On: Recycled Cardboard Bicycles For $9?

[sopooneo]

But what is the nature of the failure? If the way you know the bike is ready to throw out is that it collapses underneath you, that's no good.

[pavel_lishin → sopooneo]

I imagine that for $20, the way you know the bike is ready to throw out is that you've been riding it for more than a week on vacation.

[sopooneo → pavel_lishin]

Sure, but why not keep it? Why not have them for normal bikes? Probably because they don't last. So how don't they last? By getting mushy and hard to pedal? That's fine. By collapsing underneath you? That's not.

And if they do exhibit catastrophic failure and just average a weeks lifespan, that's a non-starter, because maybe you collapse into the curb the second day you're riding one.

[pavel_lishin → sopooneo]

> Sure, but why not keep it?

Basically for the reason you gave: "So how don't they last? By collapsing underneath you?"

Planned obsolescence is a pretty old and valid concept. We specifically throw away many things before they get the chance to fail us catastrophically - drugs, brakes, etc.

> average a weeks lifespan

A week was a random number I pulled out of my hat, since that's a typical vacation length for me. Naturally the average would be much longer.