Next Saturday, the 7th of July, is the start of the 2007 Tour de France. This year the event starts in London before crossing the channel and heading south to Marseilles. 3 weeks and 3500 kilometres later, the remaining riders finish on the Champs-Elysées in Paris.

Now, we’re not going to analyse the actual event - somewhere there will be an article that discusses how environmentally unfriendly all the support vehicles are and how much carbon is emitted by the helicopters used by the camera crews - so we’ll just contend ourselves (for now) with the fact that it’s a celebration of the world’s most influential invention.

Tour de France bikes are normally constructed out of exotic composite materials, aluminium alloys and titanium, which are neither inexpensive to produce nor particularly sustainable. So, how about manufacturing them out of a material that is both sustainable and renewable?

Which brings us to a neat little story about a Californian bicycle manufacturer, Craig Calfee, who is about to set off for Africa to look at the viability of manufacturing bamboo bikes in Ghana.

“If there were an award for “Bicycle with lowest carbon footprint” (least amount of carbon dioxide emissions in the production of the frame), this frame would win, hands down.”

Now, at $2500 dollars for the frame it’s not really affordable, so the bikes for Ghana use bamboo lashed together with hemp fiber.

When bamboo is treated it forms a very hard wood which is both light and exceptionally tough. Some of the larger species can grow at a rate of over 1 meter per day, making it particularly suitable for use as a renewable crop.

The prototype bike was built entirely without the need for power tools, which is an essential requirement to facilitate easy manufacture in developing countries. The other part of Calfee’s visit is to look at existing transportation arrangements in rural areas of the country, and specifically the needs of Ghanian women, because they are the ones who tend the crops, do the chores, control the money and are most in need of access to affordable transportation.

If you really want to see some appropriate technology in action take a look at these wooden bicycles in East Africa.

This may or may not be the world’s first bamboo bike.

The example in the picture dates from 1896 and is in Prague’s technical museum.

It was made in America, so it’s like a “great grand pappy” of the Calfee bike.

For more links, here’s one courtesy of the American Bamboo Society and this is a bamboo mountain bike frame. If you’re really into bamboo, you can always join the World Bamboo Organisation or you could buy some black bamboo from the Guardian. Very funky.

via hippyshopper. Images © Calfee Design and latimes.com

Tomorrow is National liftshare Day here in the UK, so save money and reduce your carbon footprint while you’re at it!

liftshare estimates that a typical carsharer will save themselves around £1,000 and 1 tonne of CO2 per year by sharing their daily journey.

Lots more resources on the site including a handy cost calculator that works out how much you’d save. I’d save £1200. I’d save even more money if I loved my bike!

via treehugger

Loving your bike may seem like an odd object on to which to place your affections, but Manchester Friends of the Earth and the city council want us to do just that!

Now I do actually in general quite like my bike. I’m in the fortunate position of having a route to work which is now 80% off road. On a warm summer’s evening the trip along the Tyne is a pleasure.

However if you hate the thought of even having a bike, then the FoE and Manchester City Council are keen to change your mind. The site has lots of general info on why cycling is good for you - if you truly love yourself, you’ll love your bike. There is also an interactive site showing safe routes to and from the city centre plus a neat blogging\mapping feature so you can identify good points and danger areas on the routes. Nice if you live in Manchester.

Visit this site and then challenge your city, town or district council to do the same.