A bicycle made almost entirely of cardboard（硬纸板） has the potential to change transportation habits from the world's most congested cities to the poorest reaches of Africa, its Israeli inventor says.

 

Izhar Gafni, 50, is an expert in designing automated² mass-production lines. He is an amateur cycling enthusiast³ who for years toyed with an idea of making a bicycle from cardboard.

 

He said during a recent demonstration⁴ 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 culmination⁵ of a few things that came together. I worked for four years to cancel out the corrugated⁶（波纹的） cardboard's weak structural⁷ points," Gafni said.

 

"Making a cardboard box is easy and it can be very strong and durable⁸, 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.

 

Once the shape has been formed and cut, the cardboard is treated with a secret concoction⁹（混合，调和） made of organic materials to give it its waterproof¹⁰ and fireproof qualities. In the final stage, it is coated with lacquer（漆） paint for appearance.

 

In testing the durability¹¹ of the treated cardboard, Gafni said he immersed a cross-section in a water tank for several months and it retained all its hardened characteristics.

 

Once ready for production, the bicycle will include no metal parts, even the brake mechanism¹² and the wheel and pedal bearings will be made of recycled substances, although Gafni said he could not yet reveal those details due to pending¹³ patent issues.

 

"I'm repeatedly surprised at just how strong this material is, it is amazing. Once we are ready to go to production, the bike will have no metal parts at all," Gafni said.

 

Gafni owns several top-of-the-range bicycles which he said are worth thousands of dollars each, but when his own creation reaches mass production, it should cost no more than about $20 to buy. The cost of materials used are estimated at $9 per unit.

 

Nimrod Elmish, Gafni's business partner, said cardboard and other recycled materials could bring a major change in current production norms because grants and rebates¹⁴ would only be given for local production and there would be no financial benefits by making bicycles in cheap labor¹⁵ markets.

 

"This is a real game-changer. It changes ... the way products are manufactured and shipped, it causes factories to be built everywhere instead of moving production to cheaper labor markets, everything that we have known in the production world can change," he said.

 

Elmish said the cardboard bikes would be made on largely automated production lines and would be supplemented by a workforce¹⁶ comprising pensioners¹⁷ and the disabled.

 

He said that apart from the social benefits this would provide for all concerned, it would also garner¹⁸ government grants for the manufacturers.

 

Elmish said the business model they had created meant that rebates for using "green" materials would entirely cancel out production costs and this could allow for bicycles to be given away for free in poor countries.

 

Producers would reap financial rewards from advertisements such as from multinational¹⁹ companies who would pay for their logo to be part of the frame, he explained.

 

Elmish said initial production was set to begin in Israel in months on three bicycle models and a wheelchair and they will be available to purchase within a year.

 

The bicycles are not only very cheap to make, they are very light and do not need to be adjusted or repaired, the solid tires that are made of reconstituted rubber from old car tires will never get a puncture²⁰, Elmish said.

 

A full-size cardboard bicycle will weigh around 9 kg (about 20 lbs) compared to an average metal bicycle, which weight around 14 kg.

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