There were bikes made from all sorts of materials at Sea Otter. Yes, that includes wood. Renovo has been building bicycles exclusively out of wood for years now, and their newest addition pushes their hollow core design even farther with the addition of carbon fiber reinforcement. Named the BadAsh, Renovo claims this is the lightest mountain bike frame they’ve made with complete builds coming in at an impressive 20.3lbs with a 4.5lb frame.
To get the frames that light, they start with a blank of hardwood like Ash, and use advanced CNC routers to mill out the inside of tubes and create the frame shape. This time, they took the internal milling even farther and added carbon laminate throughout the frame to achieve the desired stiffness for a race hardtail, while retaining the vibration absorbing qualities of the wood frame.
It’s hard not to be impressed with the craftsmanship of the frames, and Renovo claims the ride is as good as the looks. In this case, the BadAsh is built around 29″ wheels and up to 2.4″ tires with a 100mm fork, and four frame sizes (15, 17, 19, 21″), and two builds – the Team Build with SRAM XX1 Eagle for $9,295, or the Elite Build with SRAM GX for $6,995. Frame only is also available for $3,500. Renovo also includes their HomeRide direct to consumer program which allows you to buy the bike, ride it at home for a week, and if you’re not happy with the ride you can ship it back for a full refund.
