First plastic bicycle

Press, 5 September 1981, Page 14

First plastic bicycle

NZPA-Reuter Stockholm A Swedish company says it has developed the world’s first plastic bicycle, which it hopes will become a bestseller. “This is the first functioning plastic bicycle in the world,” said the project technical manager, Mr Ingvar Javer, of Itera Development - Centre, A. 8., a privately • owned company. The bicycle, which the producers say is virtually free of maintenance and rust, wa; developed by two former product innovators at Volvo, the. car-making firm. The new -product was shown to journalists in the west coast city of Goteborg.

Newspaper reports were positive, although some reporters who rode the test bicycle said it was a little wobbly. Most parts, such as the unisex frame, the wheels, the handlebars, and the forks are made of composite, a plastic material reinforced with fibre-glass. Mr Javer said composite was “stronger than steel if you compare weight and property." At the press show a technician showed the strength of the plastic material by crashing an eight-spoke wheel on the roadway several times. "We teb bit ydes had not changed lor the last luo

years," Mr Javer said. “Using today’s materials we developed a better bicycle.” Technicians kept standard metal parts such as brakes and gears in assembling the new bicycle, “ but it was useful to replace components that get better with composite.” The bicycle is said to weigh 20 per'cent less than an ordinary one.

Tyres and inner tubes are conventional but Mr Javer said a plastic coating on the inside of the tyre would reduce the risk of a puncture by 75 per cent. Production would begin in January at Vilhelmina Plast. a Stale-owned plastic factory in Lapland.