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I do wish that we had invented the proverbial wheel on Bamboo Bikes, but the fact of the matter is that we did not.  Other folks are out there making some pretty incredible machines that have an equally incredible price tag.  In my last post I linked to an article that compared owning a bamboo bike to owning a Bulgari watch.  I don’t  own a Bulgari- though my birthday is next week- and we are not making haute-culture bikes for decoration, our bikes are meant to be ridden.

Panda is making a really cool-looking bike that will reliably get you where you want to go in the city- and it won’t cost an arm and a leg.  Think of us as the Swiss Army watch of bikes, a little more expensive than a Swatch, a lot more affordable than a Bulgari but it will keep good time and look cool.

We are working getting comments posted in a timely manner.  I am amazed at the amount of spam that get submitted under comments.  Please post comments, we’ll get them out there.  We want to hear from you and talk about bikes.  Send us questions, comments, and shout outs and we’ll respond.  Thanks!

Wow this is exciting, the word is getting out about Panda.  This morning we made the Canadian Newspaper, The Star (http://www.thestar.com/article/655642) and tonight the good looking founders will be on Denver’s Channel 7 (http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/19852471/detail.html).  We are really excited!  Jacob and a couple other bamboo bike folks were interviewed for The Star but those other folks are selling bikes to Hollywood stars and Saudi Sheiks for thousands of dollars.  We are bringing bamboo bikes to the people, The One will sell for well under $900.

Back to the important stuff… The bike itself.  So, we don’t want to build a bike that’s just bamboo, we want to sell the best commuter bike out there.  To this end we decided to use cyclocross wheels.  For folks that don’t know about cyclocross, imagine a very sturdy road bike used off road (check out the “how to” section http://www.velonews.tv/ to see a cyclocross pro in action).  The wheels used in cyclocross are 700s and very sturdy.  I have done some things on my cross bike that have hurt me but my wheels are still good and true (for Fort Collins People, I descended the A-trail rather quickly- it was dumb, really dumb).  The wheels will be faster than mountain bike wheels but more durable than road wheels.  For the super commuters, these wheels will even fit studded tires to enable you to ride in the snow.

Well that’s it for now but things are moving very quickly here at Panda.  Keep checking back we are planning to get some tee shirts and other soft goods on the web site soon and remember Panda Bikes are 100% Panda free (thanks Chris!)

Well, it’s getting to be bike riding season again.  Here in DC we’ve been getting some rides in around town and even out in the “mountains” (sorry East Coast folks, but when you move from Colorado, the Appalachians just seem like hills).  My townie bike is a fixed gear, and riding around DC on has been fun except for the hills.  It can be a bit of a challenge and I have found myself thinking about how nice a couple gears would be.  But I don’t want a derailleur or a cassette to worry about.  The solution… an Internal Hub!

So many of you no doubt saw that coming.  Internal hubs are still relatively unpopular/unknown in the states but are popular in other places and with good reason.  The “gearing” is located within the hub.  From the outside it just looks like an oversized hub.  Here is a link to a video for an exceptionally complicated internal hub. The Natural uses a simpler hub but the principles are the same.  There are significant advantages to an internal hub.  First, they are almost maintenance-free, I take that “almost” back.  It is maintenance free.  Second, you can shift will sitting still, if you were stopped at a stop light you can shift, unlike a derailleur/cassette setup.  For a commuter, an internal hub is ideal.