Is it feasible? Will it work? Is it comfortable? These are the questions that will have plagued the development of "the greenest bike in the world," the Urban GC1.
The bike from Mexican company Greencode, is made out of recycled paper, recycled plastics, reusable steel, and even has a recycled polystyrene paint job.
Technically speaking, the company's Kickstarter page is light on specifics. The page does contain reassurances, however, that the bike works, even highlighting that despite the fact that the product's primary building material is paper, rain won't ruin it. The Urban GC1 is waterproof.
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The company does say that the bike will weigh 10kg, will run coaster brakes - back pedal brakes - as opposed to callipers or discs due to the technical problems with the company's proprietary wheels, and that the bicycles shown on the kickstarter page are not the final product.
A response to a question on the Kickstarter page says that the company does not yet have the funds to generate the final product, but that the final product is "awesome".
Greencode's priority appears to be providing the world with a genuinely sustainably produced bike, and it appears they are achieving that.
The Urban GC1 is only 35% steel and the steel the bike uses is reusable. The rest of the machine is made out of strong, Greencode-produced lightweight recycled kraft paper panels, recycled plastic, and recycled rubber.
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The wheels avoid the need for disposable materials by running solid rubber tyres which "absorb the vibrations generated by movement." Greencode says that this "allows you to have a smooth ride, but without worrying about the air in your tyres."
The bike is projected to be shipped to Kickstarter backers later in 2017.
Retail price is expected to be around $2999 MXN, which is around £115.
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6 comments
£115? I'm very suspicious about their ability to deliver this.
Delivery costs more than the bike.
Calibers or disks? Calipers or discs?
Well, that's an embarassingly neat little bundle of mistakes. Thanks for the spot, it's been amended.
I serpause sinz we duzzn't peigh 4 vis pubblicaysion, we kahnt xpekt prouf reedin or editin.
That's weigh cool. This, surely, is the whey forward.
Incidentally, can you send them the paper you want your bike made from? If so, I'd want one recycled from copies of the Daily Mail, for super-irony value.