An interview about one cyclist's experience building a custom bamboo bike frame and taking it on adventures across the UK and Ireland

Have you ever built a bike before? Why bamboo?

No! I am a fairly confident amateur bike mechanic, thanks to volunteering with the bike project. I was thinking about getting a new gravel/touring bike, when I saw a video about bamboo bikes. I was so fascinated by it and the idea lodged in my head that this would be a great thing to do. I found this company called the Bamboo Bicycle Club who sell everything you need to build the frame and run workshops, and I decided to go for it.

What's the process? How long did it take?

The frame is made by cutting the bamboo tubes to size and doing mitered (curved) joints so the end of the tube sits closely around the curved surface it'll be attached to. There are stainless steel parts at the head tube, bottom bracket, seat tube and rear dropouts, which means you can attach standard components to the frame. Once everything is cut, you glue it all together to hold it firm enough to then bind the joint.

The binding is done by coating flax fibre strips in a two-part epoxy resin, wrapping the joints, and then wrapping that with electrical tape to compress it and let it set. Each joint has 2-3 layers of flax fibre, with a 24 hour curing time between each layer.

Then you can paint it, add any decals, and apply a protective coating to stop the tubes from splitting.

It took about two weeks to build the frame and then another couple of days to get all the components on and get it ready to ride.

Did you face any challenges during the build process?

So many! I was too impatient to wait for one of the workshops, so I decided to do the build at home, which was pretty chaotic. I only really understood the scale of the challenge once it was laid out in front of me, and by that point I was committed! Every step was something I hadn't done before. Notable challenges included:

• I split the seat tube the first time I tried to put in the metal insert that helps clamp the seat post. I had to start again with a second seat tube, which included re-doing the mitered joint at the other end.
• The first time I mixed the epoxy resin, I mixed it too fast which kicked off an exothermic reaction - the whole mixture got really hot, really fast and it melted the plastic mixing cup I was using! I was a lot more gentle with my mixing, and thankfully that only happened once.
• Once the flax joints were all finished and ready to paint, I put my rear wheel in to double check the clearance and realised my rear axle was completely wonky. I had to borrow an electric sander, and spent a whole afternoon sanding off all the flax on one side, resetting the rear axle and then had to redo the flax.
• I initially used a spray lacquer to finish the frame, which was just not very good! It wasn't fully waterproof, and after 6 months I had some cracks in the frame. I stripped back the bike, used epoxy to fix the cracks and recoated it, this time using boat varnish to make sure it was properly sealed.

What is it like riding the bike?

It's pretty comfortable! Bamboo can absorb a lot of shock, and it's a really flexible material, and you can feel the bike really flexing under you, especially when it's fully loaded for bikepacking or touring.

What advice would you give to people wanting to build a bike?

Make sure you have good support on hand. The bamboo bicycle club people were really helpful for my frame build questions, and the lovely folks at Seabass cycles in Peckham were so nice - they helped my fit my headset, helped me out when I realised I was missing some of the bolts and screws I needed, and gave my bike a good once over once it was finished to make sure it was safe to ride.

What have I done with the bike since building it?

The main thing I wanted to use the bike for was for touring, bike packing and gravel riding. Since building the bike in spring 2022, I think I've done around 10,000km, including - cycling from Edinburgh to the Isle of Mull; the King Alfred's way, the Cantii way; I've done a couple of bikepacking events - the Norfolk 360 (where I got to meet a fellow Bamboo Bike builder!) and I did the Pennine Rally twice; and this year I cycled 1600km around following the coast of Ireland. The bike has been put through its paces, over some pretty rough terrain, and loaded up for big touring trips, and it's still going strong!