Stunning wooden mountain bikes - made in NZ
But now Red Stag Timber from Rotorua, home of one of the very best of those trail networks, has combined with Renovo in Oregon, USA, a world leader in wooden bike construction, to build two beautiful new bikes. “We heard about Renovo from one of our customers,” says Red Stag’s Marketing Manager, Phil Lindsay, “and it started us all thinking about how a wooden bike would be a great way to demonstrate that New Zealand Pine is a 21st century construction material that can match the performance of steel or carbon fibre in a demanding environment like mountain biking.” The process started over a year ago. Fifty pieces of one metre long timber were selected from standard New Zealand building grade, SG8, and sent to Renovo in November 2010. The plan was to construct three wooden mountain bike frames; a race bike, a training bike, and a test-to-destruction bike. “The test-to-destruction bike was to make sure the performance of New Zealand Pine was up to Renovo’s standard as they hadn’t worked with the species before,” says Lindsay. During the testing, the concept of a 100% New Zealand Bike had to conform to the realities of mountain biking. The frames take a bashing from general trail riding and especially when the rider crashes. New Zealand Pine has the stiffness and the strength to stand up to the rigors of mountain biking. However, it doesn’t have the surface hardness - which meant a fair number of dents during trials. “But Renovo know their stuff and had a solution that has really added to the final look and strength of the bikes.” Renovo laminated a layer of Walnut (for elegant good looks) and Hickory (for surface hardness) onto the outside of the main triangle of the frame. They also built the rear triangle entirely out of Hickory. This means the main triangle takes the key loads through the New Zealand Pine with the durability of Hickory taking the knocks. This clever and beautiful combination has resulted in one of the lightest frames Renovo have built - in spite of it being extra-large size. “If you are going to do this sort of thing you might as well do it right,” says Lindsay. “What better way to stress test a new frame than putting it in the hands of a test rider who is 6’5” (1.95m)?” That rider was Patrick Avery. Patrick used the training bike in the Whaka100 50km race in late October, placing 4th in his class. Not bad for a first outing. Over the summer, the bikes will be competing in a range of events with different riders to showcase their versatility and durability. “These events will all be a perfect testing ground for the Red Stag/Renovo bikes,” says Lindsay. “And you will see it on training rides in Rotorua’s Whakarewarewa Forest, near the Red Stag Mill at Waipa where the whole concept started 18 months ago.”
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