Posted on 10/15/2012 9:21:11 AM PDT by posterchild
A bicycle made almost entirely of cardboard has the potential to change transportation habits from the world's most congested cities to the poorest reaches of Africa, its Israeli inventor says.
Izhar Gafni, 50, is an expert in designing automated mass-production lines. He is an amateur cycling enthusiast who for years toyed with an idea of making a bicycle from cardboard.
He told Reuters during a recent demonstration that after much trial and error, his latest prototype has now proven itself and mass production will begin in a few months.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
But you have to add OSHA safety equipment, union labor, batteries, so perhaps 2,000$ after it’s all said and done.
Weight limit -75 lbs
There’s a lot more rain than that in the desert. Then of course there’s “after the rain”, puddles can stick around a long time. The real question for this is what’s wrong with aluminum piping, light, cheap, strong, has no problem with rain or really any weather.
If you get it, please don't drive it above my house, thanks very much.
Be it refugees from storms, war etc, hikers, itinerant populations.
485 pounds.
Since you brought it up, there is a long used axiom in the bicycle industry. There is strong, light, and cheap. You can pick any two you want.
Did you check out the tires?
And that occasional rain in the desert ~ I proposed a large plastic bag to protect the bicycle until it drives up, which it will, with more certainty than a snowstorm melting in a cold winter.
There are stronger lighter option than aluminum that are really expensive. But for your non-racing, actually going to use this as transportation crowd aluminum scores very well on all three. It’s a good solid middle of the triangle metal.
I wanted one of those -so- bad when I was a kid.
It doesn’t cost that much more than cardboard, and it doesn’t have to be welded (I know a guy on the bike trail with a hand built from scratch no welding bike), and it will last much much longer. The tires didn’t look that exciting.
I live in the desert, we finished our rainy season last month. A cardboard bike would have to be in your plastic bag for 4 months. If it’s a primary transportation option having it unavailable for 4 months isn’t really much of an option. And of course the fact that the rainy season ended didn’t keep me from getting caught in a cloudburst Thursday.
This is an attempt to solve a problem that doesn’t exist. There are tons of cheap materials to make bikes out of that last longer. They’re what these poor areas are already using.
Cardboard--it's the new plastic.
Thanks for the laugh.
THERE WE GO... lookin’ for more uses for wood fibers. Please!!! Hug your tree!
My dad knows a guy who is a Cardboard Box Engineer.
It is truly amazing what you can accomplish with a little geometry.
It was really fun. I call it “Industrial Origami” and have a few great examples in my office.
Lucky kid!
The cheapest bike I can buy is about $50 at a pawnshop.
First time it rains, all our tax dollars are once again washed away.
I love the first sentence of the description.
Yes. I will be proud — for I will lay waste to half of the world with my Polaris nuclear sub. LOL
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