We did talk about the cardboard bicycle idea in July this year, where the cost of manufacturing such a green mode of transportation is said to be $9, but since inventor of the cardboard bicycle, Izhar Gafni, is not running a charity, chances are should his idea actually take off and we see mass production of the cardboard bicycle, the eventual price tag would be a wee bit more than double its production cost – we’re talking about a $20 sticker here. With a bicycle that is made almost entirely of cardboard, it very well has the potential to changing transportation habits, especially in areas where even purchasing a bicycle is a big financial burden to a family.
Izhar claims that his latest prototype has proven itself, and mass production is tipped to begin in just a few months’ time, saying, “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. 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.”
Will we see BMX versions of a cardboard bicycle appear on ESPN soon?
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