The carboard bike in all its glory
© Giora Kariv
Cycling
This Bike Is Made Solely of Cardboard
Meet the man who thought out of the box to make his dream of a working cardboard bike come true.
By Rajiv Desai
1 min readPublished on
The idea of a cardboard bike initally seems like a flimsy and impractical idea, but for one man, Izhar Gafni, building such a bike has been very much a labor of love.
The Israeli national, a keen cyclist, spent years in his workshop perfecting techniques to build a cardboard bike that would be strong enough to support a human's weight and allow him to ride every day.
Watch above to find out the story of how Gafni came to build his game-changing cardboard bike.
Gafni found that by folding or layering commercial-grade cardboard several times you reinforce the cardboard and give it strength. A frame design, for instance, could then be cut or shaped from this reinforced cardboard.
Once cut the bike parts are stiffened with a special varnish resin mixture to increase durability and strength. Finally a waterproof coating and lacquered paint is added to make the part ready for assembly.
The frame, wheels, handlebar and saddle on Gafni's single-speed bike are all made of cardboard. The brakes, tires and drivetrain are made of other materials. The finished bike comes in at a weight of 20 pounds.
Find out more about Izhar Gafni's work with the cardboard bike and other cardboard technologies here.
Cycling