In all the excitement to proclaim bicycles the answer to congested roads, polluted city air and our own health, the materials used to manufacture those bikes often get overlooked.
Carbon fiber, for example, is increasingly popular for new bicycles, particularly racing bikes. The material, though lightweight and strong, is difficult to recycle and cannot be melted down and reused in its original form, unlike aluminum and steel.
Carbon fiber also is dangerous and dirty to work with ― constructing carbon fiber bike frames or wheels means working with toxic resins ― so it’s an unlikely material for encouraging people to build and repair their own bicycles.
It’s also incredibly wasteful. Most people replace a racing bike every three years, adding to carbon fiber scrap, says James Marr, founder of the Bamboo Bicycle Club and a former wind turbine engineer.
Motivated to cut the waste and make bike-building more popular, Marr has set up a club to teach people how to make their own bikes out of bamboo.
Far from just panda food, bamboo is a strong and popular building material in Asia, and it’s well suited to being shaped into a bicycle frame, says Marr. It can grow from seed to harvest in less than four years. Still, its sustainability relies on production standards, for example avoiding the use of chemical fertilizers or pesticides, and ensuring natural forest is not cleared for plantations.
Source: huffingtonpost
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