Timber Tandem - The Baum Bike
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 08.20.07
As the image above shows, (when you look closely), here be yet another wooden bicycle. We’ve had a few of these in our time (Likeabike, Xylon, Jano and the Waldmeister spring to mind).
This particular rendition includes a completely functional prototype that took 400 hours of woodwork to craft (see detailed pic after the jump), so we doubt that translates into cheapie commercial product.
Much of that labour was in carving away 10kg (22 lb) of laminated beech plywood, to arrive at a finished frame-only weight of 27.5kg (61 lb), though 52lb is quoted elsewhere. Fully specced out, the bike weighs in at a rather hefty 52 kg (114 pounds) Not exactly lightweight, even considering it is a tandem for two riders.
Nevertheless, Jens Eichler, of WWG, a woodwork designer in Germany is pretty happy with the final result, and has plans to embark on a safer and lighter second version.
The practicality of such bikes can easily be questioned, but it hard not to admire the delicious juxtaposition of beautiful timber detailing, and of cycling. Apparently this current version was out for a spin at the recent RadTour, so at least we know riding a wooden bike is, in fact, feasible. ::Wernsdorfer Werkelgemeinschaft, WWG, via Spluch.
That thing just looks heavy!
I dread to think how much wood was thrown away to create this clearly-far-too-heavy contraption.
It has a groovy shape, sure, but I don't see what it's doing on this site - being pointlessly made of wood does not make something environmentally responsible.
Wood has a dampening effect, which is why a hammer or shovel with a wood handle is much less fatiguing than one with a metal or fibreglass handle. So this may be a comfortable ride!
However, it can be prone to sudden fatigue failures, so I'd suggest maybe some shocks and fibreglass jacketing around the center member!
Do treehuggers hug dead trees now? This might be an interesting to a design, woodworking, or cycling web site, but I fail to see any environmental benefit.
Looks nice, but not very practical. It's heavy, not very strong, and many of the components, such as the fork, crank and wheels, are of steel, aluminum, carbon, or other such material.
I ride with a friend who built a racing bike (frame and fork) with recycled aluminum (aircraft grade from a defense contractor), carbon fibers (also dumped by the same defense contractor) and epoxy (dumped by a paint manufacturer). He based the design on Trek's carbon fiber bike frames. It kame in under 1 kg (2 lb).
Appropriate materials for an appropriate use. Isn't this what envirimentalism is all about?