Axalko, wooden bikes
These boards will become chairs, tables, doors and bicycles. This sawmill in Zerain is where the wooden bicycle frames of the brand Axalko are made. The idea really came up in the form of a challenge or a whim, and now it has become a company. Along the way, countless reflections and countless tests to figure out how to give the wood the appearance of a bicycle.
Aitzol Telleria; designed by To make the chassis, we use Estella for its features. It has always been used here for the manufacture of handles for axes, hoes and tools. Estella, because of its long vein, its good inclination, and its high resistance to both traction and flexion.
Then you have to look at each wood. This one, for example, has a very direct vein from the tip to this eye, it would serve our work here. Around the eye the vein twists, twists, and we can’t get the right wood we want from here.
The wood pieces are then sheeted to a thickness of between 1 and 2.5 millimetres. The ash will give strength to the structure and other woods will give the surface color. Like tropical woods or black nuts.
Aitzol Telleria; designed by As noted above, clean wood is required to ensure that the sheets can be properly removed. You see that the ash, if it is pure wood, leaves it well to give the curve; here this little eye would not allow us, you see how it begins to crack.
This piece is seen to be composed of sheets; this will be one of the pieces that will later form the picture.
The sum of the flawless sheets will give the frame the necessary strength. Glued together, they will take the form of pieces that will form the structure.
Aitzol Telleria; designed by These are, for example, the diagonal and horizontal of the rear fork. Tied together, we would finally form the picture; this would be the back piece... and we tie them all together through epoxy resin, even screwed in parts where more force is needed.
What we finally get is a monocoque frame, as it is done with carbon. Carbon is a fiber, it’s made in molds by epoxy, and here we get something more or less similar by twisting wood.
The invention, however, is not new. Even the first ones were mostly made of wood, and today there are more than one in the world who have embarked on this path.
So is the market.
Enrique Responsable; Marketing Manager, AXALKO: There are other producers, in Japan, Austria, the United States... whatever it is we use our own technology, developed by us. There are very few producers in the world who make wooden bicycles.
In the final step, the wood and the metal must merge to make the frame take shape. Where the brakes, steering or pedaler are used, aluminium is integrated. From there the cyclist can put the accessories he wants. The result is a very common bicycle, which is made of wood. The comparisons and prejudices begin there.
Aitzol Telleria; designed by We externally apply the same layer of polyurethane that carbon bicycles carry, which makes the frame water-repellent. It can be used in the rain, in the sun at any time, it can be used calmly, it does not deteriorate.
Wood has always been used as a structural material, for example in the home, and it is clear that it is a resistant material. And it can be used for that, no doubt.
To prove it, next year the inventor himself will use the wooden bike in triathlons.
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