We admit, we had no idea bicycles could be made out of wood. That’s why we were so surprised to come across this story about a Basque co-op, Axalko, which has just jumped into the extraordinary world of building bikes from trees. After a bit of googling wood bicycles, we discovered it’s a whole world, with top-level wooden bikes being made from California to Japan.
Honestly, it seems natural that in a country like the Basque Country, with our love of cycling, our dense forests, our high tech level, and the importance we give to co-ops, which all come together here in a unique and powerful way, a proposal like Axalko‘s would come to be. As is to be expected, given it’s a high-level bike that’s completely handcrafted, they’re not cheap, and their niche market is a very specific group of cycling enthusiasts.
But really, it’s an awesome looking bike, if not outright spectacular, and we’re sure it’s going to generate a lot of interest, not only in the local Basque market, but all over the world, wherever great value is placed on things that are well made.
We’ll leave you with the article we found the information in, as well as a direct link to their explanatory video, which talks all about this new bike.
Headset Press – 18/4/2012 – Great Britain
Axalko: Basque Country inventiveness
Axalko: new generation of bicycle ‘luthiers’. That is what they say and I think they might be right. I like their honesty in why they produced them and what the bicycles are and what they are not. Wooden bikes are intriguing, I like the concept, but I’m never sure about the execution. These guys are doing a pretty good job of both. I t would be very interesting to test one and to see how wood works as a modern racing bike material.
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Axalko: new generation of bicycle ‘luthiers’ from Maite Felices on Vimeo.
Texto explicativo del video: aquí
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Last Updated on Dec 20, 2020 by About Basque Country
