When the Renovo Hardwood Monocoque bike showed up at our office, everyone stared. We stroked the clear coat-glazed grain of the Oregon Douglas fir (one of 15 wood choices available) and inspected the computer-machined, hand-fitted finger joints of the hollow frame. And then we all wondered the same thing: “It’s pretty, but how does it ride?”
Damn well. The carbon rear triangle effortlessly smoothed nasty pavement, and although we noticed a tiny bit of flex at the bottom bracket on climbs and sprints, the frame felt responsive otherwise. At between three and five pounds (depending on the wood you choose), and decked out in the high-end, go-fast parts that came on our build, there’s no doubt that it can hang with well-specc’ed carbon-fiber rivals. The Renovo Hardwood Monocoque bike is no glass jaw, either: When a brain-free driver forced us onto a curb at speed, we anticipated carrying home a pile of toothpicks. Yet the timber never even groaned.
Still, even though it rides like a dream, the Renovo is just too pretty for constant pounding. Order one as your Sunday ride, and check out our 2008 road bike test to find your next daily driver.
[Frames start at $2,000; renovobikes.com]
This article originally appeared in the August 2008 issue.
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October 27th, 2008 at 1:06 am
Hey Jon,
Thanks for the kind words.
I think though we make a good argument that while wood is indeed pretty, it’s not delicate; in fact it’s more durable than butted metal or carbon frames, and also more easily repaired or repainted.
-Ken
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March 4th, 2009 at 1:46 am
I found your blog from google and read your posts. It’s fun and I just add your blog to my Google Reader. Keep up your good posts friend. I’m Looking forward to read more fun from this blog. Thanks…
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September 25th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
Surely Jon could have written a better review than this. The last sentence is a bit of a slap in the face to Renovo.
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December 21st, 2010 at 11:43 am
What does that mean “to pretty for constant pounding.” Was there a reason the author felt the bike would fail?
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April 24th, 2011 at 6:11 pm
This seems like a pretty weak review. For a living I do a lot of research, for stuff that interests me I do lot of research; there’s no doubt about it, I want a Renovo badly (when I save up it will be my next expensive (quite reasonable) toy)! Normally I’m all about the Italian bikes but if you research Renovos you’ll see they arguably compete on a technological level with the best steel/aluminium/titanium bikes and many of the plastic bikes too; this isn’t your great-great-grandfather’s wooden toy. Wood could be the next big thing in bike frames…if it wasn’t for the vested interests in current man-made materials (yucky over-hyped plastics). This review makes you wonder what kind of vested interests are at play; can Men’s Journal give an unbiased report or is there something going on along the lines of the current “Greatest Movie Ever Sold”? If Renovo could afford to sponsor a professional team I wouldn’t be surprised to see some serious race wins. But there’s more than just bike manufacturing competitors at play; you’ve also got the petro-chemical industry at play. As I said at the beginning, pretty weak review; I bet you’d have gushed all over the latest plastic fantastic even if it didn’t warrant it.
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Killshot Reply:
November 6th, 2011 at 11:33 pm
Agree with Chris….a backhanded review if I ever saw one. The possibilities for this renewable, green, and apparently superior bike frame are really unlimited. I am from St Paul and am spending a week in SF cycling this week. I am spinning up thru Sausalito today, and, something (the Cycling Gods) made me turn my head to look, and voila! Renovo’s showroom. I will definitely save some shekels and have one of these beauties — and not for show, but for the ride.
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