[seahorse3]

According to this article, a cardboard bike costing $20 is getting ready for mass production. No metal parts. According to inventor, workable and passes all kinds of stress tests, including water proof and fireproof. If true, this could be a game changer for many.

http://news.yahoo.com/cardboard-bicycle-change-world-says-israeli-inventor-090732689.html

[Tanada]

This reminds me of the news just a few years ago about the guy who designed wheelchairs for poor people that used common plastic chair and bicycle parts with a couple unique couplings and brackets. The guy is a hero in poor countries for restoring mobility to less fortunate disabled people. If they really can produce these cardboard bikes for 9 bucks and sell them for 20 they will be hero's to those who can't afford all the fancy bells and whistles.

[Beery1]

I'll believe the $20 price tag when I see it. But even at $20, it's going to be a stretch for such bicycles to sell in countries where bike sharing is common and healthy second-hand bicycle markets exist. I can (and have) bought perfectly good bicycles on eBay for $50 here in the US. I'll bet second-hand markets in Third World countries are selling metal bikes for a fifth that amount.

[davep]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Beery1', 'I')'ll believe the $20 price tag when I see it. But even at $20, it's going to be a stretch for such bicycles to sell in countries where bike sharing is common and healthy second-hand bicycle markets exist. I can (and have) bought perfectly good bicycles on eBay for $50 here in the US. I'll bet second-hand markets in Third World countries are selling metal bikes for a fifth that amount.

[seahorse3]

What I like is the aspect of being able to make a bike with no metal. I don't know all the "energy" specifics of it, but seems to be less energy intensive, greener, and cheaper for everyone. Anyway, nice innovation. I hope it is a success.

[Plantagenet]

That is so cool.

Thanks Seahorse.

[SeaGypsy]

The 'secret organic solution' holding it all together has to be epoxy resin, perhaps with some equivalent of fibre glass around the cardboard skeleton. Very clever, but still hooked up to the oil industry. Epoxy resins are defined as 'organic' because they break down to organic molecules, unlike polyester resins. There are more sustainable sources of epoxy, such as cashew nut tree resin, but these are not yet economically viable/ certainly would cost much more than the oil based product available everywhere.

[Plantagenet]

What in heck is the "chain" made out of? Cardboard? Wouldn't it abrade and wear out?

What are the pedals made from?

How about the handlebars?

I can see how an epoxy resin could set up in cardboard and be strong enough to form the bike frame, but the flexible chain and the very strong materials needed for pedals must be made of something different then cardboard?

[SeaGypsy]

There are some more pictures on the site linked. One looks like it shows a rubber drive with a tensioner wheel, running on a cogless metal sprocket, which does appear to be the only visible metal on the bike. I would happily bet the bearings are also steel! Cardboard/ epoxy bearings- nope. No bearings- nope.

[careinke]

The "Chain" is a car timing belt.

[Revi]

Now when you tell the kid not to leave the bike out in the rain or it won't work it's really true.

[SeaGypsy]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'L')ook ma! No epoxy.



Vintage bamboo/rattan from the 1940's

[SeaGypsy]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Revi', 'N')ow when you tell the kid not to leave the bike out in the rain or it won't work it's really true.

[Tanada]

I don't know why but I have the impression the ride would be much stiffer than on a standard alloy frame bike. I have nothing to back that up, just an impression.

[jedrider]

Reminds me of disposable cameras. I hope it doesn't go that route. At least, it is cardboard, not plastic, although I wonder if it is plasticized cardboard at that.

[SeaGypsy]

Epoxy is a form of plastic, as is lacquer paint.

[Beery1]

Instead of making up new-fangled ways to build bikes, why don't we just refurbish all the scrapped bikes and bikes sitting in people's garages from the last 50 years. I'll bet there are enough perfectly rideable bikes sitting around to give one to every person on the planet.

[SeaGypsy]

I see piles of them chucked out for such breakdowns as a rusted chain or brake cable, or bent derailleur. The culture of waste is still rife. One of the positives of the downslope should be an end to such waste.