OXFORD Brookes has launched a new mountain bike made from bamboo.

Engineers at the university’s faculty of technology, design and environment have designed the frame, made from bamboo tubes and flax fibre, after working with Yorkshire-based RAW Bamboo Bikes over the past 18 months.

Now the eco-friendly bike is set to go into production. Dr Shpend Gerguri and Dr James Broughton, who developed the frames, road-tested the new bikes in an eight-day race across the Alps in July.

Dr Gerguri said: “We learned that compared to other bikes, they are much more forgiving over rough terrain, and comfortable to ride for a long endurance event.” He said the bikes would last about 10 years before the bamboo began to weaken.

Bamboo requires less land and water than trees, absorbs more CO2 from the atmosphere and releases more oxygen.

The bikes will be launched at RAW’s stand at the Cycle Show at the Birmingham NEC this week.