On a bicycle made from bamboo

Beijing resident uses the woody plant to restore junked bikes

China was once known as the "Bicycle Kingdom", before two wheels were dethroned by four. Now a young US citizen living in Beijing is using his ingenuity and pieces of bamboo to restore the sovereignty of the humble bike.

Two years ago, David Wang opened the Bamboo Bicycles Beijing workshop in Langjia hutong, where he leads a team each weekend in cutting and shaping bamboo into bicycle frames. After connecting the pieces with hemp fibers and epoxy glue, they attach wheels, brakes and handlebars.

The bikes are not for sale - they are to encourage a renewed love of cycling among city dwellers. Wang, 29, hopes the light, shock-absorbing bamboo bicycles can create "a little bit more diverse mobility culture in Beijing".

Bicycle graveyard

Wang was born to a father from Hong Kong and a mother from the United States. After graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he came to China to continue his study of anthropology.

He has lived in Beijing for more than six years and loves the city's ancient hutong, which are "constantly changing".

But he noticed a growing number of abandoned bicycles strewn among the alleyways, with people throwing away old and broken bikes with the rest of the garbage.

"Beijing is becoming a big graveyard of bicycles," Wang said. He began picking up the abandoned bikes and "rescuing" them, stripping them down, repairing, repainting, and renovating them.

Then one day he found a really rusty bicycle, which could not be "cured", so he began thinking of better materials to replace the frame. Bamboo came to mind.

He searched online, and after three months of research and experimentation, contacting factories and experts, he made his first bamboo bicycle. "It was amazing," he recalled. "Everybody asked questions about it."

Since then, Wang has become convinced that bamboo is better than steel for safety, performance and sustainability. He traveled to Taiwan, where bamboo craftsmanship goes back centuries, consulted local technicians, visited bamboo cultural centers, and asked advice from experts on how to choose, keep and connect bamboo pieces.

Returning to Beijing, he became more confident and his bamboo bicycles have won acclaim in the cycling community and many followers.

"Bicycles are misunderstood as a low-end mode of transport," Wang said. "I want to make a difference."

Mobility culture

Wang quit his job in 2014 to launch his career in bicycles. Two years on, he has a website and a community that organizes picnics, rides and other gatherings.

He rejects mass production and its potential profits. He believes the beauty of the bamboo bicycle is that everyone can make their own, and a self-made bicycle will encourage its maker to ride more.

"We are not just teaching people to make their own bicycles out of bamboo, but, more importantly, we're encouraging a lifestyle and mobility culture that express our hope for a sustainable city," Wang said.

Most of the participants in his workshops were expats at first, but more young Chinese are joining in.

Before joining the workshop last year, Xiao Luo was a repairman at a bicycle shop in Guangzhou, Guangdong province. When he first saw Wang's bamboo bicycles, he was exhilarated, not only because they were made of bamboo, but also because they were handcrafted.

He said the workshop has given him a sense of pride that making a bicycle is a craft that deserves respect. "I never imagined I would make a bicycle myself. It seems that a little technician has grown into a craftsman," Xiao said.