Carbon composites (mixed material, unrecyclable) remain the materials of choice for high-end racing bikes, but for the rest of us in the biking masses, bamboo may soon come into its own as a better way to cycle. Calfee Design, which already has a bamboo-based mountain bike and road bike, has now come up with a bamboo tandem - wrapped at the joints with hemp fiber.

Calfee founder Craig Calfee earlier this year visited Ghana in order to train local framemakers to construct heavy-duty transport bikes (Calfee wrote a great travelogue of his adventures at the company's site) in bamboo. Bamboo now accounts for 25 percent of the company's total production, and a third of the road frame production. OrganicAthlete, a team of bikers promoting a vegan lifestyle for athletes, has signed up to ride Calfee bikes, and OrganicAthlete founder Bradley Saul had this to say to Bike Biz about his bamboo bike:

“I’ve riden a bamboo bike for over a year. I can honestly say it’s the best riding bike I’ve ever had."

Calfee bikes are high end, but if you've got the bamboo itch, check out this DIY. Via ::Bike Biz and VeloNews