Launched in 2008 to develop a better bike for the developing world, the Bamboo Bike Studio dedicates itself to building a more affordable, higher quality bicycle made from locally sourced bamboo and labor. In January 2011, we opened a bike-making factory in Kumasi, Ghana, in conjunction with the UN’s Millennium Cities Initiative and Columbia University’s Earth Institute. Plans are currently underway to open an additional factory in Quito, Ecuador.
While our initial work targeted consumers in the developing world, our efforts at home also expanded. From humble beginnings in our workshop in Red Hook, Brooklyn, we have since opened bike-making studios in San Francisco, Greensboro, Alabama, and Toronto, and have opened our headquarters in Camden, Maine. We have also developed a bike-making kit for customers who want to build in the comforts of their own homes. We work to provide people with the ability to build their perfect bike, and to create a more enjoyable bicycling experience.
The Bamboo Bike Studio is an extremely collaborative effort of engineers, bike riders and academics. At our heart, we are an educational endeavor, and believe in the power of shared knowledge. Over the years, the Bamboo Bike Studio has partnered with a handful of schools to offer bike-making classes to middle school and high school students as a means to engage young people in fabrication, engineering, and environmental design. By working with schools and offering open source instructions on how to build and maintain a bicycle, we hope to expand the bike-making community. 10% of our revenue goes to research and development to support our work around the world.
