:Get more…. wood

August 13th, 2009 | No Comments » |

We posted previously about wood framed bikes, actually several now, so why not post about another?

Renovo Hardwood Bicycles are made from monocoque and laminated woods, to produce a frame they claim gives unrivaled ride quality. Why all this wood? In Renovo’s words:

Why Wood?

• Lightweight; a frame weighs from 3.5 to 4.5 pounds-bikes, 16.5 to 20 pounds.
• A magically smooth ride thanks to wood’s unique ability to absorb vibration-you feel the difference immediately.
• Stiffness to order: from carbon-stiff hickory and others, to the supple smoothness of laminated bamboo; you can tailor the stiffness and ride to what you want, not just what comes off a production line.
• The hardwood frame is remarkably tough. It easily withstands impacts that ruin butted metal or carbon frames.
• The fatigue life of wood rivals carbon and is substantially longer than aluminum or steel. The Renovo is an heirloom quality frame.
• The Renovo frame is environmentally friendly, with sustainable woods, bamboo and low VOC waterborne sealers and finishes.

Effectively, Renovo are making bikes from what’s termed ‘engineered wood’ a process being used extensively in the construction industry to make formed structural beams. There seems no reason that with some good engineering, the same could not be done for bicycles and during WWII, both the Allies and the Germans made performance aircraft from wood; the Germans even making jet aircraft.

The labour intensive nature of a construction like this could mean that engineered wood frames remain for the boutique market but the idea of a fully sustainable material to create frames in an interesting one.

Check out Renovo bicycles here: www.renovobikes.com

 

Tags:bamboo,bicycles,lamintated wood,Renovo,wood

Share the love...?

Tweet

Leave a Reply...

You must be logged in to post a comment.