BikeBiz: Bamboo Bicycle Club and Oxford Brookes build the world's first 3D-printed bamboo bike

In April 2016, the cycle-trade title BikeBiz reported that the Bamboo Bicycle Club had teamed up with Oxford Brookes University to build what it called the world's first bamboo and 3D-printed bicycle — assembled live at London's Design Museum during the Cycle Revolution exhibition.

The collaboration paired hand-built bamboo tubing with 3D-printed, nylon-reinforced carbon-fibre lugs — the same family of material used on Formula 1 cars. The lugs took two weeks to print and were bonded to the bamboo frame with a urethane adhesive. The bike took its first ride on the Sunday afternoon of the build weekend.

"It's a wonderful feeling to be pioneering new manufacturing techniques which have enormous potential in the future."
— James Marr, founder, Bamboo Bicycle Club

"After an intense but ultimately successful weekend, this type of modular construction has really shown the potential to create truly bespoke bicycle frame design at home."
— Dr James Broughton, Oxford Brookes University

BikeBiz noted that the process "is expected to become a lot faster in the future and could have a huge impact on British manufacturing."