Can you build a bike frame in an afternoon? | Return of the bamboo bike

Back in 2018, Dave decided that he was going to make a bike himself... in his shed... using sticks and glue. Ever hopeful of some quality clips for You've Been Framed, we decided to video his experience.

The process involved quite a bit of precision and a lot of measuring. There was plenty of work to be done using intricate tools that require a deft touch. These are all things that Dave is known for.

The bike would be built with the aim of being tested at the height of competition – the local category 2/3 circuit race in the pouring rain. Would the frame be lined up well enough? Would the bottom bracket fall off with the first turn of the pedals?

Unfortunately for the comedy value, but fortunately for Dave's health, the bike worked. And now the Bamboo Bicycle Club have come up with a slightly simpler build kit. This one includes ready-made carbon lugs to reduce your time spent with the hemp.

It's also a more complete frameset, with places to put a front mech, bottle cages, a rear mech and there's even internal routing to take advantage of the hollow nature of bamboo. The question is: will the new kit make the build easier for Dave?

Time to kick back and find out with the first in the series.

"Slashing the time to construct its bamboo road frame from around 70 hours down to just four hours with their new easy build option, the Bamboo Bicycle Club has impressively improved the accessibility of building a bamboo bicycle."

"Bamboo Bicycle Club taps into 'the IKEA effect' — that extra bit of affection people reserve for objects they put together themselves."

Return of the Afternoon Build Challenge

The "afternoon build" concept — building a complete bamboo bicycle frame in under four hours — was first demonstrated by the BBC in 2020 with the launch of the Easy Build Kit. Using pre-moulded carbon lugs instead of traditional flax fibre wraps, the BBC reduced frame build time from around 70 hours to just four. This was not just a convenience feature; it was a fundamental rethinking of who bamboo bicycle building is for.

The traditional 70-hour BBC build is a deep craft experience: selecting bamboo, setting up a jig, wrapping joints by hand with flax fibre and epoxy, sanding and finishing. It is a weekend-long commitment that produces a bicycle of extraordinary character. The four-hour easy build produces a frame of comparable structural quality in a single afternoon session — making it accessible to people who want the satisfaction of building their own frame without a multi-day time commitment.

The afternoon build challenge demonstrated that bamboo bicycle building at this pace is genuinely achievable for first-time builders. Participants needed no prior frame-building experience — just the ability to follow instructions, work carefully, and resist the urge to rush. The pre-moulded carbon lug system handles the most technically demanding part of the build (joint geometry) automatically, leaving the builder free to focus on bamboo selection, surface preparation, and finishing.

Both build options remain available from the BBC: the Easy Build Kit (approximately four hours, £395) and the Full Flax Kit (approximately 70 hours, £285). Many builders who start with the Easy Build Kit go on to attempt the full flax build — finding that their first frame gave them the confidence and understanding to take on the deeper craft challenge.