OK, we’re not expecting this one to sweep the bicycle world any time soon, but Ananova reports that an Indian scientist has invented a bamboo bicycle. Reading the report suggests that what he’s actually invented is a good way to make lots of bamboo bicycles, for the use of bamboo as a frame material is nothing new. And quite right too, for it’s a remarkably light and strong material and handily just grows rather than having to be dug out of the ground. A brief hunt of that internet reveals a bunch of bamboo bicycles, including the Bambooclette that includes rosewood pedals and a maintenance regime that involves annual waxing. The Bambooclette site reckons that the first bamboo bicycle was built in Austria in 1895.

There’re a couple of other bamboo bike sites here and here, and don’t forget Ananova’s original story.