There’s nothing dirty about the title of this article, it’s just the unabashed truth. Owners of the Bonobo plywood bicycle would be rolling along on a smooth riding, stylish work of art. While plywood may not offer the greatest strength to weight ratio when compared to traditional frame materials, it does boast excellent vibration absorbing properties. And due to the layered construction, the Bonobo attains the holy grail of bicycle design – lateral rigidity with horizontal compliance. Simply put, each pedal stroke is efficiently turned into forward motion, and road surface irregularities are filtered out before reaching the rider. While it’s only a prototype at this point, Polish designer StanisÅ‚aw PÅ‚oski could easily put this into production in a variety of drivetrain configurations. Personally, I think that a belt drive with either single speed or an internal gear hub would be the way to go.
If you want to see the frame details up close, click on above link to be taken to the designer’s web page.
– Brian