Joining the ranks of bike builders who have turned to natural materials for bike frame and component construction, Prague-based studio Jan (named for partners Jan Muscka and Jan Vidlicka), construct frames out of wood. Taking a new approach to the material, Jan constructs an “avocado” shaped continuous beam, utilizing over forty laminated layers of veneer, then carves the frame characteristics and interfaces from that platform. The final product is both visually unique, durable, and, as they boast, naturally beneficial in enhancing ride characteristics. Several prototypes in, the studio is now accepting outside orders.
Check out this unique Czech design after the jump.
When Mucska started his workshop, he sought out wood as a medium both because he felt the material most reflected his identity and for the highly-involved craft aspect of it. Though time intense (it took eight months to complete the first two prototypes of his design), the unique frame design will only be slightly changed moving forward to support different sizes and riding scenarios. “I don’t intend to bring to the market another mass produced bicycle, notes Mucska. “I mainly want to create and transcend the limits, both technological and of common ideas and trends.”
The “rear triangle” features bolt-on plates for disc brake tabs and dropouts. The bottom-bracket interface, seat tube, and head tube are both metal tubes bonded into the laminate chassis. The frame’s large downtube is designed to provide stiffness and strength to the design while the thin top tube provides a spring effect, dampening vibrations from the road.
The frame includes many subtle crafted interfaces, such as reinforced areas at the top tube/seat tube junction and wooden housing guides throughout the frame.
