Ninth-generation Japanese shipwright handcrafts lightweight mahogany bicycles
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Sanomagic at NAHBS 2013
Posted on March 6, 2013
Source: Urban Velo by brad
Master wooden ship builder Sueshiro Sano has been at it since age 13, with some eight generations of ship builders behind him. Combining his love of bicycles and mahogany he has created a number of wooden bicycles, including this one on display at the 2013 NAHBS show. Using an old stockpile of hard to find (and mostly illegal to harvest nowadays) mahogany, Sueshiro Sano build everything possible of this bike, from the laminate construction frame and fork to the saddle, stem and bars. Even the aero front wheel is handmade from mahogany, that is not a veneer application to a carbon wheel or any other trickery. Remarkably light, I didn’t have a scale on hand but it was listed as under 17.5 lbs. Not just a show bike, Sueshiro had a video of this bike being raced in Japan, available for download on the Sanomagic video page. See his other mahogany bicycles, furniture and more at sanomagic.world.coocan.jp
Wooden Road Bike [WDR T-2] won the Good Design Award 2010
Sanomagic Wooden Bicycles
June 08 2011
Source: by Graham Hiemstra
A ninth-generation shipwright, Sueshiro Sano has been making exquisite wooden products since he was in elementary school. But in 2008, drawing inspiration and technique from a lifetime of shipbuilding, the woodworker produced his first bike constructed entirely of mahogany, including frame, fork, seat, seat post, handlebars/stem combination and even rims.
Using mahogany lends flex and responsiveness in a way no metal frame can, which in turn gives riders an elevated sense of control and increases pacing possibilities. A number of Sano’s prototypes have been raced professionally, excelling in both ideal and inclement weather. In the three years since starting the project, Sano has handcrafted 11 of these fully wooden bicycles, making improvements that shave the average weight of his full builds down from 11 kilograms to around eight.
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