I have made some nice progress on my bamboo fixie, I posted about previously. I'm now at the point where all the bamboo parts are finished, so here I want to share some pictures about the building process. Also, since some of you expressed an interest in a bike with a bamboo frame, I have decided to make you a great offer. But first, let's see the work:
More of the Same: Gluing and Sanding
The fork consists of a thick piece of bamboo cut in half. Obviously, the steerer tube has to be metal, so it's the crown where it has to be attached to the bamboo, using some more carbon fiber with epoxy resin.
The joined pieces are covered in more carbon, then wrapped in long strands of the same stuff. This will give the crown the strength that the bamboo sliders have.
On the lower end of the fork the process is similar: The dropouts are steel, so they are fitted precisely into the sliders, where they are glued in with ... you guessed it: carbon fiber saturated with epoxy resin.
Then the whole thing is wrapped in long strands of carbon fiber. A day later all these joints will have hardened, leaving the only remaining work to the sandpaper.
Oh, the joy of sanding! This time I managed to do a much better job wrapping the carbon fiber tight, so there were hardly any air pockets left. Still, a nice appearance required some good sanding!
Once everything looked nice and smooth, I gave it a generous coating with bee's wax, and got working on the handlebar.
Since the objective is to build a minimalist urban fixie, I wanted the handlebar to be as short as possible. But since there is no point having it shorter than the width of my shoulders, I cut it at 45 cm (17.7 inches). Also, it needed to have the right thickness for a pair of grips. To attach it to a stem, the middle needed to be made thicker, with yet more carbon fiber!
And that's it! All the parts that can be bamboo are done. A beautiful bamboo frame, a bamboo fork, and a bamboo handlebar! All the other parts are components you'd use for bikes with any other frames. Which also means, this would be the perfect time to ship it around the world!
Do You Want to Buy This Bamboo Frame-Set?
Since some of you have expressed interest in my bamboo bike (I'm thinking about you, 
0.1 BTC or its Equivalent!
That means, for a tenth of a Bitcoin you'll get:
- The frame, the fork, and handlebar
- A pair of grips, a stem, a headset, and five spacers
- A list of recommended components for a fixed gear bike
- Shipping anywhere in the world included!
So that means, you can pay me in BTC, or if you prefer in any of the following cryptos at their current transaction rate: STEEM, ETH, LTC, DASH. And sure, if you really want to use fiat, I also have a paypal. Right now it should be around $700 USD. Also, should you have anything else to offer, I'm always happy to hear it!
To Buy or Not To Buy? Now or Later?
What happens if I sell the frame I've built? Well, I just might go back and start building a new one... Likewise, if no-one is interested, I'm going to continue building the wheels, adding all the other components, and finishing my bike. I may attempt to sell it again, but
- the bike will be heavier and more voluminous, making shipping more expensive
- the components will have their own values, adding more to the final price
- the components may not be the ones YOU like.
In any case, if nobody wants to buy it, I'll ride it myself and be happy. But if you want a kick-ass bamboo bike, for a kick-ass price, now is the time to buy! The offer will never be this good again.
Please check out these great communities I'm contributing to:
#ecotrain | What is EcoTrain | Discord Community
#tribesteemup |The 8 Pillars of @TribeSteemUp
#team-mexico | Discord Community
#cyclefeed | Introducing CycleFeed | Discord Community