Hasta La Ideas

Text & photos by Lance Gordon Rake / Semester

For the last two years, I’ve been working with John Bielenberg and HERObike, an initiative in Greensboro, Alabama, that is creating economic opportunity in the heart of the rural South by harvesting local bamboo to manufacture bicycles.

John was the reason I came to Greensboro in the first place: He had been helping HERObike produce a bamboo bicycle, taking advantage of an incredible local resource. They started making bamboo bikes using pans and jigs from the Bamboo Bike Studio. They still offer workshops where people can come to Greensboro and build their own bamboo bike in a weekend. It’s a great service, but John and I were both convinced that we could design a better bamboo bike. The resulting Semester bike is unique and represents a leap forward in bamboo and bicycle frame design.

As you can see, this is not your typical “Gilligan’s Island” bamboo bike! The design instead takes inspiration from the bamboo fly rod, using hexagonal composite bamboo and carbon fiber tubes along with steel lugs and stays. The resulting bike gains lateral stiffness from the steel rear triangle, but vertical vibration dampening from the composite tubes. The resulting ride is relaxed yet responsive—perfect for the city and makes a great everyday bike.

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