By Jim Lundstrom

Some people like to be propelled through the world. Some prefer to propel themselves.

Like their fossil fuel-addicted counterparts, there are many subgroups of the self-propelled. Some like road bikes. Some like recumbents. Some like fat-tired cruisers. And some like the idea of propelling themselves on the greenest machine they can afford, and if that can be done with some style, so much the better.

That’s what three bike-riding, family men who work for Wheel & Sprocket’s internet division were thinking when they came up with the idea for a line of greened-up riding machines called Organic Bikes.

“We’re trying to be a more sustainable bike company with really good looking bikes, but we’re really at the beginning stages of this,” said James Beck, who graduated from being a Wheel & Sprocket mechanic in Milwaukee to running the company’s internet division at the shiny new Appleton shop in a former car dealership on West College Avenue.

Organic Bikes released the first machine in its lineup just a few months ago. Named the Dylan, this bamboo-laminate and recycled aluminum bike comes in one-speed and three-speed versions. Each can be color customized with saddle, handle bars and grips, as well as a matching bamboo water cage.

The Dylan is based on an already successful line of urban fixed-gear bikes called Eighth Inch.

“Eighth Inch started as a way to get inexpensive bikes out there. The brand was real mail order friendly,” Beck said. “It grew. We started talking it seriously. We diversified and brought in a whole range of products and pioneered a range of new products. The brand has done pretty well for us.”

He and his co-workers in the internet division, Steven and Noah, were talking about Calfee Bikes, a high-end bamboo bicycle company.

“We have really strong ties in Asia,” Beck said. “Our broker said they had developed one in Taiwan but no one was interested.”

They sent him one of the Taiwanese bamboo and carbon fiber bike. It had disc brakes and came in only one size.

“We saw this and said, let’s take something like this, switch it to aluminum lugs to lower the cost and make it strong enough to have it in different sizes. That’s where the Dylan started.” Beck said. “We had the successful single-speed geometry with Eighth Inch, knowing we could do single- and three-speed. This frame works for us, let’s just copy it.”

About 18 months passed from the idea for a bamboo bike to creation of an actual machine.

“It took a long time to get it figured owner,” Beck said. “We lab tested and then road tested it. (Wheel & Sprocket) Owner Chris Kegel’s son, Julius, rode a prototype from Wisconsin to Vermont. We worked everything out and got production going and eventually got them in stock this spring.”

The result is a light and fast back with quick response.

“The Dylan makes for a fun ride,” Beck said.

But he admits the Dylan is just the company’s first step in green cycling machines.

“This is a flat-bar road bike or fitness bike or bike path bike. It’s a fun bike but has a very limited crowd,” Beck said. “This market is more geared toward commuters and internally geared hubs. People want fenders.”

Two more bikes in the Organic lineup are in production and will make their debut in September for the Interbike International Trade Show in Las Vegas.

“The feedback we’ve gotten on the Dylan has been pretty positive, but it has also led us in the direction of the Edwin,” Beck said.

The Edwin is a more utilitarian commuter bike with internally geared hubs.

“They’re NuVinci hubs,” Beck said. “It doesn’t have clicks like a normal shifter. It’s centrifugal force. You just pick where it feels good on your legs. It’s a real neat system. People don’t have to know how to shift. There’s a little indicator showing a guy going up a hill or down a hill. You just shift until it feels good and ride.”

The other entry is the Caleb. It will be sold only as a frame. Unlike the bamboo laminate frames of the Edwin and Dylan, the Caleb will be made of solid iron bamboo from Vietnam.

“Iron bamboo is the strongest bamboo in the world. It grows completely solid,” Beck said. “The Caleb frame will be more along the $500 range, for a natural tubing bamboo frame. There are still a lot of concerns about how green the process is, but this is the direction we’re moving in, a bike to be made in Vietnam of natural stock bamboo with American technology and styling.”

The bikes are named for some of the children of the men in the department.

“Right now we have seven children’s names to work with and one on the way,” said Beck, a father of four. “Dylan is the son of our marketing guy, Noah. The Edwin is Steven’s son. The Caleb is named for my son. We have concepts for a couple of beach cruisers, a kid’s scooch-along bike, maybe a tricycle so we’ll probably get around to using all their names.”

They are also producing a line of eco-friendly accessories, including a biodegradable water bottle, bamboo utility tool and colorful unused fertilizer bags from Vietnam that have been turned into a variety of sturdy biking bags.

Beck emphasized that Organic Bikes is not yet making the greenest bikes available on the planet, but the Dylan and the other models are moving in that direction. The question then, is America ready for green biking?

“We love the idea and know it could be successful in the future, but we might be ahead of the time in this country,” Beck said. “We’ve had tons of interest in Europe. They seem a lot more keen on this. They’re a lot more ahead of us in sustainability and cycling in general. I get calls, especially from Switzerland and Austria. They just can’t wait to get it. We’ve held off for a while. As of late, I realized, if they’re keen on it, let’s get them some bikes. We’re going to move in that direction.”

Well, I’m ready to ride greener right now. I’ll let you know more about the Dylan next month.