By It figures this so called eco-bicycle has a large carbon footprint:
It Is the ultimate green statement for commuters worried that even their cycling is damaging the planet.
Eco-conscious (but wealthy) people can now buy an organic, biodegradable bike – made from bamboo.
The Calfee, which will set you back at least £3,000, has a frame made from bamboo stems handpicked in the remote mountains of Taiwan’s Yushan National Park, home to such wildlife as the Formosan black bear and rock monkey.
However, the bamboo has a large carbon footprint as it clocks up a fair amount of mileage from source to shop.
It is shipped to California, where the stems are smoked and heat-treated to prevent splitting and then assembled into a frame.
Then the pieces are connected with lugs made of hemp fibre, before being coated in a satin polyurethane sealant.
The bikes are then transported back to Chiswick, West London, where they are being sold in the Eco Age shop owned by actor Colin Firth, his wife Livia Giuggioli, and her brother Nicola. [Daily Mail]
5:42 pm on June 23rd, 2009 1
my only question is how is cutting down bamboo trees to make bikes environmentally friendly???
8:54 pm on June 23rd, 2009 2
"Green" is frequently closer to brown… you know… the same shade as bullshit brown.
Apart from shipping, heat treating and petroleum-based resins, one wonders if the biodegradeablity makes this disposable bicycle a long-term gain compared to a metal-framed bicycle that could, with proper care in a non-disposable culture, last for hundreds of years.
…but I want one anyway due to the glamorous model in the photo.
A real eco-friendly bike would be to go to any Korean junkyard/recycling yard and choose one of the perfectly good bikes that are getting ready to be melted down to make a fender for a Hyundai SUV.
11:42 am on June 24th, 2009 3
An ECO-Loon and his money are soon parted.
The whole "green" thing is just a way to justify charging you more and increasing the profit margin of the companies who have spent the last 50 years polluting the planet. And as a bonus most of the dumb ass consumers think they are actually helping the environment. Carbon Credits, Clean Coal, Recycling, "Green" Products.. etc… it's all bullshit and your're paying for it.
1:28 pm on June 24th, 2009 4
Because Bamboo is a renewable resource. Additionally, it grows very quickly.
1:36 pm on June 24th, 2009 5
That bike is so expensive, because of a few things. First, it is made by Calfee. Second, it is made by hand. Third, the stand components for that bike are expensive. The saddle in that picture sells for at least $100, depending on which brooks saddle it is. I can't tell for sure from that photo. The fork is $150. The peddals are $70. The bartape she is using looks like brooks which is another $70. Then there is the shimano groupset she is using. I am guessing it is the shimano 105 which sells for $800-$900. Then there is the chris king headset which sells for $100. I have not even included the wheels which are probably $500+, the handle bars $50+, the stem $60+, or the seat post $60+.
So all that not included the custom hand made frame would cost $1960.
2:06 pm on June 24th, 2009 6
So this guy I know worked at a mental institution as an orderly while he was in college.
On his first day, this normal-looking guy comes up to him and gives him a couple of black glass balls and welcomes him to the institution.
He plays with them a little and then puts them in his pocket.
Later, he asks one of the other staff members why the guy was in the crazy house… he seemed normal.
Did he give you a couple of glass balls?
Why, yes, he did.
Well, he makes them. First he takes a hand full of his shit and then he rolls it around on the heater until it becomes black and glassy and smooth. All the noobies get a set.
Oh.
(Sound of emptying pocket with a wad of tissue)
There is a lesson here… for an easily-available, renewable, workable, all-natural, "green" replacement for many plastics, ceramics and cellulose-based substances.
Introducing, the ShitCake… another fine product of the ChickenHeadLab.
And, coming soon, the ShitBrick… glazed and fired for all your construction needs.
ChickenHeadLab… turning brown to green since 2009.
3:40 pm on June 24th, 2009 7
Guffaw.
CH, you've been watching too much Mike Rowe. And, he'll tell ya, brown always comes before green.
/It's a dirty job alright.