“Boo Bicycles will have four complete show models (road, cross, singlespeed, touring) as well as 10 frames for direct sale to new dealers or customers,” said Frey via email, from somewhere on the road between Colorado and Nevada. “Road is our top frame — hand-wrapped unidirectional carbon joints (T700) and Strictus bamboo hand bored for weight savings. It will be built with full Edge Composites (wheels, bars, stem, fork, post) and SRAM Red.”
In addition, Frey plans to show a cyclocross bike with heavier-duty frame joints, more stable geometry and a higher BB, built with a single chainring and a SRAM XX 11-32 cassette. His singlespeed will have an integrated seatmast and a bamboo flat bar, while the commuter bike has an integrated bamboo pannier rack and relies on a Gates Carbon Drive Systems belt plus a Shimano Nexus 8-speed internally geared rear hub.
Getting ready for the show has been no small feat. “Each of our stock frames requires 50 hours of labor, and these IB show models even longer,” said Frey. “All tubes are selected and cut from a grove of the stiffest bamboo in the world, right in Vietnam. They are aged and dried for 6 months before being bored out to a specific wall thickness depending on which frame tube it will be used for, as well as the frame size,” he added.