VIDEO: Israeli Inventor Introduces $20 Cardboard Bike
via Cardboard bike is a ‘game changer’ in Africa – Telegraph.
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.
“I was always fascinated by applying unconventional technologies to materials and I did this on several occasions. But this was the culmination of a few things that came together. I worked for four years to cancel out the corrugated cardboard’s weak structural points,” Gafni said.
“Making a cardboard box is easy and it can be very strong and durable, but to make a bicycle was extremely difficult and I had to find the right way to fold the cardboard in several different directions. It took a year and a half, with lots of testing and failure until I got it right,” he said.
Cardboard, made of wood pulp, was invented in the 19th century as sturdy packaging for carrying other more valuable objects, it has rarely been considered as raw material for things usually made of much stronger materials, such as metal.
Hat tip: Kurzweil AI
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Hopefully waterproof? Well it is recyclable, so I guess you could just get another one. Having to put the drivetrain back on would suck though.
I can see this being big in developing countries and hipsters in cities. A cheap bicycle can jump start work until you can afford a car or fare for mass transit. Or help get kids to school and back quickly and from further away.
Forgot to mention. I was wondering about the drivetrain too. It is included with the bike and does not seem to be replacable. He used recycled fan belts and recycled tire rubber over the carboard wheels.
The bikes are treated so that they are waterproof and fireproof. The inventor soaked one in a tub of water for a month and it was totally fine. They cost about $9.00 to make. They can be made totally from recyled material.
Imagine that. An actual innovation, eco green friendly which could help many people in poverty or just be a fun inexpensive product, and it did not require one penny of stimulus tax money or a government policy to come up with.
So it’s safe to have one in Seattle?
Don’t let one penny of stimulus money go near this project, else it’ll go belly up.
Why cant the Israeli’s just stick to what they do best, oppressing other people, being needlessly violent and generally being the main threat to world peace? All these inventions etc. are really disturbing the narrative!