Most high end racing bikes are designed out of carbon fiber – a strong but lightweight material. That is how Calfee Design has been building their bikes for the past 20 years. However, in 1996 Craig Calfee noticed that his dog was unable to gnaw through a stalk of bamboo and this gave him an idea.

Calfee created a new line of bike frames made out of bamboo and hemp – originally simply a publicity stunt. But since that first bicycle, he has created 100 more bamboo frames. Calfee describes bamboo as "tougher than carbon fiber in terms of impact resistance." It's less prone to fracturing than carbon fiber, and the bamboo bike is "about one pound heavier than carbon fiber," and reports that bamboo absorbs road vibrations allowing cyclists to ride longer with less tiring. One of Calfee’s customers rode 500 miles in one day on a Calfee bamboo bike.

So, what do the 100 owners of the new bikes think?

A user’s view: Larry Black, founder of eco-friendly College Park Bicycles has had his Calfee bicycle for over a year and states, "Eyes closed, it's hard to tell the difference between this and other bicycles. There's a little bit of novelty involved . . . [but] it's quite comfortable."

Expert opinion: Ken Segal, a composite materials engineer at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, points out that both bamboo and carbon fiber absorbs vibrations and although bamboo products are stronger than those of carbon fiber he feels that the manufacturer's stretching it [strength difference]." Segal also reports that it’s important to remember that not all bamboo is the same – because it is a living thing, stalks may vary in strength based on good / poor soil and access to water.

Average Cost: The bamboo bikes fall in the mid-level cost range for Calfee products at $2,695

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