绿色环保又实用的竹子自行车

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What looks like an ordinary bicycle from a distance is in fact a hand-crafted green bicycle.

After months of painstaking research, designer Vijay Sharma came up with the prototype for a bamboo bicycle.

Like a conventional bike, the Bambike uses metal and rubber for brakes, chains and tires. But, Sharma has substituted the steel frame for one made of bamboo, held together with hemp fiber and resin.

It can withstand bumpy rides as the bamboo's tubular structure and strength give it shock absorbing power for rough roads.

Sharma says that bamboo has unique characteristics that make it the perfect material for bicycles.

"Steel does not absorb that many shocks but bamboo has the characteristic of absorbing shocks, so even on bad roads you don't require shock absorbers when using the bamboo bike. So that is one added advantage compared to a normal bicycle."

To overcome the problem of wobbliness at high speeds, Sharma improved the design by using thicker bamboo, which was treated and hardened with fire and held together with hemp fiber.

The endurance of the streamlined Bambike was put to the test at the mountain biking event 'Tour of the Nilgiris" in December 2009.

Ravi Ranjan, founder of 'Tour of the Nilgiris," says that the bamboo bicycle has good features and aesthetics but some additions can improve its efficiency and functionality.

"I feel the Bambike could be improved with front and rear de-railers, gears, a better seat post and a pedal with cleats which makes the bike more efficient. The bike itself as it is has very good frame structure, and is lighter as compared to many of the bikes available otherwise."

While the Bambike is still waiting to go into commercial production, some avid cyclists like Manjula Sridhar have had a chance to take it for a spin. She says the concept of Bambike is completely in tune with nature.

"The Bambike is great. Biking means nature, biking means greenery, biking means fitness so I think, it kind of combines all those together."

Sharma hopes that the eco-friendly nature of the design will entice cyclists to buy Bambikes.

"It has a smaller carbon footprint because you are not consuming any energy to make the bamboo. Bamboo grows naturally, all you have to do is just cut it, treat it and join it with epoxy resin and hemp fiber. The fiber also is natural, it is not man-made material."