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TPE16: Geros produces world’s lightest wooden road bike and it’s as beautiful as it is light!

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geros wood bike lightest road bike wooden-6

We get a lot of reasons when when you ask someone why they made a wooden bicycle. It’s beautiful. It’s strong. It has it’s own natural vibration damping. But, it’s light? That’s not typically included among the positives. Which is exactly why German Eslava set out to build the ultimate wooden bike. In addition to maintaining all those beneficial properties of wood, German wanted to tackle the weight. The result is a wooden bicycle that sits right at the 6.8kg UCI weight limit…

Taipei Geros Wood Bike (2)

Now on his second generation of the frame, almost the entire structure sees some type of CNC routing to eliminate weight where possible. German claims the frame takes somewhere around 120 minutes of total CNC time which results in a number of puzzle pieces to fit together for the complete bike.

geros wood bike lightest road bike wooden-2 Taipei Geros Wood Bike (13)

Taipei Geros Wood Bike (5) Taipei Geros Wood Bike (4)

The resulting joints are beautiful and highlight the attractiveness of the wood. As a local of New Zealand, German chose to use native woods – either Rimu or Matai and Kauri or Totara. Based on the wood chosen, the price for a frame/fork/headset/seatpost topper varies between $6,950 and $7,950 respectively. Once in production, the lead time should run around 4 months. For reference, the bike above is built from Kuari which German refers to as the “finest wood in New Zealand.”

geros wood bike lightest road bike wooden

geros wood bike lightest road bike wooden-5 Taipei Geros Wood Bike (7)

In addition to reinforcing the clam shell joint of the frame, carbon fiber and epoxy reinforcements are also found at key locations like the rear brake and dropouts.

Taipei Geros Wood Bike (11)

Internal cable routing is both Shimano Di2 and SRAM eTap (no wires) compatible.

Taipei Geros Wood Bike (3)

The split chainstay design was chosen to provide a very stiff, but light structure to handle pedaling forces. Weighing in at about 1.646 kg for the frame, German says the complete bike pictured hits the 6.8kg mark with a different set of wheels than shown. While the pricing may keep this out of reach of most riders, it appears that the beauty of wood and a (relatively) light weight frame are no longer mutually exclusive.

geros-bike.com

 

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Bonk Bike
Bonk Bike
8 years ago

Expensive novelty for the rich which is cool but I’m not that guy. Nice to see such a beautiful and unique bike.

JBikes
JBikes
8 years ago

I’ve always wanted to ride one of these wood bikes. BTW – that BB/chainstay is very “Cippolini” like

Veganpotter
Veganpotter
7 years ago

Pretty sexy but this bike is light because of its build kit. 1600g is a hefty frame, my Ti frame with couplers is just about the same weight and I’d never call it lightweight

Gillis
Gillis
7 years ago

Indeed, one of the best looking wood frames I’ve seen, regardless of weight.

kbark
kbark
7 years ago

Impressive but not on my wish list or price range.

satisFACTORYrider
satisFACTORYrider
7 years ago

waiting on a rack for my bugatti

lfeslava
7 years ago

Muy bien Germán y Ross. Usted hace la bicicleta, Colombia crea los ciclistas. Muchos exitos. Saludos

Jim
Jim
7 years ago

Purdy …. I want .. now what were those lotto numbers again 🙂

Sammy the snail
Sammy the snail
7 years ago

@veganpotter… that weight is of comparison to all other wood frame , not comparing with titanium, carbon or any other that you own…..beer cheers.

typevertigo
typevertigo
7 years ago

Gorgeous.

I’m just a little concerned about the split chainstay design though – wouldn’t that be more susceptible to cracking, twisting, or warping under pedaling forces? It certainly runs counter to the conventional wisdom these days of making chainstays as beefy as possible.

fergus
fergus
7 years ago

What happens to the nice wooden chainstay once the chain starts whacking off it as you go over cobbles or rough roads?

Chris L
Chris L
7 years ago
Reply to  fergus

Fergus: I dunno, what happens to your nice carbon fiber chainstay once the chain starts whacking against it? Did you miss the part where they mentioned the epoxy? Any fiber, be it carbon or wood, is very strong once covered in epoxy. I have a wood paddleboard that’s been banged repeatedly into rocks and the sand and is just fine. I’ve also flown in 70 year old wooden airplanes which see more structural stress in one hour of flight than a bike will see in a year of riding. Wood is a LOT stronger than people give it credit for.

Gillis
Gillis
7 years ago
Reply to  fergus

Also, if you look closely at the first pic, you can see there is some more of that carbon laid down on top and perhaps on the side of the chainstay.

delquattro
delquattro
7 years ago

Awesome that the Zionists haven’t completely destroyed the ability to create such treasures.

TheXL
TheXL
7 years ago

I wonder how fast that would burn.

L Chris
L Chris
7 years ago

Hey Fergus! You can cover almost anything in epoxy and it will render the object indestructable. My grandmother covered herself in epoxy and she’s now 135 years old! She’s been banged into rocks, sand, and once fell in a tar pit, but has always come away unscathed. She’s a little stiff but we expect her to be around, like, forever, she’s got a healthy sheen, and she’s tougher than a wooden paddleboard.

ranggapanji
ranggapanji
7 years ago

“Weighing in at about 1.646 kg for the frame…” sheesh, even my car is not that heavy.

Fraser C
7 years ago

Wooden mind having one of those…

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