A fixie made out of oversized grass

Bamboo, as it turns out, is a grass. One I never, ever want to have to mow.

When I arrived in Greensboro, Ala., for my “TechKnow” story on a small-town sustainable start-up that makes bicycles from bamboo, Dr. Lance Rake immediately took me to a nearby grove. We walked to the very back, through clouds of mosquitoes and brambles with thorns. There, he picked the perfect bamboo stalk: tall, thick, straight, and sturdy. I steadied the stalk and he began to cut it down. Watching, I noticed that the saw quickly lost its bite—literally. The teeth of the saw blade were disappearing into one side of the bamboo and not reappearing on the other side.

With Rake's blade shot, we switched places. This time, the bamboo ate my entire saw. It got stuck. I had to wiggle the saw out before I could start again. And it promptly re-stuck. That's when Rake chuckled and told me that bamboo was a grass. Quite stubborn for grass, if you ask me.

Eventually, though, we vanquished the oversized blade of grass, extracted it from the grove, and carried it to the bike shop, which was just a block away.

Rake walked me through the process of drying, cutting and shaping the bamboo so that it can be used in the bikes. Older bike models were made with simple, dried bamboo cut to the appropriate lengths. But bamboo is flexible, so a lot of power from pedaling was lost in unwanted side-to-side motion. Plus, Rake was nonplussed by the bulky joints on the traditional bamboo bike.

So, HERObikes' newest bike—the Semester Bike—uses a new frame. Rake and his students cut the bamboo into thin slats, which are then reorganized into a hexagon shape and bonded to carbon fiber. The result is a sustainable, resilient and lightweight bike that no longer loses power when the rider pedals.

Curious, I took the Semester Bike for a ride—only some of the footage made the final cut, which is probably a good thing. I was riding it for a while. The ride was smooth and fast. The Semester Bike might be a "fixie," but there is nothing basic about it. It's probably even faster than my 10-speed.

Then again, my 10-speed could probably use some air in the tires and oil on the chain.

Watch "TechKnow," Sunday 7:30ET/4:30PT, to learn more about HERObike.