Last winter, a guy named Dan was visiting the coffee shop where I work on a regular basis. He told me lived in Berlin and built bamboo bicycle frames. He showed me his website and we talked about getting some frames to test out.
Dan is now in need of some funding in order to make this happen, so he created a KickStarter project, check it out.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J8EPwf4yBw&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
Dan and Matt are both guys I remember from MoBo, the bike co-op, when it first started 5 years ago. Last year Matt and I worked together to help get donations for the annual fundraiser. Now Matt and Dan are living the dream in Berlin, building rad bamboo bikes, and I want to help them out. More importantly, I want to test ride one of their bikes.
These frames are hella sweet.
Donate a few bucks to their mission, will ya? You might even get a frame to test out.
I was interested, but then you had to drop the word Zen in there…
@Cat6— seen, brother. My 22# steel bike is my winter/rain bike, disc brakes, big ol’ 30C tars and such like. I’ve ridden and owned lighter steel bikes. Aesthetically, there are some real beauties out there.
Frame weight is only one of several advantages to carbon. It’s stiff where it counts and compliant where it counts.
I’m still pretty sure The Trophy Bike rides, and specifically, climbs better than those steelies. I know for a stone-cold fact that *I* climb better on carbon than steel. I’ve ridden these same hills for years and years on all sorts of two-wheeled contraptions.
I’m pretty sure most of the readers of this fine web log climb faster than me. I’m a busted-up old “never was.” Never the less, I loves me some Trophy Bike. We rolled about 100 miles this weekend and we’ll get a few more before I disappear into the desert on Wednesday.
Ummm, “…zen…”? So it’s a hipster thing. Okayfine.
Been reading DC for a few years now; never felt like chiming in, but I’m genuinely disappointed in this latest trend in trollery.
Joe, this is not your house.
You’ve invited yourself to the party.
You are disrespecting your hosts and their guests.
This is a lack of class, a lack of character, and contradicts the old-fashioned American values you claim.
@54
My Man, (or Woman, or non gender specific individual if you’d prefer),
Awesome.to the point.post.
Welcome & don’t disappear back into the web now, stay & enjoy the party.
I like bikes.
@Rhys,
It’s Turtles, man, pay attention, Turtles.
Oh shit!
I like turtles!
The trollery is unfortunate, because this is a pretty decent site. Judii, see you around the school yard, and gimme a call about that bike!
BTW the tandem looks awesome, cant wait for Thursday night!
@jaded – if it doesn’t rain, we are bringing the tandem to open shop tomorrow, so be there. as of right now, D is scheduled to work thur nite so we may not be riding. see ya soon.
I knew this post had potential when it featured not just one but two pissing contests both featuring Joethe(fillintheblank).
I am saving up for a bamboo frame for my pet panda. It might be a good stress test for the frame to see how much gnawing by a panda one of these frames can take before it disintegrates.
I like turtles but I really fuckin’ love pandas. Your comments can help buy a panda a bamboo frame. I’m thinking about 1,000 comments will do it.
joethepandalover could easily contribute 900 comments by himself if we can just piss him off. Ok, I’ll start. Joe, we know you’re secretly gay for Obama.
I’ll bet that panda climbs faster on a crabon/crabon bike. Just sayin’.
You’re right, Mikey, crabon is faster. But tastier? I don’t think so.
Think of the marketing possibilities. A frame you can ride and eat. Get fit AND have a tasty meal while you’re pounding out the miles.
Bamboo frames approved by pandas.
Hey Mister Panda, “how do you like that bamboo frame?”
Panda: “Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom”
@63
There you go..
http://www.pandabicycles.com/
They even cater for your Hipster inclined Panda
@63/64— damn, you can’t make this shit up.
I’ve been reading how plains indians’ ponies subsisted on cottonwood bark to the amazement of Virginia plantation gentlemen (Lewis & Clark). Perhaps pandas riding bamboo bicycles— possibly teamed with turtles— might be the ascendant species on the planet. I bow down to my furry, black-and-white, carapaced masters.
@65
Because I’m a seeker of knowledge, (AKA bored), & fluent in Google, I discovered that Pandas are Mountain Bikers, because:
Their common habitat is a damp coniferous forest
Whoohoo, them Flag trolls are going to freak when DC jersey-wearing Pandas nail those sweet trails.
More facts here:
http://www.facts-about.org.uk/animals-pandas.htm
Let the Pandamonium ensue..
Alpine Pizza better start working on Bamboo shoot special.
And, no, I didn’t leave out an ‘a’ in #67.
Pandas come from China, I’m was practicing my Pandasian.
You guys are the shit. The last eight comments made reading through all the dick-jerking in this post more than worth it!
And you Rhys are #69. Good Job! Double entendres aside that means only 930 more comments to help feed the starving pandas.
To All: Have a beer and loosen up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on9oBUW-Epc&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HhMX9qTXqA
Ah yes, Van Halen. They popularized the song “Where have all the good times gone” written by Ray Davies of The Kinks.
However the Kinks version is still best
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTch2Z6pn0w
For da yutes, 2nd best version is Supergrass. Gaz Coombes puts that introvert Diamond Dave to shame. Boy can sing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hePM__Yxaa8&feature=related
Mitt Romney, that crazy ass bitch, is gonna use this song as his campaign theme song. If Ray Davies finds out, I’ll bet he’ll jam the machine of his guitar up Romney’s tight Mormon ass. That oughta loosen him up
Cap n Tony:
Beg to differ my friend. I submit this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CHbFI2Ovc0
And yes, I do wanna know, where have all the good times gone…
Hack:
the masses have spoken
296,718 youtube views for VH
19,560 views for the Kinks
3,206 for Supergrass
But I’m a member of the Immoral Minority
4,498,659 atheists/agnostics/misanthropes/punks can’t be wrong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDBlqu6KF4k&ob=av2n
“(Expletive deleted) ’em all”
Green Day writes some catchy little pop tunes. They haven’t been punk since their days playing Gillman Street.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1yfVKsB8wU
What strikes me is how little difference there is between the Kinks and VH versions. Kids these days don’t know their history… Get off of my lawn!
Cap’n Tony
With regard to the masses…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7r5M2gZoc_0&feature=related
Jeez you guys, cut to the chase. The best Van Halen tune is also perhaps the shortest at 0:42:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0C0Yke9tww
(This version is sadly censored, but the original is also on YouTube. We miss ye, D. Boon.)
@55 – I’m the lurker from 54, and thanks for the respect. A man, yes; an American residing in BC. Glad to see things taking a turn for the positive.
Speaking of Gilman St, lemme throw another one into the mix:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dMVHxFzNK4
A long day of wrenching makes music and Strongbow extra-tasty…
I’ve said it before…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-gBcmgH0_g
#75 Green Day is America’s answer to the Buzzcocks
#79 Was that a young Henry Rollins?
#78 Op Ivy likes Rancid, The Specials I’d say
#77 Minutemen are a band I always wanted to see. Instead I damaged my hearing and my liver listening to these guys.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Udu4bp_JZQs&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91bYwfJsPLU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-qObaURt6Q&feature=related
@80 I’d buy that. They’re both pop-punk.
Operation Ivy and Rancid sound similar because both Tim Armstrong (no relation to Billy Joe Armstrong of Green Day) and Matt Freeman formed Rancid when OI broke up.
@80
It is indeed a young Mr Rollins.
Back when he had hair…
VH pretty much put punk out of business. Right out of the backyard and better, louder, faster, funner than bands like the Clash who had too little talent and showmanship and too much silly save the world bullshit. The Clash was DLR’s personal whipping boy. Henry Rollins will tell you about VH and DLR. He was blown away by them and still worships them.
DLR was a DC…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SI1bIMCUTig&feature=relmfu
Rollins looked like a hippie who just hopped out of a hot tub.
A fan of the Clash said he liked them because “They’re not fat, bald, aging hippies in hot tubs.” Joe Strummer might have agreed but the interesting thing is Joe was basically a hippie at heart. He cared about people not stardom although “Woody” had a healthy ego.
One from the only band that matters. This has fuck all to do with pandas or bamboo frames. One of the best shots of a seething, roiling, pogoing crowd I’ve ever seen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEhCPpjCQt0&feature=related
@Hack With all due respect, I don’t think VH put punk out of business. Punk self-destructed from it’s own contradictions and limitations.
Eddie VH was a prodigy and DLR was the perfect foil for Eddie’s pyrotechnics. Hardcore and hard rock like VH owed punk a debt even though they might not want to admit it.
I’ll have to check out what Hank has to say about VH.
Only band that matters? Ahem. They were great, but I think Bad Brains and X might disagree…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOd7Wp2Q-ds
http://youtu.be/wRWunSUmEm4
Punk was never destroyed. You can formulate and market a style, but the attitude of punk will always resurface.
You want Punk, I’ll give you punk!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MdSh8OGCGw
This is Fokofpolisekar!
Translated, Fuck off Police car.
An Afrikaans South African band that blew all the taboos.
Bear in mind that when they started, you were guaranteed a good beating from the police & a good chewing from a police dog if you stepped out of line.
@jefe I was being sarcastic with the “only band that matters” reference which was the record label’s way of hyping the Clash. A lot of punk bands never progressed past their initial fascination with the energy and snottiness.
X is the most underrated American band of that era. No band consistently epitomized what was going on in America at that time. Too bad more people weren’t paying attention.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hFgEV9koyc
Bad Brains. I like the comment “Almost 30 years, and? nobody has come close.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaXikmzQX_I
@88 Fokofpolisekar reminds me of police Truck by the DK’s. I think the DK’s were more effective with pointed social criticism like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjSuMixiBX4
How about..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8xzLZxoqUQ
Basic translation is Burn South Africa.
A bit of background, during WW1 & WW2 there was a lot of opposition to South African involvement.
As the song alludes, the Ossewa brandwag, (which were a opposition group), blew up the springs Post office because they were opposed to Our involvement to the war.
My Dad lied about his age & fought in North Africa & Italy, he was fucking awesome.
Opinions aside, we seem to agree that punk rock is good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gtz011n25MY
Fokofpolisikar isn’t my cup of tea but this is worth a listen…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gtz011n25MY
Gotcha’ Cap’n.
Everything is a remix. I think someone posted that here a few months ago…
http://www.everythingisaremix.info/everything-is-a-remix-part-1/
…cap’n tony…re: X…‘john doe’ is my neighbor…like ‘house across the street’ neighbor…he & his lady ride bikes around town on occasion…
@BGW you have an honest to God celebrity rock star as a neighbor. From what I’ve seen of John Doe over the years, I bet he’s down to earth and not so taken with himself. He’s a guy I’d like to have a beer with.
I once saw Steven Tyler of Aerosmith in a chopping mall. Dude looks like a lady. A wrinkled, crinkled, scary old as fuck pruneface lady. Like Keith Richards. That kinda scary.
A friend of mine once saw Bono of U2 and asked for an autograph. Problem was he pronounced the great ones name “Boner”. The Dublin Messiah quickly corrected him, “It’s Bohnoe” and stormed off. Paul David Hewson is a wanker and thinks his shit smells like roses.
I once lived next to a guy who played bongos in the subway for spare change. He was a minor celebrity, I think.
…cap’n tony…john doe is an absolutely ‘down to earth’ guy…i’m actually surrounded by excellent musicians who are all just kinda low key neighbor types…
…guy named micheal bluestein lives across the road on the other side…plays amazing jazz, fusion & r&b electric piano…when he’s home, you can catch him down at one of the local dive bars playing some great hot blooded music with his group of music pals but his day job is touring & playing keyboards with mick jones & foreigner…
…the original here in our little ‘hood is my friend dave getz, the drummer with big brother & the holding company, janis joplin’s band…he & his wife joanie, who’s a great ‘old standards’ jazz vocalist in her own right, are as down to earth as you could ever imagine…
…walk out around here & you might be chatting about the weather, somebody’s car situation, pets, tree trimming or ya, even music…pretty cool…
Ahh the left coast. i was born on the wrong coast. I assume you live in the Bay area. One of my favorite places in America. If only I could afford to live there. I barely keep my head above water here in Taxachusetts
…just about 15mi north-west of the golden gate bridge…i can’t ‘afford’ to live here either but i’ve been here for 44 years, so i find a way…it’s too beautiful here not to…
…as a small kid, i was raised in a remote northern ontario town of 250 people with no road into it…at that time, in the early ’50’s, you came & left by train or small bush plane that landed on the lake (ski’s in winter, pontoons in summer)…we had no tv but the radio & ‘life’ magazine made me realize there was more out there than what i could see from the porch & even as a kid, i knew i hadda get out & see it…
…while it sounds somewhat ideal nowadays, it was pretty restricting back then…