When a friend of his started experimenting with growing algae naturally in salt water for use as fuel, Dutch designer Ritsert Mans decided to create something equally environmentally friendly to show off its capabilities. The result? A wooden motorcycle that gets all of its power from this sustainable source. The fact that motorcycles aren’t exactly known for having a light environmental footprint makes the video of this bike in action is all the more impressive.
Showing off what it can do on the beach, Ritsert explains that he takes inspiration from the early 20th century, when the future of automotives was still a question mark, and it seemed like anything was possible. The bike-builder made this motorcycle’s frame and springs from wood, and used cork for the dampeners, and hemp for reinforcement. While he used glue this time around, he hopes to make another prototype in the future using a natural glue like potato starch and sugar to hold the wooden components together and make them suitable for recycling afterward.
“For every part of the bike, I looked to what nature could provide me with,” he says, “even though the single-sided swingers seems to be a big contrast with the ‘prehistoric’ material it is made of, it’s actually a full composite, with all sorts of directional fibers provided by nature.”
source: Designboom
