6/26/2009
Panda Bicycles, a Fort Collins, CO-based company founded by graduates of the Global Social Sustainable Enterprise (GSSE) Program in CSU’s College of Business, was recently featured on Denver Channel 7 News and in a major Canadian newspaper, the Toronto Star.
Former GSSE students, John McKinney, Jacob Castillo and Mark Schlink, have worked diligently over the past nine months to create the one of the first bamboo bicycles to sell for under $1000 in the US. Panda Bicycles sources its bamboo from sustainable plantations in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Bamboo is an ideal bike frame material as it has a similar strength to steel, a similar weight to aluminum and the vibration dampening characteristics of carbon fiber. Jacob Castillo told Denver Channel 7 News, "The icing on the cake is that there is a sustainability factor to it as well."
There are many benefits to using bamboo as a primary material to create bike frames. Not only is bamboo a rapidly growing renewable resource, but it also eats up carbon dioxide pollution as it grows, reducing the carbon footprint of the bicycles.
"The manufacturing process, the sourcing of the materials, the design of the bicycle and the entire lifecycle of the bike has been taken into consideration and designed for sustainability," said Castillo.
McKinney developed the idea to create bamboo bikes while working on a sustainable housing project in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula as part of the GSSE summer program. After seeing how bamboo could be used in a green building application, he recognized that it would also be a great material for bicycle frame construction. Shortly after his return from Mexico, McKinney partnered with Castillo and Schlink to found Panda Bicycles.
“Panda Bikes are durable, comfortable, and beautiful.” The bicycles are expected to be on the market by October and should sell for approximately $850.
To view the Toronto Star article, please visit: http://www.thestar.com/article/655642
To view the Denver Channel 7 News Story Video, please visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvskMRfOJ6w
To view the Denver Channel 7 New Story (print), please visit: http://www.thedenverchannel.com/going-green/19852471/detail.html
For more information about the GSSE program, please visit: http://www.biz.colostate.edu/gsse
For more information about Panda Bicycles, please visit: http://www.ridepanda.com/