Hand made black walnut bicycles: Wood is the most exciting new-old material to hit the bicycle market. Incubator bicycles built two centuries ago were made of wood. Modern computer aided manufacturing, adhesives, and finishes have ushered in a renaissance of wood as a fabulous material for frame building. Attributes of a wooden frame include but are not limited to sustainability, indisputable beauty, smooth ride (wood absorbs road vibration/noise), extreme toughness and weight that compares favorably with aluminum and lightweight steel. Wood cannot compete with carbon-fiber for lightweight. But, in the toughness and longevity category, wood is the hands-down winner. There are some wooden boats, over a thousand years old, still in service. This will unlikely be said about steel, aluminum or carbon fiber.