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Revealed: The greenest bike ever made
Daisy Dumas and Jonathan Prynn17 Jun 2009
It is the ultimate green statement for commuters worried that even their cycling damages the planet.
For the first time eco-conscious (but wealthy) Londoners can buy an organic, biodegradable bike - made from bamboo.
The frame of the Calfee, which will set you back at least £3,000, is made from stems hand-picked in the remote mountains of Taiwan's Yushan national park, home to wildlife such as the Formosan black bear and rock monkey.
The bamboo is shipped - not flown - to California, where stems are smoked and heat-treated to prevent splitting, and assembled into a frame, the pieces connected with lugs made of hemp fibre.
They are then coated in a satin polyurethane sealant.
The finished product is transported to Chiswick, where it is being sold in the Eco Age shop owned by actor Colin Firth, his Italian wife Livia Giuggioli, and her brother Nicola.
Five have been sold in Britain so far, including two in London.
The bike - available in racing or mountain format - weighs roughly the same as its metal equivalent but has none of the environmental baggage that comes with the manufacturing process.
About 60 per cent of the finished product is made of sustainable materials.
Bamboo is stronger than mild steel and more elastic than carbon fibre - meaning it absorbs shock exceptionally well.
Rachel Hammond, founder of British distributor RAW Bamboo Bikes, said: "Because bamboo is a natural material it takes a lot of the vibration out of the ride."
The Evening Standard gave the Calfee a road-test. It is a thing of natural beauty, pared-down and sleek - although the lack of mudguards is not an advantage when biking in London.
Lightweight, durable and highly manoeuvrable, it turned on a pin. The ethical benefits are obvious. Bamboo is sustainable - the fastest growing woody plant.
The co-operatives that chop and sort it in Taiwan are involved in a social project helping local people who come from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Company founder Craig Calfee is also involved in a project in Africa to help local entrepreneurs make bamboo bikes. But a vehicle of such political correctness comes at a price.
The basic frame costs £2,175 and customers must buy the other pieces as add-ons - meaning the finished machine costs from £3,000 to £3,500, depending on the specification.
The beauty of bamboo
Bamboo absorbs about five times as much greenhouse gas as a "conventional" tree plantation.
It does not fatigue like metal. But it does have to be coated with a waterproof sealant.
It supports a greater load than mild steel can without breaking.
In the Far East it is often used as scaffolding during skyscraper construction.
It is the fastest growing plant: some species can grow 1.5 metres a day. The bamboo used for the bikes takes four to five years to grow.
Each bike needs 2.7 metres of bamboo to make.
Each bike frame weighs only 4-5lb, but the finished product weighs 18-19lb.
Reader views (31)
Henry Ford made a car from hemp, which was by accounts I have read, extremely strong. If that's true, then the hemp lugs should be perfect. I'm excited about this new endeavor - progress before perfection.
- Conscious Cow, Orange, USA, 02/07/2009 04:10
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Amazing, and surprisingly expensive, I'v now realized the astonishing abilities behind the bamboo from the remote mountains of Taiwan.
I've come to realize that, the Taipei 101, once the world's most tallest building, was also built based on the natural structure of the bamboo, it's natural beauty and fragile but sturdy structure. It never fails to impress me.
- Michelle, London, UK, 23/06/2009 10:37
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It's got aluminium brakes, chainwheels, pedals, cranks, and probably aluminium wheel rims, handlebars, saddle stem and brake levers, plus steel axles, front forks, brake cables, chain and quick release levers. It hardly seems 'ecological', particularly when considering the transportion of the bamboo from Taiwan to California, then the cycles from California to Britain. Aluminium also uses a heck of a lot of electrical energy in its production. As far as I can work out, only seven pieces of the bike are made out of bamboo! Is the saddle (with a steel frame) made of leather or plastic? Hemp lugs?
Can you ride it in the rain? Without mudguards the frame will get wet- what will happen to the bamboo and lugs then? Maybe you end up by the side of the road with a soggy collection of parts!
- Tim, Shanghai, China, 18/06/2009 02:47
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Just don't cycle near any pandas.
- Iwan Jones, Wales, 18/06/2009 00:56
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Should buy green cycle lamps from illuminati to make up the set.
- William, Haywards Heath UK, 17/06/2009 23:34
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Being a stickler for everything that will help preserve the environment,I can hardly believe this is going to be a contribution towards environment protection, especially at such cost. I bought a Schwinn for 100 pounds a few years ago and I struck the best bargain ever. Who is going to be able to afford the bike at this kind of price? I'd suggest those overenthusiastic innovators to step down from the clouds and design something that is affordable, sustainable and people friendly. In the time of recession a 3,500-pound bike is the last thing on people's mind. Get real!
- Victoria, Celje, Slovenia, 17/06/2009 23:04
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That thing you have on your head is destroying the environment in its manufacture.
- David., Chertsey.UK., 17/06/2009 18:36
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Can't they produce a bamboo car and make drivers feel even guiltier? I don't think it's us cyclists who should exactly feel bad about destroying the planet. I feel an attack of green decadence coming on.
- Malcolm Burgess, Brentwood, Essex, 17/06/2009 18:33
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Well firstly, hat's off to the designers and engineers, it is a thing of beauty. However - how many people can afford such a bike? The only people who pay that sort of money for a bike are cycling enthusiasts, the rest of us make do with cheap or secondhand bikes. There is little enviromental arguement for it, just as there isn't for the car scrappage scheme. Ten year old and over cars have plenty of life left in them and to scrap them and replace them with new vehicles, which create a huge carbon footprint when manufactured amounts to government sponsored enviromental vandalism. Just another gimmick to boost industrial production figures.
Nice try at innovative design but don't tell us it saves the enviroment, we're really not that stupid.
- William Ear, Waltham Cross, 17/06/2009 17:05
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It`s about time this "green/eco" trend was exposed as what it really is - just another faddy/fashionable product merchandising exercise.
The greenest device in production today is made of rubber - a CONDOM stops two polluters becoming more polluters.
- Darius Midwinter, London UK, 17/06/2009 15:45
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Hmmm. Fifty quid or so on a second or third-hand bike and I beat the 60% recyclable hands down. Plus, I do not have to worry if (as is often the case) some scrote makes off with it.
- James, Spain, 17/06/2009 15:16
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another example of how people with more time and money than brains keep the rest of us entertained.
- Greg Peters, London, UK, 17/06/2009 14:56
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In addition to the madness of transporting the materials half-way round the world and consuming lots of energy in doing so, the work that a purchaser has had to do in order to accumulate a spare £3000 also represents an energy expenditure and consumption of materials. All economic activity causes CO2 emissions and has an environmental impact. The emmissions caused by having to create £3000 of wealth are a lot more than would be caused to accumulate the wealth neede to buy a nice £200 bike. This must be one of the least green bikes ever made. Why do journalists print press releases without questioning them?
- David Waller, london, 17/06/2009 13:49
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I guess those creatures that eat bambo in the mountains of Taiwan's Yushan national park,will soon start to starve to death; once we all start buying bambo bikes.
- Mickyinlondon, london, 17/06/2009 13:33
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"It is the ultimate green statement for commuters...."
I believe your legs are the ultimate green statement. I think the girl in the picture is dressed just as i would anticipate people owning one of those bikes to dress; all she needs is a hemp bag and a dream catcher tied to the handlebars.
- Ge, Kernow (Nation of), 17/06/2009 13:21
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This has got to be a joke? Straight out of a Harry Enfield Notting Hill sketch, I saw you coming.
- Albert Swift, Aberdeen, Scotland, 17/06/2009 13:20
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So how long before the Taiwanese/Chinese knock these frames up for a few dollars? Surely if bamboo bikes were such a great idea these countries would be making them by the million for their own markets.
- Duncan, Wales, 17/06/2009 13:17
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The usual comment re cyclists and pavements from Kate - what a bore.
£3000!!! To earn £3000 I have to do a fair amount of work (presumably of varying "carbon" footprint). Have to feel it's better to for me to carry on using my £300 bike and be less consumerist in the first place.
- Al, Reading, 17/06/2009 13:16
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How about inventing a bike that can't be ridden on the pavement?
- Kate, London, 17/06/2009 12:29
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Taiwan to California by boat and then to Chiswick, presumably by air. Plus, all the components from Italy and Japan that will finish off the bike do not materialise in West London by magic. That's more air miles than I clock up in 3 months.
This has to be the least green bicycle ever made.
Put two things together that no-one has thought of and some schmuck will buy it.
- Nobby Clark, Perth, the Scottish one, 17/06/2009 12:20
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Oh dear, what a terrible photo. She's been made to pose next to the bike in the wrong shoes, and made to wear a stupid helmet which she forgot to do up.
Despite the fact the effectiveness of helmets is questionable at best, wearing one and not actually tightening the strap is utterly pointless.
- George, London, 17/06/2009 11:25
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That would make an interesting insurance claim: A panda ate my bike.
Has anyone ever noticed how people who are green are never quietly green, the always have to tell everyone how green they are?
- Tom, Watford (UK), 17/06/2009 11:25
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If Bamboo is so good for the environment why chop it down................
- Rob, Letchworth, 17/06/2009 10:54
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Utterly ridiculous.
- Michael, London, 17/06/2009 10:27
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"About 60 per cent of the finished product is made of sustainable materials."
Hold on now, in a normal Aluminium framed bike, the frame and most of the componentry is made from Aluminium, which unless I'm mistaken is recyclable and thus sustainable? You can pick up a T6 framed bike (which is probably lighter than this for around £500), so why would you buy one of these?
- Bob, Cheam, 17/06/2009 10:26
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Fools and their money, as they say.
- Larry, Amsterdam, NL, 17/06/2009 10:23
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Expensive gimmick for the wealthy trendies.
- Dave Davies, Basingstoke, Hants, 17/06/2009 10:07
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Shipped more than half way around and GREEN?
- Ian, Reading, England, 17/06/2009 10:05
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Awesome. How come 'green' things always cost the earth?
- Tyler Durden, Milan, 17/06/2009 09:58
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The lady's shoes don't look as though they have cleats so they wouldn't work on those pedals. Sorry to be pedalantic. Great idea, although the bar stem looks a bit clunky and wooden.
- Ben Potter, London, 17/06/2009 09:49
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3K! A nice little earner for a piece of wood.
- Paul, London, 17/06/2009 09:43
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