General Cycling Discussion - Fully recyclable, the bike made out of cardboard

Fully recyclable, the bike made out of cardboard
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article4221806.ece

I do not see how the £15 price includes the tires and tubes. Otherwise it is clever.

Hmm...Life expectancy of 6 months? Does that mean you have some massive endo every 6 months?

Recycle one cardboard bicycle every 6 months or one steel bike every 20 years...which makes more sense?

In a world where the car rules and we need (not want) more people and every day life has become dreary and montonous... shouldn't we celebrate an original idea? This bike is perfect for the homeless person. After they ride, they can deconstruct it for their temporary living quarters! Solves the grocery cart problem. ;)

I agree with 'travelinhobo', we should rejoice in the original idea. even if it lasts only 6 months, it's a good step to making reliable bikes cheaper. even if they're only reliable for 6 months.

...and when it rains it's turn into paper-maché :thumb:

Well, we already have disposable bikes sold at Walmart. The problem is that when they make them cheap, they don't make them reliable. They're not going to sell a $30 cardboard bicycle with Dura-Ace stuff on it.

And I still want to know how that fails when it fails. Lasting 6 months means you're rolling the dice everything you go anywhere on it.

I, for one, think this idea is pretty darn cool. I'd love to have a spare bike to keep at work. If I got a ride to work (overslept and cabbed it, husband was up early and dropped me off, etc.), I could still ride home. It would also be nice to loan to a coworker with a flat car tire or someone wanting to go to the 7-11 two blocks from the station.

Remember it is a concept. For example maybe just a few parts of an actual bike could be paper. Maybe seats on really cheap bikes could be paper not foam. Cardboard paniers for rental bikes?

"Dude...my bike burned to the ground..."

This reminds me of the final project assignment in a design class at my architectural school many years ago. The assignment was to put structural design concepts to practical use and construct a watercraft capable of transporting yourself across a small pond near campus. Each person was limited to two large sheets of corrugated paper (cardboard), roll of plastic tape, bottle of glue and pint of urethane varnish. Paddles or sails were okay as accessory propulsion and could be of any material. There were a lot of interesting designs; some were spectacular failures, others worked well and were downright cool-looking. I'm sure of the latter group that none would have lasted six months. I survived the test, however.

Does wal-mart have those yet?

Well I'm 12 stone 7, so that let's me out.

Aren't regular bicycles fully recyclable?

Good thing it's recyclable. First thing I'd do with that thing is throw it away.

they don't make them reliable. They're not going to sell a $30 cardboard bicycle with Dura-Ace stuff on it.
You have to make them reliable,beside most wal-mart bikes frames are way to small and are for kids.

On my 1 year old trek I had to replace the rear wheel(I wore the hub out) and relaced it with a new coaster brake hub and one of my old wal mart bike spokes and rim and its fine now.the hub only costed me about $20.00,a new wheel would have costed me $50.00.