Back in november I’ve purchased this bamboo frame from ZAMBIKES, an American start up company that distributes bamboo bicycles produced in Zambia, thereby employing local workers and supporting the whole community. Not that I really needed a new bike, but I was instantly captivated by the story and fascinated from bamboo as material for frame construction when I read the article in the 11/2011 issue of german Tour magazine. Thus, I decided to contact the company and see if it was possible to build a custom bike around a bamboo frame. Due to the limited access to bike parts in Zambia the company sells complete bicycles only either as simple single-speed variants or with the Shimano Nexus internal gear hub, however is able to deliver bamboo frames in whatever geometry the customer desires. So I decided to go for it and order a frame with cyclocross geometry, with the aim of self-assembling the bycicle from scratch (the other option, a professional mechanic, being way too expensive). The story of this challenge will be narrated here.
