I want wood. Discuss.

[Elefantino]

Wonder how much these beauties cost.

Does anyone have one? Or another wooden bike, like a Kestrel?

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2236/2251319220_812878de05.jpg?v=0

[johnnymossville]

They look incredibly well made. I wonder how they ride? I'm with you. Info would be cool.

[Blue Jays]

http://renovobikes.com/images/topbike.jpg

[DarrenCT]

is this wood stiff?

[capybaras]

that's what she said :banana:

[johnnymossville]

is this wood stiff?

Probably only in the morning,.. badum dum. :banana:

[capybaras]

is this wood stiff?

Depends on who's riding it

[DarrenCT]

Depends on who's riding it

:beer:

[A.L.Breguet]

Liz Hatch?

[catulle]

The tubes are hollow. I wonder what kind of wood it is and how it is treated. I worry about splinters in case of breakage. I wonder about weight.

[Blue Jays]

Take a look at the Renovo Hardwood Bicycles (http://renovobikes.com/) website for additional details. Looks very attractive.

[Elefantino]

The tubes are hollow. I wonder what kind of wood it is and how it is treated. I worry about splinters in case of breakage. I wonder about weight.
They're hollow?

They say they use everything from ash to Brazilian walnut. The latter, which my son's flooring company installs, is among the hardest woods extant.

Are you sure they're hollow? That would be weird. Way cool, but weird.

[AgilisMerlin]

is this wood stiff?


denpends if it is waterlogged........

[AgilisMerlin]

The tubes are hollow. I wonder what kind of wood it is and how it is treated. I worry about splinters in case of breakage. I wonder about weight.

i'd worry about Termites

[toaster]

Viagra. Four hour wood.

[CNY rider]

Beware!

http://members.aol.com/cascadebirdwatch/hairy_woodpecker.jpg

[capybaras]

downy or hairy?

[CNY rider]

downy or hairy?

Hairy.

The downy is a smaller pecker. :banana:

[capybaras]

I thought so. I have never seen one. Very cute! :banana:

[39cross]

At last, a bike I know will plane.
http://sawdustmaking.com/Hand%20Planes/smoothingplane.jpg

[Elefantino]

At last, a bike I know will plane.
http://sawdustmaking.com/Hand%20Planes/smoothingplane.jpg
POTD!

[victoryfactory]

At last, a bike I know will plane.
http://sawdustmaking.com/Hand%20Planes/smoothingplane.jpg


That's how you make your bike lighter before a ride.

But seriously, I would love to check one out. It sounds like a great idea
to me.

VF

[JohnS]

It would (wood) be just like riding a CF bike. Everyone says that they have a "wooden" feeling. :D

[catulle]

They offer the frame in different types of wood. But in real life woods are very different from each other. I don't know... They look pretty but I think these wood frames are more a conversation piece than anything you'd want to use on a real ride (with climbs and 70kph downhills.) Just atmo...

I guess I'm intrigued because I work a great deal with hardwoods and I have a feel for what wood can and cannot do. Just saying.

Of course, you can follow the trend of the thread and make fun now... :rolleyes:

[davids]

They offer the frame in different types of wood. But in real life woods are very different from each other. I don't know... They look pretty but I think these wood frames are more a conversation piece than anything you'd want to use on a real ride (with climbs and 70kph downhills.) Just atmo...

I guess I'm intrigued because I work a great deal with hardwoods and I have a feel for what wood can and cannot do. Just saying.

Of course, you can follow the trend of the thread and make fun now... :rolleyes:They're the answer to a question no one asked, atmo.

Seriously, it's hard for me to see how wood could be a better material for a bike frame than metal or carbon-impregnated plastic. :confused:

[fiamme red]

http://download3.free.fr/picolbon/motobois/motobois2.jpg

[Blue Jays]

Each of those bikes has different fork rakes specified! :D

[William]

Hand crafted by the man himself...

http://blogs.zdnet.com/images/enzyte1.jpg

He really knows how to work that wood.




William ;)

[pjm]

Wood, Jerry. Wood!

[maunahaole]

Interesting concept, but funny that they were showing at the handmade bike show when their website states that the frames are made on a maching center - I'm thinking CNC for wood? IN any event, how long until the weight weenies start demanding that they get a balsa frame?

[PaulE]

to go with the bike:

[dnades]

The corvette coupe has a floor made out of balsa wood core and carbon fiber. It was stiffer than anything else they could come up with. The mosquito aircraft(ww2 plane) was built out of all wood. Lighter, faster, farther range than all the other planes out there- less expensive too.

I'd be interested to see how they form the tubes. Just wood or a composite? Those joints would be prohibitively expensive to cut by hand. Great surface area though. Reminds me a bit of Calfee's bamboo bike which I think looks better than the wood one-less manipulation of the material from its natural state. Sharp idea though. About time wood got some creative engineering.

[catulle]

The corvette coupe has a floor made out of balsa wood core and carbon fiber. It was stiffer than anything else they could come up with. The mosquito aircraft(ww2 plane) was built out of all wood. Lighter, faster, farther range than all the other planes out there- less expensive too.

I'd be interested to see how they form the tubes. Just wood or a composite? Those joints would be prohibitively expensive to cut by hand. Great surface area though. Reminds me a bit of Calfee's bamboo bike which I think looks better than the wood one-less manipulation of the material from its natural state. Sharp idea though. About time wood got some creative engineering.

Morgans also had a wood chasis, and when you wrecked... well, it was a big mess of splinters and bloody stuff.

[Onno]

It does seem gimmicky, but I'm still drooling. Very beautiful to look at, and a lovely idea, really. You really would have to ride one to believe it would actually work, and be safe. Does anyone else remember all those broken wooden skis when we were kids?
Can't wait for the website to give more details.

[stevep]

bugattis had wood frames.


cool product.
probably darn useable and i bet not all that heavy..
probably lighter than an old steel frame

[Ginger]

They're hollow?

They say they use everything from ash to Brazilian walnut. The latter, which my son's flooring company installs, is among the hardest woods extant.

Are you sure they're hollow? That would be weird. Way cool, but weird.

Yeah...as a former woodworker I'm of two minds about using the hardest woods available, they're often the ones most likely to shatter...

And that's what I thought when I looked at those frames...crash that and you might get better slivers than on a wood track...
Cool bikes though

On the other hand, that propensity to put wood on the racks of bikes I thought was a bit misguided. Pretty, but no matter how you protect it, in a few years of weather it's going to look ratty and a few more years it's going to look like barn wood or break...

[manet]

bugattis had wood frames.



morgans too

[Blue Jays]

I've had the same concerns as Ginger above. Unless it is truly, truly stabilized dry wood, couldn't it begin to crack? I don't know how that could be prevented since it's not my area of expertise.
The second question is failure mode of a wooden bicycle frame...it seems that accidents could become truly horrific in nature.

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . though I know that goes against the grain in this forum . . . :beer:

BBD

[rustychisel]

Ba-boom-ching!!! :)

& that should be the final word, but I kinda pine for one even though I know they'll never be poplar...

[BumbleBeeDave]

Ba-boom-ching!!! :)

& that should be the final word, but I kinda pine for one even though I know they'll never be poplar...

. . . quitcher beechin' . . .

BBD

[PaulE]

bugattis had wood frames.


cool product.
probably darn useable and i bet not all that heavy..
probably lighter than an old steel frame

morgans too

The Morgan, and probably the Bugatti too, have a traditional steel ladder frame that the body, suspension, drivetrain, etc. are mounted too. The body itself is metal formed over a wood frame. Back in the day almost all cars used wood underneath the body panels. The Chrysler Airflow was one of the first cars that used no wood.

A Marcos GT, on the other hand, has a wooden chassis (plywood) with a fiberglass body. Nothing wrong with wood.

[RudAwkning]

:p

[J.Greene]

I'm wondering if the alignment would change as the temp and humidity changed.

JG

[BURCH]

I saw this bike at the Cape Cod National Seashore Visitor Center and Museum. I forget what I read about this bike, but it had wooden wheels and wooden pedals. Very neat bike. Took these with my phone so I apologize if they are hazy...

[Onno]

:p

The label makes the bike seem like a joke, a hoax even, since it seems to parody a Reynolds tubing label. Could the bike be a hoax, that is, an unrideable beauty? Presumably, the sellers would let you in on the joke, or have you sign a waiver, before you walked out of the factory with it. This would make sense of the CNC'd nature of the wood frame too.

[PaulE]

my wooden bike will have its name burned into the head tube with a woodburning iron. Its name will be "Wonder Bike", like Wonder Bat from The Natural.

[shanerpvt]

I trade hardwood lumber for industrial (manufacturing) purposes for a living and i cringe when i see "industry" names like Brazilian Walnut.....it's Ipe....nice specie to build a deck out of.........Brazilian Cherry (or south American cherry).......it's Jatoba........tropical specie with red tones not remotely related to American Cherry.

I don't know what this has to do with bike building, but I can tell you that the same specie growing in two different regions with different soil and weather conditions will yield two TOTALLY different physical & aesthetic qualities.

Think of it as a finger print.........no two are alike.

just my $ .02,

shaner

[Birddog]

I trade hardwood lumber for industrial (manufacturing) purposes for a living and i cringe when i see "industry" names like Brazilian Walnut.....it's Ipe....nice specie to build a deck out of.........Brazilian Cherry (or south American cherry).......it's Jatoba........tropical specie with red tones not remotely related to American Cherry

I amused by this re-badging in an odd sort of way. It's not unlike how they have re-named a lot of fish to make them more appealing to the avg. American.

Birddog

[shanerpvt]

I amused by this re-badging in an odd sort of way. It's not unlike how they have re-named a lot of fish to make them more appealing to the avg. American.

Birddog

Yes, this is correct Sir. It misleads consumers unfortunately.