Before you pipe up about the weather, the inventor of this recyclable bicycle insists that his creation won't collapse in a soggy heap at the first sign of rain.
University student Phil Bridge, 21, didn't set out to create a cardboard bike. He approached the final project of his Sheffield Hallam University Product Design course with the intention of encouraging more people to cycle.
"I realized that one of the biggest issues in Britain was the initial cost of a bike," he said. "Also, people are concerned about leaving their bike outside in the street chained to a lamppost; will it be vandalized or stolen?"
He decided to make a bike that was so cheap, thieves wouldn't be interested in stealing it.
On that count, he has succeeded. He estimates that the cardboard bicycle costs about $30 to produce.
So far, few have had the privilege of taking the recyclable bicycle for a spin. The first prototype was "half-ridden" around the university in Sheffield as part of initial testing. The current version is a visual prototype that's being displayed at Creative Spark, an exhibition of work by the university's graduate students.
Source: www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/06/17/cardboard.bike/