Wooden Bicycle

Marco Facciola, a 16-year-old high school student, created a functional wooden bicycle to fulfill a class requirement. No metal was used (even for the chain and ratcheting system) – only wood and glue.
Link – Thanks Andrew Phillips!

Marco Facciola, a 16-year-old high school student, created a functional wooden bicycle to fulfill a class requirement. No metal was used (even for the chain and ratcheting system) – only wood and glue.
Link – Thanks Andrew Phillips!
It won't last for long
Watch out for the groin splitters!
oops, that should say
splinters
That's frickin' awesome.
As for it lasting long, the intent isn't so much to have a practical bicycle as to challenge his woodworking skills ... think of it more as a piece of art.
The kid's story on the link is interesting -- His Dutch grandfather had to use wooden wheels on his own bicycle during WWII on account of rubber shortages. I have a related story: My mom was born in 1941, and as rubber was in short supply, when her father built her a toy wagon to ride in, he put wooden wheels on it. I had that same wagon growing up and I still have it (with the same wooden wheels -- they wear fairly well actually). When the weather gets nice, I'll plop my 1 year old son in it and pull him around in it as well. It's 65+ years old, but still looks good.
Nice bit of engineering.
Neat!
He can avoid splinters by varnishing it. I don't know how he'll avoid the splitters, though.
Did he use wooden dowels instead of nails? That's way more impressive than the paper engine with all sorts of non-paper parts in it.
Is it really working?
I got woodbikekid news item forwarded to me by a well meaning relative. A key feature discussed in the article was the biodegradablity of the thing. Yep, a few months lying on the ground and it will be indistinguishable from the rotting carcasses of the animals that lived in that Madagascar forest the ebony came from.
the thing is probabaly pretty heavy.
SHE IS HOT
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