Designer Roland Kaufmann has gone and built a bicycle out of wood. He calls this gorgeous cycle Jano, and says it's a dual bike, equally at home trekking cross-country or taking its rider to and from work every day. But wood? Really?

This project has gone beyond some vaporware CAD drawing—he's actually built a great-looking prototype, riding this bike around and impressing everyone in sight. Although Kaufmann never reveals the exact weight of his wooden bike, he extols the virtues of using wood for a configuration such as this:

"Did you know that wood is up to 10 times stiffer than fibreglass and nearly 6 times stiffer than a kevlar/epoxy composite? Using wood and epoxy industry created some of the world's best multi-hulled sailboats, sprint kayaks and rowing shells. lightweights. Quicker in acceleration. Easier in manoeuvring. More convenient to carry. Straightforward to maintain and visually divine. A swan among ducks. So why not also using this material for a bike?"

He uses wood veneers glued together into a unique configuration, which he says gives the resulting frame more stability while still reducing its thickness. Cyclists, will this work? Sure looks great, an example of superb craftsmanship. – Charlie White

Designer's Page [GP Designpartners, via Treehugger]

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