A Wooden Bicycle? Renovo Prove That A Wood Touring Bike Is Possible

While most touring bikes are made from steel, aluminium and sometimes even carbon or bamboo, there’s one company bucking the trend entirely. Let me introduce to you a very special wooden bicycle built for touring!

Renovo Hardwood Bicycles have been handcrafted in Portland (USA) over the past decade. Using ‘nature’s carbon fibre’ in combination with the latest computer-controlled woodworking machinery and adhesives, Renovo say that their frames are as light as steel, stiff as carbon and superior to all at shock and vibration absorption. Not only that, but the thick hardwood used in these bikes can have a greater damage tolerance than other frame materials too.

While the properties wooden bikes may sound a bit too good to be true, let’s focus our attention to what I believe is the bike’s most spectacular feature: the finish. With a mixture of wood types, grains and joins, the curvy lines of a Renovo bike are a work of art akin to the finest wood furniture!

The Renovo Wooden Bicycle For Touring

The Renovo frames are constructed by joining two hollow frame halves straight down the middle. But that’s after the crew has gone to the lumber yard to select the 16 to 40 pieces of wood that make up one Renovo frame. Every stick of wood that is sourced is tested for stiffness and moisture content. With these results, Renovo can forecast the ride quality and stiffness of the frame for each customer.

A Rohloff hub and Gates Carbon Belt drivetrain has been fitted to this bike for the ultimate in gear simplicity. Carbon belts have been known to run for 30,000km+. The Rohloff rear hub offers a wide range of 14 gears that are tucked away inside an oil bath of cogs; all impervious to the weather. This bike is ready for all road conditions!

This Renovo has been constructed with light touring duties in mind. The narrow road slicks and fitted fenders keep road grime from the beautiful wood grain finish. The bike is completed with a Salsa steel touring fork, a Co-Motion Rohloff shifter, Avid BB7 cable disc brakes, Busch und Muller dynamo lights, a Tubus Cosmo stainless steel rack and a Brooks B17 Imperial leather saddle and matching bar tape. The estimated weight according to Renovo is less than 13.5kg (30lbs).

Take A Look At More Custom Touring Builds HERE.