- Designed and engineered by Oxford Brookes University's Faculty of Technology, Design and Environment and the Joining Technology Research Centre, the Bamboo Bike is certified to European safety standards
- The bikes are built to a high specification to match the high performance ride of the frame
- The bike frame is made using bamboo tubes and advanced jointing technology using flax fibre, which exploits the specific strength and stiffness of bamboo
- Bamboo's unique properties offer a strong and vibration-absorbent frame material for bikes
- Bamboo is considered one of the more sustainable materials of the 21st century. It is a fast growing grass requiring significantly less land and water to grow than, for example, timber, and can absorb up to five times more C02 and release up to 35% more oxygen than an equivalent stand of trees. A particular attribute is its ability to be harvested after only 4-5 years and re-grows easily from the remaining culm shoot
- The Joining Technology Research Centre focuses on the understanding of the science of materials, joining practice and the ability to respond to commercial reality, leading the Centre to provide support to over 100 organisations throughout the UK and abroad.
Carbon Neutral Renewable Bicycle Frame (Grow your own bike)
About us
Due to the impact manufacturing has on the environment, there is an increasing responsibility for companies to provide products from sustainable resources.
This project aimed to design, develop, and manufacture bicycle frames made from alternative 'carbon neutral' renewable resources. For example, bamboo and flax. These resources potentially offer a more sustainable engineered alternative to that of traditional bikes.
Oxford Brookes engineers Dr Shpend Gerguri and Professor James Broughton, alongside undergraduate and postgraduate engineering students, have developed a bicycle frame to maximise the unique rigidity and vibration absorbing qualities of bamboo and other natural fibres.
Related courses
- Mechanical Engineering (MSc)
Research impact
The bike frame is made with bamboo tubes and advanced jointing technology using flax fibre that exploits the specific strength and stiffness of bamboo (taking its own weight into consideration the strength and stiffness of bamboo can be equivalent to that of steel and aluminium).
Dr Shpend Gerguri and Professor James Broughton successfully put the frame through the gruelling eight day 640km CRAFT Transalps race traversing mountainous off-road terrain that included 21,000m of climbing and descent.
Leadership
Professor James Broughton
Professor & Research Lead in Engineering
