Road · carbon-lugged

Road Lugged Frame Build Kit

Name: Road Lugged Frame Build Kit
Brand: Bamboo Bicycle Club
SKU: BBC-RDL-M
Price: 795.0 GBP
Availability: InStock

Beginner-friendly · no experience needed~25–45 hrs · a few weekends

Builder reviews →

Our premium road kit joins the bamboo with pre-formed carbon-fibre lugs instead of hand-wrapped tow — lighter, stiffer joints and a cleaner finish that looks like a custom frame-shop build. You still get bamboo's all-day vibration damping; you just get it on the lightest, stiffest, sharpest-looking frame we make.

£795.00

In stock — ships ~twice a week from our London workshop, fully tracked.

1-year kit warranty · 14-day returns on unopened kits · ships in ~2 weeks

Build your own — and help fund a place on our Build to Bond prison programme. Every £1 we generate returns £11.41 of social value.

Build with a buddy — buy a second kit and save 15% on both. Better builds, better stories.

No power tools required — just basic hand tools
Illustrated manual + 15+ hours of step-by-step video
Lifetime community of 4,000+ builders for support
Cycle to Work accepted — save through salary sacrifice

Why builders love it

What makes it different

No welding, no workshop

Build the whole frame on your kitchen table with basic hand tools — everything else is in the kit.

Everything in the box

Bamboo, the jig, metal fittings, resin, fibre and 15+ hours of step-by-step video — you only add the components.

Every kit funds learning

Your build helps fund accredited skills courses in prisons and schools. You learn a skill — so does someone else.

Find your fit

Built to fit you

Bamboo Bicycle Club frame size guide — by height and inseam
Frame size	Rider height	Inseam
XS	148–163 cm	68–74 cm
S	160–173 cm	74–80 cm
M	170–183 cm	78–86 cm
L	180–193 cm	84–92 cm
XL	190–203 cm	90–100 cm
2XL	200 cm +	98 cm +

Inseam is the better guide — measure barefoot, floor to crotch. Bands overlap on purpose: if you fall between two, choose the smaller frame.

No sizing gamble: you build your frame to fit you. Use your height and inseam to pick your size.

Your frame's size is set on the jig you build on — so pick the size that matches your fit, then fine-tune with seatpost, stem and saddle. Being between sizes is normal: build the smaller one.

Outside these sizes? Build a custom frame

Every kit does more

Your build helps fund accredited skills courses — inside prisons and schools.

You build

a bamboo road bike · from £795

Profits fund

accredited skills courses

A life changes

skills · confidence · futures

See our impact

What it costs to actually ride

Complete your build, the easy way.

The kit is the frame. Add a matched component pack — fork, wheels, groupset, finishing kit — and you're ride-ready. Or source parts from any bike shop; your frame fits all major groupsets.

Frame kit

£795.00

Everything to build the bamboo gravel frame.

Road component pack (105 hydraulic)

from £725

Fork, wheels, groupset, bars, saddle and finishing kit.

Ride-ready, all in

from £1,520

A complete, one-of-a-kind gravel bike — built by you.

Add the component pack

Prefer to choose your own parts? Skip the pack — the frame works with any standard groupset, and we'll advise.

Before you order

What you'll need at home.

Basic hand tools

A hacksaw, files, sandpaper, a measuring tape — no power tools. Everything else is in the kit.

A bit of space

A sturdy table around 1200 × 600 mm and a spot the frame can sit undisturbed while joints cure.

A few weekends

25–35 hours across multiple sessions. No rush — bamboo is forgiving and most mistakes are fixable.

Construction

Pre-formed carbon-fibre lugs

Ride feel

Compliant, with stiffer joints

Geometry

Endurance road, drop-bar

Build time

15–25 hrs (lugs are faster)

How you'll build it

Four stages, across a few weekends.

Set the geometry

Set road geometry on the jig — the pre-formed lugs locate every tube angle for you.

Join & wrap

Bond the tubes into the pre-formed lugs and leave to cure — no free-hand fibre wrapping needed.

Cure

Leave it for a full cure — that's where maximum joint strength comes from.

Sand, seal & ride

Sand smooth, seal the bamboo, fit the headset and bottom bracket. Adventure awaits.

A finished bamboo road bike out on the road

Why bamboo for the road

Bamboo's ride feel, carbon-lug precision.

Bamboo's natural vibration damping takes the edge off rough trails — ideal for bikepacking. Frames are compatible with all major groupsets and can be built around Shimano GRX or Rohloff geared hubs.

The carbon lugs give it a really clean look. People think it's a custom frame shop build, not a home kit.

Road Lugged Builder, Home kit build, UK

In the kit

Heat-treated Moso bamboo tubes (with spares), a full-size frame blueprint, a plywood alignment jig, the CNC metal parts that the steering, cranks and wheels bolt to (head tube, bottom-bracket shell and dropouts), carbon-fibre tow (the reinforcing fibre you wrap each joint with), two-part epoxy resin, and an illustrated manual plus 15+ hours of step-by-step video tutorials.

You'll add

Fork, wheels, groupset, handlebars, saddle and finishing components. Grab a complete component pack from us, or source parts from any bike shop.

Build with confidence

You've got this — and we've got you

You can't really ruin it

The glue is slow and adjustable, each joint wrap is additive (more = stronger), and a cured joint simply sands back to shape. The kit even ships with spare bamboo — at no single point is a mistake permanent.

Tools you'll need

Hacksaw
Files
Sandpaper
Tape measure
A rounded wood file
Electrical & masking tape
A 1200×600mm board
No power tools needed

You're never on your own

Stuck mid-build? Get help fast through our builder forum, step-by-step YouTube videos, WhatsApp and email. Most of our builders start with zero experience.

Caring for your frame

Seal the bamboo and store it indoors; dry it after wet rides. A frame you built — and understand — is one you can maintain and repair yourself for years.

Warranty, returns & shipping

1-year warranty on the kit materials
Full refund within 14 days on unopened, unused kits
Ships in ~2 weeks · UK £12 · Europe £25 · USA £45 · rest of world £75

Watch the build

See a frame come together.

The same hand-build every kit follows — start to finish, on camera.

Builder reviews

Rated by the builders who made one

Ten years on, every joint is still sound and the frame is strong. I ride it daily and did the Dunwich Dynamo — 180km — on it. It handled it effortlessly.

— Taro Tsuruta, architect, 10 years on his bamboo bike

4,000+

builders trained

since 2012, 36 countries

Swansea

University tested

independent testing

1 yr

kit warranty

+ 14-day returns on unopened kits

~2×/wk

shipped from London

full tracking

Common questions

Before you build.

What are carbon lugs, and how are they different from the standard road kit?

On our standard road kit you wrap each joint by hand with carbon-fibre tow and epoxy. This flagship kit instead joins the bamboo with pre-formed carbon-fibre lugs — ready-shaped carbon sockets the tubes bond into. They give a cleaner, more uniform joint, a lighter and stiffer frame, and a faster, more forgiving build. It's the same endurance road geometry and the same bamboo ride feel — just the premium construction.

Are carbon lugs really lighter and stiffer than wrapped joints?

Yes — that's the whole point of the lugged build. Pre-formed carbon lugs are lighter and torsionally stiffer than the equivalent hand-wrapped fibre joint, so more of your power goes to the back wheel and the finished frame is the lightest road frame we make. You still keep bamboo's natural vibration damping for all-day comfort — you're sharpening the joints, not deadening the ride.

Is it stiff and efficient enough for fast road riding?

Very strong for its weight. Bamboo is a light, hollow natural composite and every joint is reinforced with carbon-fibre, giving a high strength-to-weight ratio. Our bamboo is independently tested at Swansea University. Builders ride these frames daily and tour continents — with proper care they last for years.

Why is this kit £795 when the standard road kit is less?

The pre-formed carbon lugs are a premium component — they cost more to produce than a reel of carbon tow, and they deliver the lighter, stiffer, cleaner-finished flagship frame. You're paying for the lug construction and the result. If you'd rather hand-wrap your joints and save, the standard Road kit is the same geometry and ride feel at a lower price.

Will the frame survive years of big road miles?

Yes. Frame failures are very rare across the 4,000+ bikes built since 2012, our bamboo is independently tested at Swansea University, and many of our earliest builds are still ridden daily years later. Seal it, dry it after wet rides and store it indoors and it'll give you years of riding.

Real builds

Built by people like you

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Road Lugged Frame Build Kit £795.00 Add to cart

Before you buy

Watch the build, start to finish

Build film by Julian Goulding · a Bamboo Bicycle Club community build

Every kit ships with 15+ hours of step-by-step video. Here's a taste of what you'll do.