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A bicycle made out of copper would certainly not survive bumpy roads for long. With bronze it would probably be doable, but it would still be insanely heavy and expensive. No, wood is definitely the material to use for bike building if steel, aluminium and carbon aren't available.
– leftaroundabout
Commented Apr 25 at 21:53
@leftaroundabout Probably about as heavy as a department-store BSO (bike-shaped object), which are made out of mild steel, but of course a lot more expensive. Copper is weaker than bronze, but very fatigue-resistant. Bronze is okay structurally. But making a chain drive would be unreasonably expensive.
– Therac
Commented Apr 25 at 22:24
In the Roman era, you're looking at the dandy-horse, or maybe the pennyfarthing. Metalworking of the time was far from being able to make anything more advanced.
– Mark
Commented Apr 26 at 0:52
@Mark More than enough for the penny-farthing. It's chain drive where it breaks down to "almost impossible", and variable gearing is out of the question completely. Belt drives were used at the time, though.
– Therac
Commented Apr 26 at 0:59

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