Bamboo Bike Rack Progress
Saturday, January 26, 2008 at 12:11AM 
I have finished treating an 8 foot, 2 x 5 foot, and a 4 foot section of bamboo to make my bike rack. I also have found some pretty good wire laying around to tie it together. Here is a photo of two 5 foot sections wired together. Click HERE for the full res image.
It takes me about 20 minutes to treat 1 foot of bamboo. I still have a 4 x 5 footers and 4 footer to go. It's not hard work, just time consuming. I can tell from the two cross pieces that it is going to look pretty cool. And it is crazy-strong for it's weight. I took a 5 footer and tried to bend it over my knee. I think the most I could get it to flex is maybe a centimeter.
The only thing I worry about now is if it will flop over sideways. Cross-bracing it diagonally to prevent that won't allow the bikes to go where I want, so the best way to prevent that is with joint strength. I'll have to wait and see how it holds up before I stress to much about that factor. My dad is an engineer, so I'm sure I can pull him in for advice when the time comes.
I cracked up when I noticed all the surfboards, bike wheels, bike box, pump, and wetsuits in the picture. Check out the tiny Apple decal on the bike box, too. Somebody's a tri-geek!
Reader Comments (1)
Hey Brett, I was wondering where you got the plan for the bike rack ... or are you coming up with it on the fly?
I found a stand of bamboo by my grandparents house in FLA and thought I would go 'green' with the rack idea. plus, a bunch of bikes leaning on each other doesn't look as cool. bikes lined up in a kick ass bamboo rack would look sweet!
Ben (Tri-Bagger)