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Juboo which means ‘bamboo step’ in Chinese, is a new bamboo bike brand created by sustainable transport experts Rory McMullan of the UK and Carlos Pardos of Columbia, and two Chinese partner companies, Zhang Zhi and Shenzen Baoan.
The Juboo city bike is made from black bamboo and white composite lugs.
"Bamboo is fast growing and sustainable," said Rory McMullan, who formerly worked for the UK’s Association of Commuter Transport.
"The vision for Juboo is to be a brand for promoting cycling, a non-profit charity which will work on projects throughout the world to promote bicycles in transport. We want Juboo to provide some funds, and generate publicity."
McMullan is originally from London, but lived in Taiwan from 1996 to 2003 working in marketing roles for bicycle companies, including Giant and Hi-bike.
While in Taiwan he organised car-free festivals, Critical Mass style rides, and many other cycle advocacy projects, and made his own bicycle-based program for Taichung TV.
"We are at the Taipei show to look for partners in the industry to join us," said McMullan, now based back in Taiwan.
"A bike made from bamboo is a metaphor for environmentally friendly transport; bamboo is the world’s fastest growing building material and is therefore its most renewable, while bicycles, of course, remain the most efficient form of transport ever invented."
The Juboo bike uses black bamboo from the slopes of Huang Shan Mountain in Anhui Province in China.
McMullen first met Carlos Pardo (who was once the Columbian downhill MTB champion) at a cycle conference in Yorkshire, and then later at a dinner in Taiwan where they were involved in organising the world’s first Shared Transport Conference. It was here that Pardo mentioned his project to build a bamboo bicycle, and asked McMullan if could help find some carbon fibre lugs. They joined together five months ago to form Juboo, partnering with Zhang Zhi and Shenzhen Baoan to produce the first prototypes of the bikes.
