Barn Find Bamboo Bike!

Bear with me on this “barn find” bamboo bike! Someone sent in this tip and didn’t leave their name, so they were either similar to the “anonymous” folks who donate money and don’t want any recognition, or there was another reason. This Vintage Bamboo/Rattan Bike is listed here on Facebook Marketplace in Santa Clarita, California, and they’re asking $400. Here is the original listing, and thanks to whoever sent in this tip and didn’t list their name! Here’s another one that was recently listed on eBay. If you click on “see original listing,” you can see the bike.

Here’s a close-up of the sun-shield, such as it is, on this bamboo bike. Bamboo bikes are a thing, believe it or not. Most of us have heard about this material for years or even decades. It’s incredible. It’s almost literally rock hard; it grows like crazy, so you can just grow your flooring material (we had bamboo floors put in about a decade ago, and they’re great), or make your own bike, or scaffolding, or whatever. We were in Hong Kong a few years ago and saw many buildings with bamboo scaffolding around them, which, as an architect, was pretty mind-blowing, but they still use it.

Not everything is made of bamboo; it’s mainly the structural parts, like the frame. This one is wrapped in rattan, and the seller doesn’t know too much about this bike, other than it’s not a Schwinn (they didn’t say that, I did), and the tires say Vietnam on them. They still use this “technology” in Vietnam. Here’s a great website showing a gentleman with a master’s degree in the automotive industry from a Stuttgart, Germany university, building bamboo bikes in his native Vietnam. Here’s a company in Colorado that makes bamboo bicycles: Boo Bicycles. Here’s their page on why bamboo is such a great material for bikes. They say that bamboo from Vietnam is the best, who knew?!

Bamboo is similar to carbon fiber in being super light and super strong, and also somewhat flexible, at least compared to steel or aluminum. You can see that the fittings, “intersections” and other connections, the rims and tires, etc., are “normal” pieces, but the frame and even the fenders on this one are made of bamboo.

There’s something we don’t see too often here in the U.S., especially on tires. The seller says this bike was found in a barn and had been sitting for years, but they don’t say for how long. It does need some work, but I’m guessing it’ll be more of a display piece than anything in its future life. Have any of you seen a bamboo bike?