Craig Calfee cut his teeth designing some of the first carbon fiber bicycle frames in the late 80’s. When Greg Lemond’s Team Z won the 1991 Tour de France aboard Calfee’s Carbonframes, Calfee had his first moment in the sun.
Calfee continued to fine-tune his designs of carbon bikes, and built a following among those seeking ultra high-end or custom rides. Calfee continues to work with carbon fiber but, beginning in 1996, Calfee started working with a new, exciting frame material: bamboo.
“I became interested in bamboo after my pit bull mix dog demonstrated how tough bamboo can be,” said Calfee. We built a few for fun and quickly realized the excellent vibration-damping qualities.”
The activity of riding a bike is about as green as you can get: it’s a super-efficient form of transportation. Fuel up the “engine” with a bowl of pasta, and you’ve got enough juice to propel you for 50 miles. The bike industry is less environmental, relying on a multitude of resource-intensive and toxic materials (titanium, aluminum, chromoly, etc.).
Growing bamboo, conversely, actually removes CO2 from the atmosphere.The bamboo is a renewable resource with no fertilizer necessary. Stalks are cut to the appropriate size, smoked, and heat treated. The stalks are then joined together using either carbon fiber or hemp lugs. The finished product needs no painting: just a little natural oil will preserve the frame and maintain its lustrous shine. Calfee offers frames for mountain, road, triathlon, cyclocross, and custom-design bikes.
Once Calfee proved the versatility and high-end performance of his bamboo bikes, he turned his attention in a humanitarian direction. In partnership with the Columbia Earth Institute, his Bamboo Bike Project works to bring inexpensive, durable bicycles to rural Africa. Communities are being trained to grow and harvest bamboo to build their own frames. Entire frames can be built without any need for complicated tools or even electricity – a Swiss army knife will do the trick! Only the components need be imported from Asia and India, rather than complete bicycles. This saves money in an area where bicycles are a necessity, decreases the environmental impact of shipping, creates a new local industry, and provides a far superior product.
Although the frames available in the U.S. are expensive ($2600 for a typical race frame), once the economy of scale catches up with the design, Calfee anticipates prices to go down. This represents an exciting development for those looking to “green their ride.”
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