Two Southeast Asian startups aim to make bamboo bicycles trendy

Even though demand is picking up in the Western world, riding a bamboo bike is virtually unheard of in Asia.

As much as bamboo is commonly associated with this region, it is Western companies like FlavioDeslandes, Calfee Design and Biomega that have taken the concept and run with it.

But two startups — KawayanTech from the Philippines and Bamboobee from Singapore — are finally emerging and entering the market.

KawayanTech, recently featured in the Wall Street Journal, is founded in 2009 by members of the University of the Philippines Moutaineers Club. Their main products are individualized, handcrafted bamboo bikes that allow customers to pick their own components. 

While costing more than normal metal bikes and probably less durable, a bamboo bikes does have several advantages: It offers a smoother ride by absorbing shocks with its bamboo frame. It has a lesser carbon footprint too, a boon for environmentalists.

They have sold over 80 different bikes of all kinds — from kid’s bikes to high-performance ones and even mountain bikes. They range from US$199 to US$476. Recently, they’ve moved into electric bikes, and bamboo skateboards and wheelchairs are being planned too.

Their products have not cracked the mainstream market so far, but they’ve imported them to many developed countries in Europe, North America, and Asia.

Hailing from Singapore is Bamboobee, founded by Singaporean Sun Soon Chuah, an engineering student who once embarked on a solo 12,000km motorbike ride across 14 countries in eight weeks.

While KawayanTech is producing premium-quality bikes, Bamboobee has a different social mission: Providing low-cost bikes in rural areas. He hopes to create an initiative in Central Asia based on similar programs in Africa, which has proven to be successful.

An example is the Bamboo Bike Project, an initiative by scientists and engineers at The Earth Institute, Columbia University.

The Project has led to a factory that creates affordable bamboo bikes in Ghana, which will generate income for locals through the creation of micro-businesses that will produce and distribute these bikes.

Bamboobee was a finalist for the Ideas.Inc Business Challenge last year, an annual business plan competition in Singapore.

While its bikes are still in the prototype stage, he plans develop a range that includes lifestyle bikes, hardcore enthusiasts bikes, and modular ones.