If they had electric bicycles on The Flintstones, is this what they'd look like? Perhaps. Actually, though, the e-bike you see here is a real-life bamboo-framed prototype developed by Calfee Design. What's more, you may soon be able to buy one for yourself. Yabba-dabba-doo!

Currently on display at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show in Salt Lake City, it features a Bafang motor capable of 1,500 watts, powered by a 54-volt/250-Wh battery pack. It also has a dynamo hub in the front wheel, which generates electricity for the 12-volt LED lighting system.

In the rear wheel is a highly-geared Sturmey-Archer hub transmission. Working in concert with the Bafang, that makes a motor-assisted top pedalling speed of 40 mph (64 km/h) possible. How often you take it to that speed is obviously going to effect its battery range, but perhaps a more pressing matter is, will it be legal?

"Technically it's a moped, but we'll wait until the authorities catch up with us on that one," Craig Calfee told us at the show.

The bamboo for the commercial version may be sourced from Indonesia, where very thick bamboo is grown Ben Coxworth/New Atlas

Designed to be compact and nimble in urban environments, the e-bike also has a suspension fork and seatpost, plus 20-inch BMX wheels (with bamboo spokes!) and a handlebar stem that allows the bars to be turned 90 degrees when the bike is parked – this means that they could sit flat against the wall of a small apartment, where space is at a premium. And at a weight of approximately 50 lb (23 kg), it could be carried up a set of stairs without too much effort.

"It's for people who don't necessarily have a garage, but they want to have a stylish bike to get around town and travel a pretty long distance with it," said Calfee.

If all goes according to plans, the as-yet-unnamed bamboo e-bike could hit the market by the end of this summer (Northern Hemisphere) at a price somewhere under US$5,000.

Company website: Calfee Design