| A group composed of three young men founded and | | | | capable of building. She also said that it was very |
| organized a company that aims to build bikes made | | | | technical but the hands-on are great, with the help of |
| from bamboo. The Bamboo Bike Studio situated in | | | | Odlin, an engineer at Columbia University. |
| Richards St., Red Hook is the brain-child of founders | | | | Bamboo bike-making starts with measuring the |
| Sean Murray, 26, Marty Odlin, 28, and Justin | | | | materials, followed with bamboo gathering using |
| Aguinaldo, 26. Their company is a product of group | | | | simple hand tools. Then joints are glued and wrapped |
| effort and was built after the Columbia-based | | | | in carbon fiber and is left to dry overnight. The |
| program ended. | | | | second day of the course is devoted to bamboo |
| The program, in which the trio volunteered, offered a | | | | sanding, chain fitting and attaching wheels and |
| course on how to create bike-building methods | | | | handlebars. Then, the bikes are off - ready to be |
| designed for underdeveloped nation. With this, the | | | | pedaled away. The course will cost you a whooping |
| trio created a 16-hour, two-day course that is being | | | | $1,250. |
| done every other week. This is their way of | | | | Bamboo, as the main material in these bikes, offers a |
| enhancing and furthering their research with this | | | | smoother ride and greater shock absorption. Other |
| bike-made-from-bamboo technology. They have this | | | | benefits that bamboo bikes boast of include the fact |
| long-term goal of sending the technology to | | | | that they are lighter and stronger as compared with |
| underdeveloped nations. Countries like Ghana and | | | | high-end carbon frames. |
| Kenya are two target countries in which the success | | | | Bamboo's usage indeed extends to greater heights. |
| of this project is being projected towards. These | | | | Aside from the usual tables and chairs made from |
| two countries do not have a bicycle industry because | | | | bamboo, houses and cottages made entirely from |
| they lack steel, however, they have bamboos in | | | | bamboo like the cottages found in resorts in tropical |
| abundance, which is the main focus of this newly | | | | countries, here now comes a bike made from |
| developed shop. | | | | bamboo. Also, the bamboo is being used as |
| The shop is attracting plenty of customers, with the | | | | decoration and candle holders for candles with |
| likes of Emily Weinstein, 29, a teacher from | | | | aromatherapy essential oils. Bamboo candles are also |
| Manhattan. She shared that the course was | | | | making a name in the candle industry because of its |
| "amazing" and she surprised herself by building | | | | unique qualities. |
| something that she did not even thought she was | | | | |