North American Handmade Bicycle Show 2010 - Part four

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Serotta fooled a lot of onlookers with this stunning PPG faux-wood paint job.(Image credit: James Huang)

Non-metallic materials continued to make a strong showing at this year's NAHBS with over a dozen builders showing bikes made either entirely or at least mostly of one type of fiber composite – and not just the usual synthetic types, either.

Some of Calfee's more interesting bamboo bikes came from his Bamboosero line, however, which is not meant so much as a more economical alternative to his more premium creations as it is a way to provide the world's poor with a means of transportation – and income. Through the program, local residents are taught how to inexpensively build practical rigs such as cargo bikes using bamboo and other locally harvested, low-cost materials. While the end products aren't always pretty in the classic sense (though that obviously depends on your perspective), they're eminently functional and fulfill a critical role.

Colorado-based Boo Bicycles also uses bamboo tubing but mixed with more conventional hand-wrapped carbon fiber joints and with a decidedly high-performance intent. One of the highlights of its booth was a slick-looking singlespeed 'cross bike with an integrated seatmast as well as clever rear brake routing that runs inside the top tube then exits straight out the back of the seat cluster for a perfectly direct cable path.

One of the biggest stars of the Serotta booth wasn't even a bike – nor was it even all that pretty. Serotta's latest Size Cycle is a grand departure from its older designs, being based on a more straightforward X-Y coordinate system and boasting an array of electronic and computer-controlled wizardry. Positioning changes are easily made with a combination of hand cranks and worm drives and a built-in Computrainer resistance unit not only provides realistic-feeling resistance but also provides instant power output feedback to evaluate the effectiveness of different adjustments.