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