There has been a pretty much as much been said and shouted about plastic as there could be in the past few years and while everyone feels that it is an evil, it also has acquired the status of ‘necessary evil’. It is just both the economic flexibility and the designing flexibility that plastic offers ensuring that it is not easily replaced and hence starts piling up day after day becoming a burden on the planet. The best way to deal with something not biodegradable is recycling and ‘Innervision’ is a bike that does exactly that.
The Innervision is a plastic bicycle designed to be fully recyclable. We don’t know if it would actually be more recyclable than an aluminum frame, but the polypropylene frame certainly looks cool, and because it is designed for mass production, it should be cheap and easy to build. It consists of two frames, both split into two halves. The inner section is ribbed with a triangular structure to stop it flexing, and the outer frame slots on over the top. These halves are then joined by welding.
The rear forks, as you can see, are reinforced and, according to Bike Commuter, the thing rides well: it’s rigid and very light. The prototype, by designer Matt Clark, is made from virgin plastic, but the plan is to make bikes from old food containers and other polypropylene waste. While this is really good idea I really would like to know how much energy is wasted in the recycling of the initial raw material to make it and to what extent is it economically viable. Some concrete stats in that regard would sure settle a few doubts.
Via: blogwired
