Cardboard bicycle can change the world, says Israeli inventor.

[Globalti]

Anybody remember the Africar? It sank without trace because, again, nobody reckoned that Africans actually want prestige brands not some patronising piece of ugly junk.

 

[jonny jeez]

They look fantastic!! and I would definitely ride one if they came over here for £20.

which they wont.

the tyres alone will cost nearly double that (even if they are recycled ones) and relying on second hand timing belts for the drive train doesn't sound like a route to the mass produced market.

In reality both of these parts will need manufacturing (even if they are created from recycled materials) and that will add to cost.

Great looking student project though.

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txSboSNQINs

 

[jonny jeez]

Watching the vid, he's not a student, its a proper vocation...an obsession perhaps.

but, looking at the rims and the hubs I suspect a year is an over exaggeration of its life cycle (geddit!).

the brakes rub directly on to the cardboard rims!! I'd give it 30 minutes of hard braking and its game over.

Still love it though, and I would be intrigued to have a go if they were launched to a mass market.
Perhaps they could be sold as disposable bikes, where you "rent one" for a night, to get home form the club then drop it in a recycle bin where the brakes and tyres are removed and added to the next one.

 

[Globalti]

That's a better idea.

 

[mickle]

Since when did disposable anything be environmental? This bloke has thought 'Ooh. I could make a cardboard bike' which is fair dos. I quite like it as an exercise. But trying to make his little project make sense by suggesting it's the answer to Africa's transport problems is patently ridiculous. But then he wouldn't be the only self publicist who's used wild exaggerations to promote their projects. I just wish the news desks would quit for falling for sh it like this.

$£10/20?! Never in a zillion - kazzillion years. I'd love to know how many man-hours it took to make that one he's riding in the vid. And judging by how trepidatious he is on it I reckon it's probably even sh itter to ride than the bike that was going to revolutionise the bicycle manufacturing industry 30 years ago. Anyone remeber the Swedish disaster that was the Itera? Sh-ittera more like.

 

[Globalti]

I found this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_bicycle looks awful.

....but wait! Surely a carbon fibre bike is made from plastic? Admittedly reinforced but still in a polymer resin?

 

[spacecadet9]

http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/16/cardboard-bicycle/

 

[ColinJ]

Already being discussed in this thread!

 

[Chris S]

I thought this was just another YouTube curiousity but apparently it's going into production within the next few months.
http://www.thejc.com/news/israel-news/87027/israeli-bicycle-made-cardboard-enter-production

 

[Chris S]

Plans to put this into production have been shelved - they coudldn't raise the $2 million necessary to open the production line.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/07/19/carboard-bicycle-indiegogo-fails_n_3622855.html

 

[MontyVeda]

Anybody remember the Africar? It sank without trace because, again, nobody reckoned that Africans actually want prestige brands not some patronising piece of ugly junk.

Africar sank without a trace because the company was run by incompetent numpties.... there's a big difference between what people want and what they can afford... and in the case of the Africar, what they can afford to repair.

 

[Lanzecki]

'Inventor'. Can you call your self an inventor if you've made something that's already been invented? If I make a tent out of an as yet unused cover, does that make me an inventor.

Surely he's just a designer.

 

[Cyclopathic]

It's durability will have a lot to do with the quality of the sellotape used to hold it together.

 

[mickle]

Their first mistake was making the presumption that the answer to 'Africa's problems' was an inexpensive (by western standards) car.

 

[oldroadman]

Plans to put this into production have been shelved - they coudldn't raise the $2 million necessary to open the production line.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/07/19/carboard-bicycle-indiegogo-fails_n_3622855.html

Did the shelf collapse then?
Can't trust cardboard. Get scratched and all that cheap waterproofing is useless as it goes slowly soggy from the inside. I suppose you could burn it in cold weather.