Sylvan Cycles out of the US is playing around with some faceted wood prototype frames. These are somewhat different that the other wood frames we’ve looked at in that they are using a faceted composite wood. The ‘look’ is interesting but I can’t get past the fact that the main tubes look like pencils…

In their words: “Our proprietary wood composite technology enables us to create frames that bring together a rare combination of performance, comfort and sustainability. The result is bicycles that offer exceptional ride quality, high-performance, and great looks. (Actually, they’re drop-dead gorgeous, a blast to ride, and green by design.) They’re forward-rolling examples of what’s possible.

Our proprietary construction processes utilize sustainable materials in ways that rival or surpass conventional frame materials for performance. For example, our wood-composite tubes are as stiff as comparable steel tubes — but 30% lighter; offer damping properties similar to titanium, superior impact resistance to carbon — and the incomparable aesthetic of wood”

They seem to be offering a range of frames, including a 26 and 29″ XC frame.

Check out Sylan Cycles [here]

As reported by Jens Eichler @ [c-net]

“Jens Eichler got himself some sheets of beech plywood, along with a strong glue [phenol-resorcinol] and some power tools. After a few months of playing with the concept, he set to work in August 2006 on what would become a tandem bicycle he calls “Renovatia.

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

Nothing like posting about something out of the left field. Previously we showed you a bamboo bike, so this time around is a bike carved out of wood.

“At first glance, the use of wood really seems to be nothing more than a nostalgic memory of the good old times, a last salutation to a natural material which has accompanied the cultural development of humanity for thousands of years. On closer inspection, however, one discovers that the frame, with all its visual elegance and the typical emotional warmth of wood, was built with so much technical ingenuity that it is a groundbreaking example for the usage of natural materials in the 21st Century.

The special charm of the Waldmeister lies in the harmonic fusion of the natural substances wood and leather with high-tech materials like carbon and titanium and in the reduction of everything to the basics. We are striving to produce the Waldmeister bike as environmentally friendly as possible. Therefore, we use durable components produced by companies sharing our philosophy of sustainability. It is our principle to use only domestic woods for our bike.  The frame is made out of PEFC-certified wood stemming from sustainable forestry in the Teutoburg Forest.  We use FSC-certified wood for the optional inlay.”

[See the not so working site here]