'My strategy is just to see how it goes' - meet the man cycling around the world on a bike made of wood

Tom Williamson’s wooden bike is fresh out of the box. Shiny and ribboned with light brown lines, it almost looks like a regular bike. But look a little closer, and his gravel bike is actually made almost entirely from wood - walnut for shock absorption and ash for strength.

Williamson has been waiting for six months for this bike. Made by the Belgian based Zafi Cycles, the gravel bike is designed especially for him, and for the round the world trip he’s about to embark on.

A reinforced rear wheel, with additional spokes to the front is designed to help take rider weight and luggage. The custom GRX 40 carbon gravel wheelset also uses a DT Swiss dynamo hub to allow Williamson to charge lights and electronics on the go, and a suspension seat post and stem will give him extra comfort on his travels. But it’s pretty, too. An illustration of the earth engraved in gold on the frame marks the bike as his - as well as a seat moulded to the exact dimensions of his bum.

"The walnut, which is the main material, is great for vibration absorption," Williamson explained. "The ash is stronger and more rigid, so where it's laced with ash is in the areas where a lot of like power is going through, in the rear part of the bike."

Set to start his ride around the world on the 8th June, Williamson’s journey to this starting point hasn’t been straightforward.

In 2020 he passed out during a bike ride, an episode that led to four years of appointments with puzzled doctors and failed medical interventions, until an operation in 2025 finally curbed his symptoms. Williamson had been suffering with supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), a type of irregular heartbeat affecting the heart's upper chambers, causing a fast or erratic heartbeat.

Though his diagnosis didn't stop him from getting back on his bike, the decision to cycle around the world came as a surprise even to him: "How on earth could I pull that off?" he found himself asking, determined to make this new dream a reality. "How could I get time off work? How could I afford it?"

All that was left to do was to lock in: he handed his notice in at work and moved out of his London flat and back in with his parents, ready to take on the world.

The 32-year-old’s decision to ride a bike made of wood was twofold: sustainability (he and Zafi Bikes owner, Simon Malvaux, tried to source as much as they could from within Europe) and what Williamson terms its "talkability" factor.

Already the bike is turning heads. In the short coffee-run rides he’s managed to get out on recently, his bike has been met with wonder; and his Instagram follow count has ticked up accordingly.

"That's exactly what I wanted," Williamson said, "because I can have these opportunities to start conversations with people while bike packing in the middle of nowhere in a random country. That will, more often than not, lead to some really good experiences. And that's one of the reasons I'm doing this trip. It's for unique experiences."

And Williamson has already had his fair share of unique experiences. While bikepacking in India, he was invited by a local to stay on his farm, a hotel venue flanking a river that weaved through a valley. Then later, on another trip to India, Williamson nearly fainted on the side of the road due to a combination of SVT and food poisoning. Fortunately for him, a bus was passing by and pulled in, bundling him into the front seat, and his bike into the full carriage behind.

"I could see behind the glass all the people holding my bike up," Williamson remembered.

On reaching the village, an English speaker was tracked down, who called the police and helped the disoriented cyclist to his next stop.

"It was happy result, you know," Williamson said, the day’s trauma now a distant memory. "I still got to where I was going."

Now he’s cycling around the world to raise money for Cardiac Risk in the Young.

So far, eight legs of the journey are loosely set; a journey from the UK to Istanbul is the first challenge, but fluidity is built into Williamson’s itinerary.

"How I get in between those is not a big concern of mine," he said. "I just want to go with the flow and with what feels right on the day, based on morale, based on energy, based on the weather, based on local advice.

"My strategy is just to see how it goes."

You can follow Tom's journey here via Instagram, or click here to donate to Cardiac Risk in the Young.