Bamboo bike building takes trial and error

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SPOKANE, Wash., June 12 (UPI) -- A Washington state man said it took him a lot of trial and error to build his own bike out of bamboo.

Paul Fish of Spokane, founder of retail and online outdoor-equipment company Mountain Gear, said he decided to build the bamboo bike on a whim and his initial attempts resulted in a lot of learning experiences, the Spokesman-Review, Spokane, reported Tuesday.

"Do you know what happens when you don't punch a hole in the nodes of a bamboo pole before applying the torch? The pole explodes," Fish said.

Fish said he received a lot of valuable advice from the Bikecad Web site, www.bikecad.ca, and local machinist and bike-frame builder Gary Selner of Hairy Gary Bicycles. He said he was able to complete his first successful bamboo bike last week.

"Don't get any ideas," Fish said. "I like my new bamboo bike, but I'm not going anywhere as a bike builder."