Grow a bamboo bicycle

Michael Gove said last week that visiting an allotment seemed a perfectly sensible thing to do given the current restrictions. He won't have had in mind, but people have taken to growing their own bicycles.

Bicycles built from bamboo are nothing new. However, despite the fact they offer a sustainable and practical alternative to steel it's a method of construction rarely used for anything other than expensive designer bikes. Until now.

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Calfee Design helps entrepreneurs in the developing world to bypass steel and build their own bicycles out of locally-grown bamboo instead.

Bicycles are an efficient and environmentally-friendly way of moving people and cargo. In particular, bamboo bikes offer many advantages over the traditional steel-framed variety. Bamboo is plentiful. At the same time, this growing plant is available locally and grows well in dry areas with little irrigation. Furthermore, bamboo bike fabrication does not require electricity or expensive equipment and is labour intensive. As a result, it provides much-need skilled employment and apprenticeships.

The British may be guilty of a shortsighted view of cycling as a leisure activity, but in many parts of the world it is a life line.

Bamboo bikes are available to cyclists wherever they are in the World. Bamboobee is the world's first build-it-yourself bicycle kit. And if that seems like too much work, why not dip a toe in to the world of the bamboo bicycle? The Mandy Fender is a self-assembly bamboo mudguard that can be adapted to fit any bike.

The ethical choice

The ETA was established in 1990 as an ethical provider of green, reliable travel services. And 30 years on, we continue to offer cycle insurance, travel insurance, breakdown cover and home insurance while putting concern for the environment at the heart of all we do.

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