Adam's Flax-Lug Bamboo Build
This series of videos show the process of building a bike using a kit from Bamboo Bicycle Club
Context
Adam is one of Bamboo Bicycle Club's recurring home builders, with road, gravel and cargo frames to his name. For this build he chose BBC's traditional method: the flax-fibre lug.
What we did
Instead of the Easy Build Kit's pre-moulded carbon lugs, the flax method hand-wraps every tube joint in layers of woven flax fabric set in bio-epoxy resin. It is slower and more demanding — wet layup, working the bubbles out, peel-ply finish, cure, post-cure sanding, then primer, paint and lacquer. The reward is a joint with the flax weave visible beneath the surface: a frame that is unmistakably handmade.
Verified outcome
A complete bamboo frame built with the traditional flax-lug technique — the same hand-wrapping approach BBC has taught since its earliest workshops, and the method behind its long-running lug tutorials.
In their words
"Bamboo is said to have ideal properties for bike construction with its 'excellent vibration dampening effects', resistance to stress and durability." — road.cc, December 2020
Why it matters
Bamboo gives a frame natural vibration damping that aluminium and carbon fibre cannot replicate, for a more comfortable ride over distance. Each BBC frame weighs under two kilograms, with an excellent strength-to-weight ratio.Bamboo is grown, not mined — it locks up carbon as it grows and regrows in 3–5 years. The flax-lug method takes that further: hand tools, natural fibre and bio-resin, with the maker's work visible in every joint.
Links
- Flax build materials: Biotex Flax Fibre 2/2 Twill · Flax Bundle with Bamboo and Resins · Frame Tool Kit for Flax Build
- See also: BBC's lug-wrapping tutorials on the Bamboo Bicycle Club YouTube channel
Build a gravel bike
Build your own bamboo bike — in a London workshop or from a kit shipped to your door. No experience needed.
Build a gravel bike →
