bamboo frame designs simply use bamboo for construction material in a traditional bike frame design. Leveraging the unique properties of bamboo such as its strength and flexibility to meet the specific needs of populations local to various parts of Africa is one of the primary rationale behind the Bamboo Bike project.
The team working on the Bamboo Bike project in the US, Ghana and Kenya among other locations have a interesting blog (last updated in the summer of 2007) that chronicles the struggles of the project team while on site in Africa.
Project gear including Bamboo Bikes and clothing is available on the Bamboo Bike and Calfree Design websites.

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Helicomm has been using the CONSOL Energy’s Big Branch mine in Mingo County, WV to test the system. The Big Branch mine is not an active mine, but since June 2007 has been the demonstration site for the ”MineTracer” system. 2.The Bamboo Bike projectfrom Afrigadget
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[...] on a colonial British design tailored to individuals travelling short distances on smooth roads. Link posted in: Gadgets Favorite this! Send this to a Friend Older Prada’s new [...]
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[...] The world’s full of fruit loops.
http://www.afrigadget.com/2008/02/06…-bike-project/ I have no problems with people using old bicycle parts, nor with building their frames out of [...]
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[...] Bamboo Bike Project Linky [...]
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On Afrigadget today, the story of an organization working with people in Africa to build bicycles from a locally-available and sustainable resource — bamboo: The Bamboo Bike, an endeavour that aims at building bicycles in a sustainable fashion using
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[...] 19:57:00 Current music:Gazzelloni more wooden rides The Bamboo Bike Project, Wooden Bike Rental in Governor’s Island(Post a new [...]
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[...] The Bamboo Bike Project, Wooden Bike Rental in Governor’s [...]
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[...] The Bamboo Bike project From: AfriGadget [...]
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for the last 40 years to take into account the different ways in which the bicycle is used. In fact, most bikes in use in most of Africa today are based on a colonial British design tailored to individuals travelling short distances on smooth roads.LinkPrada’s new secondlifey fashion film/ad, “Trembled Blossoms” Posted: 08 Feb 2008 03:15 PM CST
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[...] in Ghana, or having one built for you back in California.Tom Simonite, online technology reporterViaLabels: engineering, environment, [...]
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Original post:The Bamboo Bike project Using Current Web Stats To Increase Profitsby at Google Blog Search: link Blog tag: Link Technorati tag: Link
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, and as usual, he doesn’t disspoint. I would put a link here to my pictures, but since the hard drive on my Mac G4 iBook is apparently roasted, my photo uploading abilities are somewhat… limited. Anyway, check out thearticle.
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[...] The Earth Institute at Columbia University decide to address the problem by teaming up to create The Bamboo Bike Project, an undertaking aimed at building strong, flexible bicycles to meet the specific needs of local [...]
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Lozano-Hemmer Robin Mandel William Lamson Cool Advertising Website Duane McDiarmid The Mattress Factory The Drawing Center Dangerous GroundBamboo Bike ProjectRat King Guys that spray-tan Bode piano UBU MIT media lab Project Row Sam Blanchard Spurse Greg Stewart Creative Vehicles Crosswalk Frozen Grand Central
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[...]
http://ikeahacker.blogspot.com/index.html (ikea diy projects furniture) Bookmark [Discover] AfriGadget » Blog Archive » The Bamboo Bike project
http://www.afrigadget.com/2008/02/06/the-bamboo-bike-project/ (design africa bicycle bikes) [...]
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[...] The Bamboo Bike project [...]
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Wir haben es vor einiger Zeit vorgestellt. Nun wird das Konzept von Bambusfahrrädern auch bei AfriGadget (einer meiner absoluten Blogfavoriten)besprochen. Bambus ist widerstandsfähig, flexibel und umweltfreundlich. Damit ist es der ideale Rohstoff für ein zukunftsfähiges Verkehrsmittel, wie es in Afrika gebraucht wird. > Unser Artikel zu Bambus Bikes
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[...] those things work. So I love this photo of a typical village:More on this picture here.Read about:the bamboo bike projecta homemade helicopter ( yes you read that correctly. . .homemade!)fuel replacement from palm [...]
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[...] wird das Konzept von Bambusfahrrädern auch bei AfriGadget (einer meiner absoluten Blogfavoriten) besprochen. Bambus ist widerstandsfähig, flexibel und umweltfreundlich. Damit ist es der ideale Rohstoff für [...]
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with feathers on their heads, you can just imagine them zooming past on their wooden, bipedal creations. Although the wooden bicycle is centuries old, fashion is cyclical. I personally can’t wait ‘till they come back in fashion. Sources: 1, 2, 3,4,5, 6 If you want to find out all the latest news on the environment, why not subscribe to our RSS feed? We’ll even throw in a free album.
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6 February 2008 - 6:51 pm - :
[...] AfriGadget wrote an interesting post today on The Bamboo Bike projectHere’s a quick excerpt The Bamboo Bike, an endeavour that aims at building bicycles in a sustainable fashion using bamboo as the primary construction material, is a joint project run by Craig Calfree of Calfree Design, a high tech bicycle design firm based in California and The Earth Institute at Columbia University. The bicycle is the primary mode of transport in Africa and it is used for everything from personal transportation to moving medicine and the sick to hospital. Sadly, the bicycle design used in most of A [...]