Review: Renovo Revisited

by Ken Thiessen

Back in 2009, I reviewed the intriguing Renovo “wood” bicycles. Back then, the frames were built with a wooden main triangle and carbon rear triangle and fork. But during my shop tour, Renovo owner and designer, Ken Wheeler pulled up a dream concept on his computer screen: a wooden pursuit bike frame made entirely out of wood. Suddenly we were into the realm of pure bike porn; I couldn’t wait to see this conceptual design come to life. But when I asked Ken about the all-wood frame he said it was in development and required more thought.

Fast forward two years...


Today, the all-wood concept frame has become the core design of the Renovo line. The Audi corporation, known world wide for their cutting edge car designs, took notice and commissioned Renovo to build an Audi-sponsored bike. Audi’s, innovative engineering and design is the foundation of the marque’s reputation. Like many European automobile lines, Audi sells branded products which exemplify the ideals promoted by the car. Audi product managers sought out Ken Wheeler to produce a line of bicycles to be marketed with the Audi four-ring logo as another example of the “truth in engineering concept.”


The Audi product managers had apparently considered several of the the large bicycle manufacturers and settled on Renovo to build the Audi Duo bicycle. http://www.audi-collection.com/Accessories In one step a regional Northwest bike manufacturer became a world class style setter.



Renovo retains its small manufacturing facility and shop in Portland, Oregon. Ken Wheeler was both surprised and deeply appreciative of the partnership with a style setter like Audi. Suddenly, thanks to the Audi connection, Wheeler’s bikes were being advertised in the Economist and Forbes magazines. A brief web search takes you further: the Audi Duo bicycles have been appeared in many newspapers, car magazines, bike magazines, and city monthly magazines. Renovo became the boutique bike shop with a million-dollar ad campaign!


It was time for another ride.

The Test Ride

The R-4 road bike I rode was a thing of beauty.


In the sun, the wood grain played the light with great clarity. It was like looking into a tiger’s eye.


The piano-finish gives the bike the unmistakable hallmark of fine woodworking making imperfections impossible to hide. I couldn’t find a single flaw.


The smooth finish was sealed with epoxy and linear polyurethane which not only brings out the wood grain but forms a tough seal for real-world riding. My bike was a 58 cm-equivalent compact frame with the big-boy’s blend of stiff hardwoods mentioned above. The R-4 was equipped with a Sram Red drive train, double tap shifters, an



The FSA Wing Pro carbon compact bars with flat tops and shallow drops made for a very comfortable riding position.



You can’t fail to notice the R-4's exceptionally smooth ride as the wood effectively absorbs road vibrations - more effectively than my own all-carbon road bike!


Then came the essential engineering question: if the frame is comfortable, will it also be stiff and efficient?





The Renovo accelerated quickly with a remarkably small amount of energy input to the pedals. Out-of-the-saddle climbs put my energy straight to the traction patch of the rear tire and again the Renovo felt faster and more nimble than on my own ultra light road bike. There was no perceptible flex in this bike while riding. Wheeler has given much thought to the geometry of the Renovo frames. The R-4 blends a savvy and intelligent combination of riding characteristics making this ultra high performance bike equally attractive for all-day century rides.


At the end of the day just one critical attribute remained untested: Portland has many bridges over the mighty Columbia River and other waterways, I would wager that my Renovo R-4 would float. Try that with your Madone!




The mouth of the Columbia River at Astoria Oregon. Note the long bridge from Washington to Oregon. Yes, it has north and south bike lanes but with a certain
amount of junk scattered around. It's hard to say whether this would turn out to be be a beautiful ride or a nail biter but if you're riding south along the Pacific, you'll be crossing this bridge.