Bangalore:
What looks like an ordinary bicycle from a distance is in fact a specially hand-crafted green machine.
After months of painstaking research, designer Vijay Sharma came up with the prototype of a bamboo bicycle.
Like the conventional bike, the Bambike uses metal and rubber for brakes, chains and tyres.
But Sharma has substituted the steel frame for one made of bamboo, held together with hemp fibre and resin.
The creator of Bambike says that it is about 3 kilogrammes (about 7 pounds) lighter than a normal metal frame bike.
It can also withstand bumpy rides as bamboo's tubular structure and strength give it better shock absorbing power for rough roads.
Sharma says that the bamboo has unique characteristics that make it the perfect material for use in bicycles.
"Steel does not absorb that many shocks but bamboo has the characteristic of absorbing shocks, so even on bad roads you don't require shock absorbers when using the bamboo bike. So that is one added advantage compared to a normal bicycle," he says.
After a brief stint at a furniture design company, Sharma decided to have a workshop of his own where he could experiment with his ideas of manufacturing an eco-friendly bicycle.
Months of research and helpful feedback from friends later , Sharma came up with the first prototype of the Bambike made with raw bamboo with metal sleeves on junctions.
To overcome the problem of wobbliness at high speeds , Sharma improved the design by using thicker bamboo which was treated and hardened with flame and stuck together with hemp fibre.
The endurance of the streamlined Bambike was put to test at the mountain biking event 'Tour of the Nilgiris' in December 2009.
Ravi Ranjan, founder of 'Tour of the Nilgiris', says that the bamboo bicycle has good features and aesthetics but some additions can improve its efficiency and functionality.
"I feel the Bambike should be added with the front and the rear de-railers, gears, a better seat post and a pedal with the cleats which makes the bike itself more efficient. The bike itself as it is has very good frame structure as such, lighter as compared to many of the bikes available otherwise," he says.
While the Bambike is still waiting to go into commercial production, some avid cyclists like Manjula Sridhar have had a chance to take it for a spin.
She says the concept of Bambike is completely in tune with nature.
"It's (the Bambike) great. You know, biking means nature, biking means greenery, biking means fitness so I think, it kind of combines all those together ," she says.
Each handcrafted Bambike takes nearly 20 days to make and costs about ten thousand rupees (about two hundred US dollars) - a price more than three times that of the conventional bicycle.
While there has been global interest in the invention, as yet there have been few buyers.
But Sharma is hopeful that economies of scale in production can bring the price down in future.
He also hopes that the eco-friendly nature of the design should entice cyclists to buy Bambikes.
"It has a very less carbon footprint because you are not consuming any energy to make the bamboo. Bamboo grows naturally, all you have to do is just cut it, treat it and join it with epoxy resin and hemp fibre. The fibre also is natural, it is not man made material," Sharma says.
Sharma has also designed a 'trike' - an improvised tricycle with two wheels in front and one at the back.
The trike is fitted with a comfortable seat and a sunroof.
For those who like to cycle together, the trike also comes in a two seater tandem version.
The race is now on for Sharma to get his Bambikes selling.