I have a friend who still looks out for her stolen bike wherever she goes. She might not be so obsessed with the loss if the bike had been made for $9 out of recycled cardboard.
Bike enthusiast and designer Izhar Gafni built a functioning bicycle out of cardboard. The inspiration came from a another inventor's cardboard canoe project.
Gafni ran his idea by some engineers who told him to give up the dream, that it was impossible. He tried it anyway. The result is an attractive, working bike that costs as little as $9 to make. Of course, that price tag doesn't include the immense amount of R&D time Gafni put into it.
The bike went through a tremendous amount of prototyping and tweaking. The finished piece is dipped in a coating material that gives it a shiny outer shell and protects the material from the elements. You wouldn't know it was cardboard just by looking at it.
The bike design could eventually make its way into the hands of buyers around the world. It would be inexpensive, but not likely to hold up as long as a regular bike.
Perhaps the best part is if you bought one and it got swiped, it wouldn't break the bank to replace it.