A Group meeting was held on the 21st April at the Warnham mill pond nature reserve venue,
We were delighted to have as our speaker for the evening Nick Coats and his wife Sarah.
Nick a former engineer is passionate about all things woody, after many years of research, trial and error, Nick has perfected the art of making wooden bikes from coppice product material, using his engineering skills to perfect the hollowing out of the lump wood to produce timber frames and tubes, thus making the frames lighter, to produce a light weight robust frame which has more shock adsorbing ability than a steel tube. Nick uses dowel and pin to locate the tubes to the brackets and whipping soaked with resin or PVA lacquer for extra strength at the stress points.

Nick went on to say some of the components like the forks are steamed to achieve a uniform shape, and then braced in a temperature and atmosphere controlled environment for a further period of time to allow the wood to relax, retaining the shape, the complicated bit are the rear forks as the bikes come with a full set of derailleur gears, as with any modern bike, brakes and full mud guards made from a single piece of wood, hollowed out cut lengthways and steamed to shape.
The bikes are fitted with high quality wheels, tyres, lights and a comfy saddle, Nicks daughter is a dab hand with the engraver and has perfected the skill of etching woodland scenes on the tubes forks and cross bars to enhance the ultimate eco cruiser.
Nick has experimented with different wood from Hazel, Ash, Willow and Sycamore, all displaying their unique property and colour within the build process,
Depending on The clients individual requirements, A bike can be produced for £1500 to 2k which is exceptional value for money, when you think you are buying an individual, bespoke made to measure hand built Bike with two to three weeks build time.
For further details contact www.beamz.org.uk