Mr.King and I had an awesome meeting with Al and Josh of 
They showed us their modest shop and all the custom tools for producing a bunch of bikes of different sizes. I better write down some of the hints so I don’t forget later.
BikeCad.ca is the design software. Print it out and it will serve as the positions on the jig. The Jig is the device(s) for holding all the parts in place so you can glue it together.
BambooWorld is their go-to place for bamboo. Crazy, huh? Grow bamboo in Abbotsford and make a bike out of it. However, Al had a stash of bamboo and is going to give it to us since he thinks he won’t use it before it goes bad. Yeah, Al!
Steps (as I currently see it):
- get bamboo
- prep bamboo – drill centers open, clean up insides
- Cut to approximate lengths (longer of course)
- bake in oven (to dry)
- Order hemp fiber (Rawganique.com – from Denman Island)
- source hemp flour
- Source UV stable Epoxy
- Source BB shells – Nova Cycle Supplies
- Design and fabricate headtube(1-1/8), rear dropouts(with disc tabs), and seat tube (27.2)
- Source fork (disc)
Time to build
- setup jig
- cut bamboo to length and prep the ends for joining
- epoxy mixed with hemp flour to tack the frame and fill voids
- epoxy, hemp fiber (Al used perforated tape to wrap and squeeze the excess epoxy out)
- test build and ride
- Cleanup messy work after epoxy has set. Make it look beautiful.
Considerations
- How to attach the rear triangle dropouts? I assumed to insert into the bamboo but they angled the bamboo end and attached it flat then wrapped with hemp.
- Baking temp and time length of bamboo
- Wrapping sequence of the joints. Directional? How thick?
Links