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This Cardboard Bicycle Cost Only $12 to Make—And It Works!

Jul 28, 2012 04:41 PM

Modern bicycle with a unique design, parked by a pathway.

Stop me if you've heard this one before. A man walks into a bicycle shop, hears about a canoe made of cardboard and is inspired to make an awesome, fully-functional cardboard bicycle.

3D-printed bicycle model in a workshop setting.

Sound far-fetched? Wait until you hear how his guy actually did it.

Man cycling on a light green bicycle in an urban park.

Israeli entrepreneur Izhar Gafni says that the idea for his method came from Japanese origami. Folding the cardboard increases its strength by 2-3 times, making the material much more durable.

Hands holding a cardboard model with detailed layering.

A person holding a rolled piece of material with a intricate design.

Essentially, he made the basic shape for each part with multiple layers of cardboard and then attached another piece around the outside edges to reinforce it.

Woodworker shaping a curved edge with finger joints on a wooden piece.

Then, he sanded and painted all the parts and put them together. Pretty impressive considering his first prototype looked like this:

A creatively designed wooden toy motorcycle.

Watch the video below to see Gafni's process, start to finish, and hear more about his story.

What's the craziest thing you ever built out of cardboard?

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