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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.

Panda's first bamboo bike prototype.

Well, it has been a while since I wrote in but it has been a busy couple weeks.  First, our prototype made its debut at collegiate nationals in Fort Collins, CO.  There were bike geeks aplenty and lots of compliments and interest- Thanks Complimenters and Interested Parties!  But a bigger thanks goes to the people that supported us in trying to get The One (a.k.a. Frankenstein) there.  First and foremost our engineer William Lord Reeves, ok we call him “Bill” but his “formal name” just sounds as awesome as he has been.  We also want to thank the good people at Brave New Wheel, one of the best bike shops in the Fort, especially when you want to get something fixed.  Finally, thanks to the GSSE program at CSU for supporting bike culture and sustainability by putting together the community ride on Saturday and letting us be part of it.

So last time it was coaster brakes (remember, they’re sweet) this time it’s our frame.  The frame is made of bamboo tubing with steel lugs, echoing the steel lugged frames of the past.  The Calcutta Bamboo we are using is amongst the strongest in the world.  Despite its strength, the bamboo absorbs a lot of the road keeping your backside comfortable and precluding the need for bike shorts- Jacob, you should still wear bike shorts, like mustaches  they only look good on some people.  For people used to riding very rigid frames The One will be the most comfortable bike you’ve ever ridden.   For folks that are newer to bikes and bike culture, do not ask a bike geek about lugs.  Lugs are the steel joints that hold tubes together on older steel bikes.  For a lot of us, lugs represent the high point in beautiful bike design (check out the frames at http://www.fixedgeargallery.com/ to see what I mean).  We specially designed our lugs to work with bamboo (thanks again Bill!) and now when you ride The One, even cynical bike geeks, will give you props for riding on lugs.

Hello blogosphere/cyclists/family members who don’t care about bikes really but have to read this out of familial duty (hey mom!)/and most importantly soon to be Panda Bike Owners. My name is Mark and I am one of the three guys that founded Panda Bikes. I thought I ought to introduce myself before writing about our bikes. I have been a bike enthusiast for about as long as I can remember. I get it from my Dad, who used to take me out for rides on the back of his Le Jeune in a bike seat with a bell but no helmet. In retrospect I can’t believe my mom let him do that. In the years since, I have continued to ride as much as possible and have damaged various body parts to prove it. Today, my fiance and I live in DC and keep six bikes around the apartment (in accordance with my dearly held belief that the optimum number of bikes =n+1 whereas n is the number of bikes you currently own).

Over the coming weeks I’ll be writing about different aspects of The One and The Natural. Today,The Natural and coaster brakes! Almost anyone reading this will remember back in the day when they first learned how to ride a bike (in my case a black “bmx” bike), you could coast but if put any back pressure on the peddles it acted as a brake. You could make really long skid marks by going fast and locking up the back wheel. After a while, I got a new bike that had caliper brakes and quit thinking about coaster brakes. When we started conceptualizing The Natural, I got to thinking about coaster brakes and did some research. It turns out that the coaster brake is near ideal for a commuter bike. It is very nearly maintenance free, it works in all weather conditions, and the lack of cables make the bike look cool.

http://www.pandabicycles.com/