I read about these bamboo bikes in this weeks email from springwise (via twitter).
Apparently, developing countries are starting to make bike frames from bamboo which is locally sourced. The bikes are then shipped abroad or sold locally where the additional components are added.
Calfee Design has been manufacturing and selling its own bamboo bikes from its California studios since 2005. Craig Calfee the founder, is a bike frame designer of some note having designed bikes for the legendary cyclist and Tour de France champion Greg Lemond.
A trip to Africa inspired Calfee to promote the concept of bamboo bike frame building as a way of earning money. In 2008, through an initiative called Bamboosero, Calfee set up two bike-building groups in Ghana. Both groups now build frames for several bike designs including a road bike and a mountain bike, using locally sourced bamboo; they then ship those frames back to Calfee’s workshop, where the US team adds wheels and hardware before sending them on to distributors.
The Ghanaian entrepreneurs earn about $150 for every frame they build, while the finished bikes are sold for about $950 each, according to a report on SantaCruz.com. By December 2009, Calfee had sold 28 Bamboosero bikes and sent six back to Ghana for use by tourists and locals, the site reported.
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