Ikea-style Bikes Flat-packed in a Little Box You Assemble Yourself?

A company called Sandwichbikes is selling very basic customizable plywood single-speeds that are remarkable mainly for their packaging: the 50 or so separate parts are packed in a little box that you assemble yourself, Ikea-like.  This bike doesn't seem very exciting, but the idea may have use in sending huge numbers of bikes to Third World countries, for instance.  Or outfitting a fleet of cheap share-bikes for a college campus?  More here.

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Tricolor on April 16, 2013 at 8:15am

What happens if it gets wet?

Permalink Reply by Thunder Snow on April 16, 2013 at 8:54am

Polyurethane clear coat?  Deck paint?

Permalink Reply by Thunder Snow on April 17, 2013 at 8:53pm

Echo, I agree, it's a really interesting concept for a cheap utilitarian easy-to-ship-and-assemble bike.  I looked all over the web site but didn't find a single mention of pricing, always a bad sign.  This is the project of a Dutch design firm and will be manufactured by a Dutch factory.  Even if this turns out to be overpriced, as a design demonstration, made in small batches, the idea behind it could be used to crank out vast quantities of cheap utility bikes for Third World countries, that could be easily drop-shipped on pallets to remote corners of the world.  Identical, easily swapped out parts could keep a fleet of these going indefinitely.  That's what I find exciting about all this.

They'd be a vast improvement over these Filipino mountain bikes, for instance:

 

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on April 18, 2013 at 12:55am

BSO

Yabba dabba doo!

Those folks must have calluses on their feet an inch or more thick. 

Permalink Reply by Juan Primo on April 18, 2013 at 6:38am

Can't agree with the sentiment of "it's cheap and might not work but let's send it to the third world".

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on April 18, 2013 at 6:53am

I think that people all over the world should be able to make their own choices as to whether they want to purchase expensive high-quality products or cheaper "value" products (or low-quality, whatever you want to call it.)

Sitting back on our high hobby-horse in the USA and deciding for them whether they need X or shouldn't have Y because of reason Z is pretty arrogant if you ask me.  

First world problems...

Permalink Reply by Thunder Snow on April 19, 2013 at 8:49am

Because I think a SandwichBike, which can pedal UP a mountain might be preferred by folks who currently ride bikes that can only coast down to a valley, I'm a Western Imperialist?  Yeah, probably.  Meh.

I'm mainly bemused by the effort of these two Dutch companies, Bleijh (the designers) and Pedalfactory (the manufacturers, to produce bikes that don't seem at all suited to Dutch (or really Western European, American, Canadian, Australian, etc.) markets.

In fact, the original thinking for this was as an aid program for the Third World:

"Back in 2006 the bike was supposed to be really cheap, and part of an aid program:

As we understand it, their idea is to craft a bike twice as cheap as standard models. This will allow the purchaser to basically buy two for the price of one. He/She keeps one, while another can be shipped to developing countries to provide much needed transport, such as enabling rural kids to cover long distances to school. Their vision being that a donation of mobility, unlike money, will not be subject to corruption."

http://www.treehugger.com/bikes/the-sandwich-bike-two-for-one.html

http://www.treehugger.com/bikes/sandwichbike-finally-rolls-out-mark...

 

And now, I simply must get back to exploiting people in the Third World.  ;-P

 

 

 

 

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on April 19, 2013 at 8:58am

I think it's Dutch. It sounds like their stupid handiwork, with their cheese and their giant propeller buildings.

Permalink Reply by Thunder Snow on April 19, 2013 at 9:04am

And don't forget those dumb wooden shoes and hashish parlors.  Oh, wait...

James BlackHeron said:

I think it's Dutch. It sounds like their stupid handiwork, with their cheese and their giant propeller buildings.

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on April 19, 2013 at 9:05am

I don't hate the Dutch. I love the Dutch. That's why I hold them to a higher standard.

Permalink Reply by Thunder Snow on April 19, 2013 at 9:20am

Uh, Serge--exactly what are you on about?

 

edit: Oh, I see: the marketing nonsense "a truly unique ride"?  Yeah, they're Dutch, they don't speak English correctly.

Serge Lubomudrov said:

Hell, no, if only for the grammar. UNIQUE is UNIQUE is UNIQUE. It's fucking ONE OF A KIND, that's why it's called UNIQUE, you stupid morons! There is no such thing as "truly," "very," "quite," "absolutely," or any other kind of unique!

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on April 19, 2013 at 9:25am

"A truly unique ride"

-Brought to you by Carl's Jr.™

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