Four people from a workshop in southwest China’s Chengdu are in the midst of getting their low-carbon business of making bamboo bicycles registered with the local industry and commerce department.

They call the bikes “simple bikes.” In terms of wheels and other parts, they are the same as other bikes, but the frames and the handle bars are made of bamboo, giving the bikes a vintage look.

To test their strength, the four once rode 2,500 kilometers to Lhasa, capital of southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region. The result of the long-distance ride? Just one crack on one bike.

The manufacturers prefer to be called craftsmen. They got the idea of making bamboo bicycles in 2011, but it was not until 2014 that the first one was created.

The bamboo to make “simple bikes” was chosen out of over 20 bamboo varieties. They eventually selected a three- to five-year-old variety grown in southern China’s Guangdong.

Now, the four have even higher expectations. “People usually believe bamboo is less strong or resilient than metals, but that’s not the case,” they said.

There are many types of “simple bikes,” such as urban bikes, which look simple but modern, and mountain bikes, which are easy to ride on rugged roads.

They said the popularity of shared-bicycles has helped to promote sales of “simple bikes,” because bikes advocate a green way of transportation. “Sales of ‘simples bikes’ have doubled since 2016,” they disclosed.

A “simple bike” is priced between 3-5,000 yuan. The manufacturers now spend around 40 hours on a bike compared with a few months a year before.

“A lot of our buyers are from Europe, so we sent our bikes for tests in Europe and they proved qualified according to the European standard,” they said. Though the bikes have not been tested domestically, they are being increasingly welcomed among riders in Beijing and Shanghai.