Panda Bicycles was founded by four CSU alumni who create custom bamboo bicycles in Fort Collins using sustainably sourced bamboo from Mexico. The bamboo provides a light and strong frame with a smooth ride. Panda Bicycles operates out of a business incubator in Fort Collins and aims to be a legitimate player in the bicycle market while building unique, heirloom-quality bamboo bikes. The handcrafted bamboo bikes have received positive response for their sustainable materials and smooth riding experience.

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June 14, 2010
By Nik Olsen
Panda Bicycles co-founder and CSU alumnus Jacob
Castillo and his business partners create custom
bamboo bikes built in Fort Collins.
Alumni
Turning bamboo into two-wheelers
For sale: Strong, lightweight bicycles hand-constructed with quality components paired with the finest
bamboo in the world. Unique ride guaranteed.
Fort Collins-based manufacturer is born
Welcome to the world of Panda Bicycles, a Fort
Collins-based manufacturer that grew out of a cohort
in Colorado State’s Global Social and Sustainable
Enterprise concentration, a Master of Science
business administration program offered by the
College of Business.
Jacob Castillo, John McKinney, Jim Schmitt, and
Mark Schlink – all CSU alumni – are the pedaling
force behind the operation that started peddling
Panda Bicycles in September 2009. The process
from paper to production took about a year, then
customers snapped up 25 limited-edition Panda
bikes in just three weeks.
“Our goal is to be a legitimate, competitive force in
the bicycle market,” Castillo says. “We’re not just
building bikes, we’re building a company.”
Bamboo grown in Mexico
Panda bikes start the journey in Mexico’s Yucatan
Peninsula, where bamboo grows with the strength of
steel, the weight of aluminum, and the dampening
qualities of carbon fibers – all desirable
characteristics for human-powered transportation.
The bamboo comes from sustainable plantations that give local workers needed jobs at fair-trade
wages.
McKinney was working on sustainable housing projects for a summer GSSE program in the Yucatan,
where he discovered the bamboo. Although bamboo isn’t the best for home construction, it’s ideal for
bicycle tubing.
Light, strong, phenomenal ride
“It’s light and strong and has a phenomenal ride
feel,” Schmitt says as he tinkers with a wheel on a
model called “The One.” The feel has been
compared to riding a stick of butter: “It’s that
smooth.”
Panda isn’t the first business to fashion bamboo into
bike frames, but it’s breaking ground in making such
bikes available to the public at prices two-wheeled
commuters can handle.
Start-up help for new businesses
Panda Bicycles operates in the back office of a
business incubator that is hosted by the city of Fort
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Collins that provides start-up help for new
businesses. And although the operation isn’t
glamorous, Panda Bicycles is exactly where the
owners want to be in this bike-friendly town. “It really
fits the ethos of CSU’s and Fort Collins’ sustainable
focus,” Castillo says.
The business is still on the ground floor, so the
owners are seeking investors and keeping an eye on
the future. For now, there’s no time for daydreaming
about long, lazy rides, as tempting as that may be.
Buckets of cut bamboo, stacks of gears, and piles of
wheels are waiting to be fashioned into clean,
sustainable, environmentally friendly, two-wheeled
transportation for the masses.
Every bamboo bike is unique
“People see them in the community and take notice,”
Schmitt says as he turns his attention back to the
bike of the morning. “I can’t believe the positive
response. The bikes are heirlooms. Every one is
unique.”
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Originally published in Colorado State Magazine, Spring 2010.
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