Build it yourself at the UK's first bamboo bike workshop - Test 1
C2 Proficiency · Gapped Text · Cambridge English Proficiency 2, Cambridge University Press
You are going to read an article about a company which makes unusual bicycles. Seven paragraphs have been removed from the extract. Choose from the paragraphs A-H the one which fits each gap (1–7). There is one extra paragraph which you do not need to use.
Build it yourself at the UK's first bamboo bike workshop
A course at the Bamboo Bike Club, run by engineers James Marr and Ian McMillan, buys you a computer-designed custom frame plus a fun weekend of bike-building
All this, together with the technical skill involved in using jigs, power tools and design blueprints, is a leap of faith for someone whose idea of DIY is flatpack furniture assembly. Accurate cutting for a clean joint can be tricky, for example.
Personally though, I believe that any bicycle made from this kind of material should be a relaxed affair, something for cruising sedately around on rather than racing. I therefore plump for a frame that avoids the stiff angularity of my existing metal machine: a 'Classic English' giving a gentle, easy-going ride.
Frames have been set up for the three custom bikes under construction. Bamboo has been selected from a stockpile. Now crossbars and seatposts are being cut according to the lengths specified on each design's blueprint.
No problem – just get another piece and have another go. Such is the benefit of bamboo. Each length has been pre-checked for quality, so you get to indulge in frame aesthetics: plain bamboo, black or mottled.
If Calfee and their like are safe, middle-of-the-road rock, then Bamboo Bike Club are the punks, the rebels; less up against the big names than creating bikes that embody the DIY spirit and that will engender more passion than the average factory-line model.
It was this, plus the design challenge, that led James and Ian to spend years cooped up in a shed in Brecon, Wales. Their idea was to establish a boutique bamboo bike business with products within reach of the average cyclist.
Ian has ridden his for over a year on a 16-mile commute, while James has failed to destroy one bike off-road over three months of testing. 'To be honest, our bikes are over-engineered – we use larger diameter tubes and over-thick bindings – but I prefer it like that,' James says.
The outcome was something more community than company, and as such, the Bamboo Bike Club is still an occupation sandwiched between full-time jobs – James makes wind turbines and Ian is a civil engineer. But they seem to be on the right track, with monthly courses whose competitive price buys you a computer-designed custom bike frame plus a fun weekend of bike-building.
It's Saturday morning in Hackney Wick, east London, and apart from a mechanic deep in the bowels of a truck, the only sign of life among the small factories on a backstreet is a whine of machinery from an upper window – work has begun at Bamboo Bike Club, Britain's only bamboo bike-building course. I've gone along to watch the action.
There's a sense of energy and industry. And of fun. Woodwork class was never like this. Bamboo is one of the most interesting trends to emerge in bike construction. Names like Californian manufacturer Calfee Design or Yorkshire's Bamboo Bikes have revived a construction method pioneered as early as 1894. The problem for most cyclists is the price. A ready-made bamboo frame from these companies retails for
,995, or £1,868.
Only after they had refined their research into a marketable product – James now tosses out phrases like 'close-noded thick-wall tubes' while talking about bamboo – did they realise they were on the wrong track. 'We realised we didn't want just to sell frames. We wanted to share the joy of making something; the craft of creating something unique and sustainable,' James explains.
The question for me, a king of the botch job – my terrible handiwork failures litter my house – was about quality. On day one, the boys explain how to select bamboo for strength and how to form strong joints before tubes are glued lightly in place in the workshop: first the front triangle composed of 40 mm diameter bamboo; then the thinner, more fiddly seat and the chain assembly. Alloy tubes are inserted for the handlebars, wheel forks and other parts which require the strength and precise engineering impossible in bamboo.
James and Ian buzz cheerfully between workbenches, supervising every cut, triple-checking every joint, and will take over if a task seems insurmountable. The self-build is half the attraction for most participants; it may be no coincidence that all those on this course were engineers. For the rest of us, Ian reassures that everyone messes up once or twice.
Sunday is a more relaxed day, mainly spent building the lugs. Or rather, wraps: hemp bindings wrapped around the joints and dropouts then glued with epoxy resin to form a strong bond that disperses loads evenly throughout the frame. With a final polymer coating for waterproofing, the bike is ready for wheels, brakes, gears, saddle and any other individual touches. And it is a bike built for the long haul, just as strong, the pair claim, as its metal equivalents.
Technical issues aside, how good does a bamboo bike look? Somewhat scruffy alongside professional frames, it turns out – the hemp weave can look a bit like parcel tape, for example. But there's no denying their individuality and that, say James and Ian, is the point.
They also cycle well. I take James's bike for a spin and the ride is light, stiff and smooth thanks to bamboo's ability to dampen vibration. Impressive, considering I target every pothole. 'Some people love the build, but for me these workshops come together when the bike is on the road,' James says. 'They're so light, so effortless to ride. So much fun to ride too – take a Harley-style retro bike, add 10 and you're still not close.' And the price? Less than £500.
It's Saturday morning in Hackney Wick, east London, and apart from a mechanic deep in the bowels of a truck, the only sign of life among the small factories on a backstreet is a whine of machinery from an upper window – work has begun at Bamboo Bike Club, Britain's only bamboo bike-building course. I've gone along to watch the action. ___ There's a sense of energy and industry. And of fun. Woodwork class was never like this. Bamboo is one of the most interesting trends to emerge in bike construction. Names like Californian manufacturer Calfee Design or Yorkshire's Bamboo Bikes have revived a construction method pioneered as early as 1894. The problem for most cyclists is the price. A ready-made bamboo frame from these companies retails for ,995, or £1,868. ___ Only after they had refined their research into a marketable product – James now tosses out phrases like 'close-noded thick-wall tubes' while talking about bamboo – did they realise they were on the wrong track. 'We realised we didn't want just to sell frames. We wanted to share the joy of making something; the craft of creating something unique and sustainable,' James explains. ___ The question for me, a king of the botch job – my terrible handiwork failures litter my house – was about quality. On day one, the boys explain how to select bamboo for strength and how to form strong joints before tubes are glued lightly in place in the workshop: first the front triangle composed of 40 mm diameter bamboo; then the thinner, more fiddly seat and the chain assembly. Alloy tubes are inserted for the handlebars, wheel forks and other parts which require the strength and precise engineering impossible in bamboo. ___ James and Ian buzz cheerfully between workbenches, supervising every cut, triple-checking every joint, and will take over if a task seems insurmountable. The self-build is half the attraction for most participants; it may be no coincidence that all those on this course were engineers. For the rest of us, Ian reassures that everyone messes up once or twice. ___ Sunday is a more relaxed day, mainly spent building the lugs. Or rather, wraps: hemp bindings wrapped around the joints and dropouts then glued with epoxy resin to form a strong bond that disperses loads evenly throughout the frame. With a final polymer coating for waterproofing, the bike is ready for wheels, brakes, gears, saddle and any other individual touches. And it is a bike built for the long haul, just as strong, the pair claim, as its metal equivalents. ___ Technical issues aside, how good does a bamboo bike look? Somewhat scruffy alongside professional frames, it turns out – the hemp weave can look a bit like parcel tape, for example. But there's no denying their individuality and that, say James and Ian, is the point. ___ They also cycle well. I take James's bike for a spin and the ride is light, stiff and smooth thanks to bamboo's ability to dampen vibration. Impressive, considering I target every pothole. 'Some people love the build, but for me these workshops come together when the bike is on the road,' James says. 'They're so light, so effortless to ride. So much fun to ride too – take a Harley-style retro bike, add 10 and you're still not close.' And the price? Less than £500.
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