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?
Now THAT’S something different. I never knew they made bikes of bamboo. Looks like it’s an actual industry! Never know what I’ll learn on this site.
Maybe the professor from Gilligan’s Island made it.
Bamboo bikes are very much a thing, and repute to be very comfortable.
Bamboo is surprisingly safe in scaffolding because if there is a failed fastening or other weak spot, it distributes the load rather than concentrating it the way a steel scaffolding does. Unfortunately it’s hard to test and certify natural materials, and no certification means no insurance in the US.
Like JDC said, one never knows what we will learn on this forum. That’s something I would think an engineer would come up with, Hugh Crawford. Very interesting!
To quote Monty Python, “And now for Something Completely Different…” This is really something else, and the craftsmanship is very nice too. Bamboo is very tough. One thing is for sure. We have more rental Wood Chippers that get clogged when people try to run Bamboo through them. Its weird, my son had a bamboo skateboard years ago and even though it flexed a bit, it was very strong. Neat find Scotty and a unique vehicle to write up too. And I’m totally with Howie above, this has the Professor from GGilligan’s Island written all over it.
On a recent trip to LA, I noticed a few of these sitting in clothing shops. They caught my eye so it was fun to see this one come through. Also, I’m guessing the seller came up with the Vietnam origins because of text on those cheap tires…
Bamboo 🌾 buildings are pretty tough apparently
What a surprise, who else? A bamboo bike? Looks about as sturdy as the scaffolding he posted. I don’t ever recall a seeing one, even a check on the high and mighty bike guru, Mike Wolfe has never encountered one. It looks like it should be pulling a rickshaw. ( cue Jackie Chan busy downtown China city street music)
For the record, Gilligans bamboo bike was actually a pedal powered car, and the bamboo bike was stationary powering a generator, I believe. Where did that come from,,,ah, Hollywood in the 60s,,, in fact, the pedal powered “bike” did a number of jobs on the island. Wash machine, big fan, scuba pump, irrigation pump, sewing machine, but couldn’t fix the boat. And how come the radio never needed batteries? Ah, Hollywood,,,
This is beyond cool!!! Thanks so much for sharing it! Hits the cool factor on so many levels in my odd ball world!
Pretty cool. Worth 400
I spent over a year in Viet Nam and never saw one of these. Millions of bikes, Yes, but not bamboo. I do remember seeing bamboo scaffolding many times and wondered just how safe it was.
Pretty sure the actual frame is metal and wrapped. Added pieces to cover parts of the frame, fenders, chain cover and other things are bamboo for sure. But the forks are wrapped and made of metal as is the main frame. Still a very unique bike!
Steve, if you click on any of the links in the third paragraph, they show actual bamboo frames, not covered steel frames. We don’t know for sure on this one, but I’m betting it’s a bamboo frame.