On Wed, 26 Sep 2007 05:40:53 GMT, Ryan Cousineau <
[email protected]>
wrote:
>Bamboo?! Really?!? I've seen bike-show bikes made out of it, but I would
>be really leery about routinely building frames out of it.
>
>Aside from the structural considerations, which may or may not be as
>scary as I fear, the frame tubes are probably the cheapest, least
>specialized part of a bicycle, third-world-wise.
>
>Everything else is the hard part,
Dear Ryan,
"Bamboo frames.--From the discussion on the frame (chap. xxiii.) it
will be seen that when the frame is properly barced, and its members
so arranged that the stresses on them are along their axes, the
maximum tensile or compressive stress on the material is small. If a
steel tube were made as light as possible, with merely sufficient
sectional area to resist these principal stresses, it would be so thin
that it would be unable to resist rough handling, and would speedily
become indented locally. A lighter material with greater thickness,
though of less strength, would resist these local forces better. The
bamboo frame (fig. 262) is an effort in this direction, the bamboo
tubes being stronger locally than steel tubes of equal weight and
external diameter."
--Sharp, "Bicycles & Tricycles," 1896, p.286-7
Wooden and bamboo bicycles were built by several companies and ridden
by ordinary riders, but they offered no real advantages and were
expensive for mass production.
As far as I can tell, wood and bamboo were abandoned except for
novelty items because steel is hard to beat for price and overall
durability.
1897 wood frame lady's bike:
http://www.metzbicyclemuseum.com/Bike25a.html
Lady's bentwood bicycle:
http://www.metzbicyclemuseum.com/Bike31a.html
The bamboo bike that Andrew Muzi isn't talking about:
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/wlhba/articleView.asp?pg=1&id=10367&pn=0
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/search.asp?id=1130
***
My theory about steel versus bamboo is supported by this page:
"The Bamboo Cycle Company of Holbourne, London, had its works in Petit
Street, off Pountney Street, Wolverhampton. Their machines initially
had frames made of bamboo because it was very strong, lightweight and
free from corrosion. In practice steel proved to be a much better
material for the purpose and so only a few real bamboo bikes were
made."
"Later models were made of steel that was disguised to look like
bamboo. The bicycles were fitted with the patent 'Doolittle' back
pedalling brake and an automatically adjustable handlebar. The
machines were only in production for a few years and it is thought
that only small numbers were made. The company also had premises in
Thomas Street."
http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk/Museum/Transport/bicycles/Bamboo.htm
The site above has pictures, but whether the bikes are made of real or
fake bamboo is hard to tell.
Cheers,
Carl Fogel