Greenstar Bikes Continues To Make Bamboo More Affordable

Written by Tim Krueger Nov 23, 2014 11:17 p.m. ET

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Greenstar Ecoforce

Most new technologies start expensive, but then as more companies begin to use it, the find ways through better manufacturing or economies of scale to reduce the cost over time. Bamboo being used for bikes has followed a similar path, as many have touted this materials properties and abilities, but it was as expensive as carbon fiber to make an entire frame from it.

Pioneered by Boo Bikes for their Aluboo product, the idea of using aluminum lugs and bamboo tubes is a way to drastically reduce the price, but still retain the good properties of the bamboo tube. Greenstar is a new company using this method to produce an even more affordable single speed bike.

Selling for less than $500, find out what you can get for that price in bamboo after the jump…

Sold as a single speed road bike with modest components, the Greenstar EcoForce 1 brings bamboo materials to a $470 complete bike. Greenstar is touting the renewable material of bamboo, joined with the recyclable aluminum lugs as an ecologically sensitive choice in bicycle production.

Greenstar adds that bamboo has the smoothest ride of normal bicycle materials due to the natural vibration damping properties of the material. The state the tensile strength of the bamboo they use is greater than steel, and it is stronger and more cost effective than aluminum.

The first model being sold, the EcoForce 1, comes in three colors; white, green and blue. To hit the price point, most of the components are no-name direct from the factory items, but are functional and very tastefully painted to match, so the whole bike looks well put together. Weighing in at 20lbs, the EcoForce 1 is available in 4 sizes and has 5 bamboo tubes per frame.

To show the strength of the bamboo material, Greenstar has posted their EN Pedal Fatigue Test video, showing that it has passed the 100,000 cycle threshold. While all bikes are required to pass this test by law, it is not always followed, so seeing the test result can give reassurance that they have done their homework.

Coming in the summer of 2015, they are also working on a hybrid model with a similar value proposition of the EcoForce 1, but with a geared drive train and easy riding position.

They are just starting out, but already have about 15 dealers peppered across the United States. Check out their website to find one near you.

www.greenstarbikes.com

Tim Krueger

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grandmama

9 years ago

So basically WalMart is going to start stocking Bamboo bikes? I guess thats trickle down at its finest.

Whosyourdaddy

9 years ago

Not trying to be negative but, can you really call it a bamboo bike when it’s more than 50% Aluminium? Looks like it would have been less work, cheaper and more durable to just use aluminium tubes?

peter

9 years ago

It is frustrating that they sell this as ‘green’.
What is so green about first welding a complete aluminium frame just to cut it up and glue (chemicals) pieces of bamboo in between, leaving you with a product that is no longer straight forward to recycle after end of life (while a full steel or aluminium frame is easy to recycle).

It’s a crazy world. To get a straight bike you need to align the lugs’ ends so they will meet up once you put the bamboo in between. How they do this, is to weld a complete bike first. then cut it up. And this is ‘green’? Madness

Dave B

9 years ago

It’s not “madness”, it’s marketing and image. I certainly agree it’s a lot of work and wasted effort just to be able to claim you are using “natural materials”.

WannaBeSTi

9 years ago

Cannondale has the same “concept” with the 6-13. Shortly after the release of the bike, it was found that the carbon in the middle of the top tube, down tube, or seat tube didn’t “do” anything…but add weight.

JBikes

9 years ago

“The state the tensile strength of the bamboo they use is greater than steel”

And they essentially lie. A decent chromoly will have a higher tensile strength per unit area than any bamboo.
Now bamboo cross-sections can be much, much thicker for the same weight, making the actual part strength higher (like an Al bike vs steel). But, saying their bamboo has a higher tensile strength than steel is a marketing lie.

WannaBeSTi

9 years ago

@ JBikes
It’s magic bamboo. If you’re in a pinch, you can cut the bamboo out and smoke it. Once you smoke it, you’ll know what real tensile strength is…

Tomi

9 years ago

Should be called Greenwashing, not Greenstar.

Easier2h8

9 years ago

I agree with all you posters. You are so right on. Wake up nation! We must not stand for anyone trying to do anything new and good unless they can get it 100% right! A partial bamboo bike? Come on. Next you’re gonna tell me it’s good to recycle only your paper, bottles and cans? Nice try but there’s still plenty of other trash so you can quit your silly marketing and image attempts. We see right through it.

If you can’t make it all out of bamboo then quit trying. We’re not dumb and we won’t be fooled by your ridiculously sciencey claims of incremental gains, progressive technologies, or product evolution.

Easier2h8

9 years ago

(deleted)

Easier2h8

9 years ago

@ Whosyourdaddy
You are Exactly right. Who cares that this frame uses 62% less non-renewable aluminum than traditional bikes and instead uses 62% of a renewable, socially responsible resource? What about the 38% that is still aluminum? Talk to me when you get it right, Greenstar hypocrites.

Easier2h8

9 years ago

@ grandmama
You really hit the nail on the head. Selling bikes at WalMart? How low can Greenstar go? What kind of bleeding heart company wants everyone to be able to afford a good bike? And just because the article and greenstar’s website say absolutely nothing about selling bikes at walmart, you weren’t fooled. You were smart enough to connect the dots and uncover a conspiracy to spread bicycles to a majority of the American people. Imagine the devastation to the auto industry, and the thousands of jobs lost in the oil industry. Thank you grandmama, you are a true patriot. Stay vigilant!

peter

9 years ago

@ Easier2h8

Your sarcasm is not convincing. The middle parts of the tubes are cut out of the frame, those are the parts with the smallest wall thickness; that’ll be 10-20% max of the aluminium weight cut out. (yes cut out! so what did you win?)
But most worrying is that you cannot see that ADDING a renewable resource to an otherwise working product does not make it all of a sudden an environmental friendlier product!
Especially not in this case where adding the bamboo destroys the recycling value of an aluminium frame; let alone all the extra energy and other chemicals added to the frame production just to put in the bamboo.
None of the negative polluting steps of making an all aluminium frame were evaded; welding, hardening, coating, etc. They just added more polluting steps to end up with a non-recyclable product.

Easier2h8

9 years ago

@ peter
I’m with you all the way. You and I don’t have to be mechanical engineers to know it’s impossible to create the lugs without first welding a complete frame then cutting it apart. Are we supposed to believe they posses a technology that we don’t know about? Preposterous! And even so we know there is no way that Greenstar would take those cut pieces and recycle them into more frames. They probably use the pieces to beat orphans.

And glue? Don’t get me started. No way you can use environmentally sound glue. Chemicals are bad no matter what. Just look at the dihydrogen monoxide problem. It’s everywhere. And you just know greenstar uses it as a solvent and cleaning agent. Wake up sheeple!

But you really nailed those hypocrites on recycling. We all know that every consumer meticulously separates all plastic, nylon, rubber and non-ferrous alloys from their bike at end of life. Now they have to somehow remove bamboo, too? Insane. Whoever heard of separating wood from metal? Maybe 1000 years from now when we develop complex reclamation processes. But you and I my friend, we live in the here and now in our own special bubble of righteousness with no room for “facts” or “logic”.