Hi, my name is Robert Hartmann. In 2005 I left my native Switzerland to explore China. It was right after high-school and I decided to get my university degree overseas. After studying Chinese at Fudan University, I went to Raffles Design Institute Shanghai where I earned a degree in marketing awarded by Northumbria University in the UK. Upon request of the Northumbria University Raffles Design Institute Shanghai introduced a new kind of final project. Students were asked to collaborate with Designers to simulate a company start-up. While the designers create the products it was my assignment to come up with branding and marketing strategies.

My search for a suitable designer and product to team up with took me trough all the departments where among many many cool projects I saw some interesting environmental friendly solutions. Some product designers have come up with an array of fascinating products using bamboo as raw material.

Following that lead did some more research. It was on wikipedia where I first saw a bamboo bike. I was amazed that it had been invented so long ago and instantly I wanted one to ride around town. However there was no place to buy this kind of bike, so I decided to build on myself.

From that point on the bamboo bike has just kept growing and did not stop there. My first few bamboo bikes were non-rideable prototypes. In fact they were only intended to illustrate my thesis. Who would have known that there were so many people who wanted to buy the prototype. Because of great demand I went to look for a suitable supplier. In the past threee years I have worked with many manufacturers and designers. Some worked better than others. Every one of them made me understand more deeply the issues one is confronted with when working on bamboo.

Fruits of my Labor
Toady I am amazed how much has happened so far. I have learned a lot about bamboo, bicycles and many other things. most importantly I have learned that there is still mroe to learn.

I work to continue improving this bicycle and develop other related products. Working with other designers has been a great experience. Chris Trees and his Bamboo tricycle aka. Treecycle are an inspiration in regards to design that is married to the latest in bicycle technology. Chris Trees and his company MGT Engineering is working on a mix of very interesting green projects ranging from trikes and bikes to solar panels. Together we are developing the next generation bamboo bicycles.

Ever since starting the bamboo bike project many people have requested bamboo bicycles for their children. Xibambam, the Swiss label for bamboo toys, has developed beautiful bamboo balance bikes and tricycles. These are available in Shanghai trough Shanghai Bamboo bike.

Alltogether these products offer a unique mix of Bamboo Bicycles and tricycles for adults and Children.

The Shanghai Bamboo Bike company is a testament to the creativity that can happen in a big international city like Shanghai. As I have said many times: “the new American Dream is in China”