Why Wood

Natures carbon fiber...It’s our secret weapon. Wood is carbon, and it’s made of fiber.

Wood has unique engineering properties that deliver superior ride quality and durability compared to man-made materials, and...it's sustainable. When the right wood and build method is combined with the available array of advanced bike technologies, it becomes a high performance living machine that will forever change your understanding of, and relationship to, "wood" and "machines".

Wood is sustainable and very literally is a place to store carbon. In contrast, manufacturing metals and carbon fiber is heavily poluting. Wood creates a bike that is more like a living thing, than a machine. Our bikes seem to be alive. People want to pet them. They are also very much at home in the forest they came from. Or let them bring some of their nature to your urban forest.

Wood is not susceptible to crack propagation from dents and dings, like the metals. It is not notch-sensitive or damage-concealing like carbon. If damaged, Renovo frames are usually easily and inexpensively repaired.

Wood is far superior to carbon and the metals at shock and vibration absorption. We chose wood as a frame material for its outstanding dampening. You may feel like you have shock absorbtion built in, but it just comes with the ride.

Renovo frames are hollow to reduce weight, resulting in frame weights of 4 to 5 pounds. It is wood everywhere, except where it is hollow, and where it meets all the usual modern bike components. There is an aluminum sleeve for headset bearing loads, a carbon fiber or aluminum sleeve for the seatpost clamp, a T47 threaded aluminum bottom bracket shell and aluminum dropouts to support the axle, derailleur and disc brake. We could make the frames lighter, but we think of them as heirloom rather than disposable. They are designed for durability and ride quality rather than the lightest possible weight. Renovo's are built to last a century, not just a few century rides.

Wood can be easily worked by hand. The challenge with building a wood bike is the absolute perfection required of the wood worker. But once these techniques are mastered, each frame can be customized for style, stiffness, size, and can also include creative additions. Some of them have wood arrows on the chain stays. Some have flames and fins. Some are torched. And some are built from old barrels, complete with wine or whiskey stains. Wood is a terrific material to build bike frames from if you just consider its strength. But think about the substantial additional qualities that can be added to each frame, as it is produced. These extra qualities of wood compared to other materials, in the right hands, turns the frame into a work of art.