Beware of Pandas: The Bamboo Bike Studio

With everyone going green these days, many eco-friendly people are trading in their gas-guzzlers for a good old two-wheeler. And what isn’t great about riding a cruiser around town, especially when it helps create job opportunities for developing nations?

The Bamboo Bike Studio provides you the opportunity to build your own bamboo bike from scratch — using materials that have helped fund entrepreneurship efforts world-wide, including the first bike factory in Ghana, providing people with cheap transportation and access to jobs and health care.

Here’s how it works:

First, you have to sign up for a two day classes in the company’s Brooklyn studio, where you’ll have the chance to choose your own bamboo building materials based on comfort and strength.

There are two types of bike designs to choose from: “Express," an athletic design and “Local," a more relaxed and comfortable ride.

Second, you’ll learn how to put your new wheels together with hand tools and an antique drill press.

The entire package will run you about $1,000 — less than it would cost you to buy a custom ride or a designer mountain bike.

But the best part of buying a bamboo bike is knowing you’re helping others. Together with Columbia University Earth Institute and Millennium Cities Initiative for Development, Bamboo Bike Studio is helping to improve access to transportation and create jobs in regions like Kenya and Ecuador.

Humans can only walk two miles per hour, while they can ride a bike at 10. With this improved transportation, people in such regions can reach “basic resources” that are often a day’s walk away.

To design and create your own bicycle, contact Bamboo Bike Studios through its website.