Worldwide, there are few companies, who manufacture bamboo frames for bicycles in serious numbers (Iosifidis 2017). Most of the bamboo bicycles on the market are made constructed with wrapped nodes soaked in epoxy resin. Worldwide, there are few companies, who manufacture bamboo frames for bicycles in serious numbers (Iosifidis 2017). All frames are made by hand and know-how is based on unpublished experience. For Fitting Welding cannot be applied. Therefore, the bamboo tubes are connected butt-joint-ed and reinforced with fabrics. To simplify the type of connectors to a still realistic design in a bamboo bike, a T-connector was chosen within this experiment.
The aim of the preliminary research was to find the optimal application of fabric for bamboo connectors. Thus, the number of fabric layers and the length of their contact area were altered. These connectors were tested in a bending construction. Despite the small amount of samples, an optimum was found which was recommended to bamboo companies.
Keywords: bamboo bicycle frames, butt-joint bamboo-T-connectors, bending strength of bamboo
Authors
Moritz Sanne
Eberswalde University of Sustainable Development, Alfred-Möller-Straße 1, 16225 Eberswalde, Germany
Alexander Pfriem
Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development Address, Schicklerstraße 5, 16225 Eberswalde, Germany
Caroline Sperling
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