Bamboo Bike Fever

I have a problem. I have bamboo fever.

Let me explain.

I'm in the process of moving to a house in NW DC. It's beautiful there, and well designed -- the row houses butt against each other, sharing radiant heat, there's a park at the end of my block, and the sidewalks are well shaded.

But compared to my location in NYC, where the train shuttled me easily between home and work, I live in a veritable wilderness. The bus is far away. And the metro -- well, forget it.

And so I'm trying to figure out how to power myself to work. This isn't a new problem, by any means -- people have long advocated riding a bike to work, despite the risk. (See here and here for two podcats on this.) But since I only have an expensive road bike, I'm looking for a new bike to make the commute. I want something that's built sustainably, something that's easy to maneuver in the city, and something that has -- well -- a touch of style.

Someone in our New York office rides a collapsible bike to work, and advocates their use. They're light, easy to maneuver, and are surprisingly small when you collapse them so you won't sully your coworker's pants when you climb into the elevator. But I worry about the production methods of these bikes: what wastes are produced in the production? And can I really be sure these are contained?

So I wanted something built of natural elements. Impossible, I thought, until I remembered the bamboo bike.

I first saw Calfee's bike years ago, and thought it mostly conceptual, like haute couture -- progressive but not pragmatic. But then I did some research. Consider this:

As a material, bamboo is remarkable. Not a wood but a grass, bamboo regenerates quickly -- for some varieties, as much as 3-4 feet every day. For most species, it takes only 3-5 years to regrow fully. What's more, many species do all this without the need for replanting, and require minimal use of pesticides or fertilizers. I found evidence of some efforts to teach sustainable harvesting practices to bamboo growers in Vietnam. For the rest, it's possible bamboo harvesting is a largely sustainable practice in the first place, though I don't yet know for sure.

It's also perfect for the kind of use in constructing bicycles. When dry, it's strong, light and durable. Plus, bamboo dampens shock - precisely what bikers look for. In Calfee's design, they coat the bike with tung oil to seal it, and even have hemp fiber lugs available to replace the carbon fiber.

The problem? The best bamboo is not your neighborhood variety. Most of the bamboo we use for furniture, or even bamboo fly rods -- this is where I first came to know about it -- is produced in a remote region of Hunan province, China. Getting it from there to here involves a lot of shipping.

If you want a new bike built of sustainable materials, aren't afraid to ride a piece of art, and can afford the price tag, this is a great bike.

Me? I'm not yet sold. Environmentally, the best bike is the old bike -- the one that had already been produced. There's no production to risk chemicals. No built-in shipping miles. It's cheaper. And the style, well, who can beat it? But man, is that bike cool.

Update (4/17/08):  The New York Times has an article about bamboo flooring in today's Home & Garden section. Thought I'd poit you to it. Click here to check it out.