One hand, one frame: Jon builds his own bamboo bike

Jon built a full bamboo road frame at home, from one of our kits, with the use of one hand.

The challenge

Building a bamboo frame is a two-handed job for most people: holding the tubes in the jig, wrapping and binding the joints, keeping everything aligned while the epoxy sets. Jon has the use of one hand. The question was simple: could he build a frame of his own?

What he did

He built it himself, at home, from the kit and the instructions. The hardest part, in his words, was “gluing the frame in the jig, quite tricky for me to get it lined up properly in the time limit of the epoxy.” The easiest: “surprisingly the instructions, really easy to follow for me.”

The outcome

Jon built the frame and rides it. In his words the bike is “really smooth — I’m using quite heavy MTB rims but there’s no rattles or creaks so that’s a plus!” He is already planning his next build, a lugged gravel bike.

In Jon’s words

“It was a real challenge for me as I only have the use of 1 hand. The end product has a great sense of achievement.”

Why it matters

Most people are handed a finished bike. Very few get to make one. Jon’s build is a small, concrete example of what we mean when we say bike-building should be open to everyone: a kit, clear instructions, and a process that a maker can adapt to the way they work. The achievement was his — and he felt it.

Proof and links

Original story, in Jon’s own words: Road Bike by Jon (his build questionnaire and six photographs, August 2022).