Earthbound's High Pivot Bike is Made From Bamboo & Carbon
If 2019 was the year of downcountry bikes and 2020 was the year of mullets, 2021 looks set to be the year of high pivot suspension bikes. We've already seen new models from Forbidden and Deviate and, if recent spy shots are anything to go by, bigger brands are planning on releasing some of their own soon. Joining them all is Earthbound Bikes, who are bringing their own twist on the design, bamboo.
Bamboo bikes aren't uncommon but they generally occupy a niche of hardtails, touring bikes and road bikes. This model caught our eye as it's easily the most progressive we've ever seen from bamboo and looks far from the novelty bamboo bikes we're used to.
Bamboo bikes aren't uncommon but they generally occupy a niche of hardtails, touring bikes and road bikes. This model caught our eye as it's easily the most progressive we've ever seen from bamboo and looks far from the novelty bamboo bikes we're used to.
Frame material: Bamboo and carbon
Travel: 151mm (160mm fork)
Intended Use: Enduro
Wheelsize: 29" front and rear
Head tube angle: 64.5°
Reach: 490mm
Size: Custom
Price: N/A
More info: @earthbound_bikes
The bike was built by Jason O'Nions, who doesn't have a bike building background but more than makes up for it with a lifelong passion for bikes and a 'tinkerer's mentality'. He has been building bamboo bikes since 2010 using relatively simple methods but was inspired to push himself after watching a YouTube video from Cobra Framebuilding that pushed him to learn CAD and 3D printing. He built himself a hardcore hardtail last year and the next logical step from there was to step into the world of full suspension.
So, why bamboo? It may seem like an unusual material to build a mountain bike from, but Jason actually argues that bamboo is nature's carbon fiber. It's a composite material with natural fibers embedded in a resin-like material and refined over millions of years of evolution. Jason is also eager to harness the damping qualities of the material too. He first tried the material out of curiosity on a road bike and said it felt like the road had been freshly tarmacked. He says, "I find the vibration damping and slight flex allows you to go faster and push a little harder than usual with more grip and less fatigue - particularly, way less arm pump."
The dry carbon fiber ready to be applied
The bamboo and carbon parts are held together with epoxy resin
The bike is built from two main components, bamboo tubes and carbon lugs. Most carbon we're used to seeing in mountain biking comes out of a mold, but Jason has actually built this entire bike by hand. He explains, "The tubes are mitred and tacked together, then the lug is built up by hand by wrapping carbon fiber using a 'wet layup' technique. Basically, you take dry carbon fiber, wet it up with resin, and then apply it to the joint. It's quite a messy and awkward approach which takes a lot of time but is necessary." Once each lug has been built and cured hard, it is then sanded by hand for several hours until it's uniform and smooth enough for a clearcoat.
As Jason doesn't have a workshop or much equipment, he had to use as many off-the-shelf parts as possible to complete the bike. For example, the swing link that drives the shock is from a Stanton Switch9er FS, the Idler is from a Druid and the main pivot is a bottom bracket. The complete project took around three months to complete with around 50 hours alone dedicated to building the bike.
Jason has taught himself how to 3D print to help him make the jigs for this bike.
Building this bike is very labour intensive with Jason estimating the construction alone took 50 hours.
The frame ready to be sanded smooth before clear coating.
The bike is currently a 29er front and rear but Jason is working on an alternate shock mount to allow him to go mullet.
Jason took a lot of inspiration from the Forbidden Druid for this bike although it may not exactly show in the design. He says, "I've probably read every review of that bike since it came onto the scene and heard great testimony from riders, the typical comment is always that bike feels like it has more travel than it does and carries speed over rocks really well. I knew I needed to try and make a high pivot bike."
He said he sees the idler pulley on a design like this as an advantage as it allows him to tune the anti-squat. He admits he took a bit of a risk putting it at 160% but is happy with the result, saying, "When you need to put some power down the chassis doesn't bob at all, despite running the shock quite plush! Whereas I think if you had such a high value on a conventional design, you'd end up with too much pedal kickback."
He said he sees the idler pulley on a design like this as an advantage as it allows him to tune the anti-squat. He admits he took a bit of a risk putting it at 160% but is happy with the result, saying, "When you need to put some power down the chassis doesn't bob at all, despite running the shock quite plush! Whereas I think if you had such a high value on a conventional design, you'd end up with too much pedal kickback."
For now, Jason is going to be just riding this bike for himself and doesn't have any plans to sell them to the public. With the amount of work it takes and with the fact it's a bit MacGyvered means it would end up being more trouble than it's worth at this moment in time. He says that if there ever were to be a V2 of the bike he'd try to shed some weight and make it a bit slacker and longer.
Jason's next project is most likely to be a balance bike as he has just become a new dad, however, if you're in the market for something simple like a road or gravel bike, Jason welcomes you to get in touch.
A copper candy finish looks great on the carbon lugs.
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184 Comments
"That will be six to eight months as we have to grow it"
"Great better than YT"
Just noticed PB users actually down voted my comment, twice ... what a sad world when people down vote such a simple and honest post.
Not a true huck to flat but the best i could do on today's ride. I forgot the mini tripod so had to tie the phone to a branch with a hairband! Hope you appreciate
At least according to those spy shots of the upcoming model.
@pinkbike standards are getting way to high, if 10 years of building bikes doesn’t qualify as having a bike building background, then what does?
hmm.. living bamboo bike ??? genetically modify it to reach a certain size and stop growing, and have a root container under the BB. water bicycle periodically? would it be self healing?
youtu.be/_CDJl27tOVc?t=509
thats actually amazing. It would take me like 300 hours haha.
The missus also isn't convinced it was 'only' 50 hours too, haha.
No steam bending on that part, I cut the bamboo in two, rejoined, then wrapped
This truly ups pole in the eco friendly-ness department. As you can see in the first pic instead of having to collect Alu shavings and reprocess it vía energy intensive, the guy made a fence with his leftovers!!!
No reserve. Bidding starts at $5
The similarly sized hardtail I built is just over 2kg which is great.
Jason manage to design & build his own bike (bikes actually). By all means this is something that should drawn only positive comments.
This guy is creative.
But instead of that I see a flood of negativity. What’s wrong you?
Instead of been so rude, just ask yourself s this:
-Are YOU able to design & build what he just made? (or are you too occupied your “expert opinions’…?)
This guy deserves your respect. And for those (too many!) who don’t get it, ridding the bike you’ve made yourself is exhilarating.
That’s all.
(although I can smell the shit-wave of negative comments, coming)
With something like this there is always going to be naysayer's and doubter's and that's understandable and I accept it. Ultimately they are the ones missing out
Seems like more companies should do stuff like that
"And here we have our factory arborists prepping the downtube and top tube sections, we only use 100" Chinese scaffold grade bamboo..."
I don't think the term "intelligent" applies.
More like "bored" or "has too much time on their hands".
There's not reason for this, let alone an intelligent one.
The reason bikes can be made of welded metal in the first place is that they don't have to be very strong in the grand scheme of things.
But you do you, go on and tell wind turbine manufacturers to weld their massive rotors. I'd pay to see their faces when you do. Then don't forget to give Lotus a call and warn them that the Exige will fall apart in the first corner because it's glued together. Funniest for last, a shitload of aircraft are made using the exact three materials which made you laugh so hard: wood, plastic and glue.
Read something other than pinkbike sometimes, it'll do you good.
Especially knowing full well that the bike industry uses pre-existing engineering and design knowledge from those other industries in almost everything it does and very rarely invents anything on its own.
Unless you mean that there is almost no comparison in the levels of strength, durability, reliability, accuracy or tolerances. Then we're in agreement, but I already said that above. Bikes are not particularly strong or durable because they don't have to be.
Btw, all my bikes are made of metal inb4 you label me as some carbon fanboy. They are metal precisely because I don't think the application is demanding enough to warrant the added cost. It's probably worth it for much better riders or pros for the strength to weight ratio.
Of course bamboo bikes are and will be a niche bought for the cool factor - they're uber expensive, impossible to mass produce and don't offer performance gains in this application. But there's zero reason to assume this bike is unsafe or "a disaster waiting to happen" just based on the photos of resin bonding. It's just your narrow preconception of what "glue" is.
Don't waste your time. That spoiled untalented, unskilled brat won’t understand…
And
He probably 9i hope I am wrong) cannot read anything more that a few comments! His attention span, like many others like him, is probably too short.