IKEA doesn’t sell bikes, but if it did, the result might be Sandwichbike, the flat-packed, customer-assembled bike you can get in the mail. Why did Dutch design company Bleijh Industrial name a bicycle after Liz Lemon’s favorite food after night cheese? Because the bike’s wheels are sandwiched between local, responsibly forested beech plywood. Yum!
So once you’ve finished the Dagstorp and your pastrami, brace yourself for assembling 52 parts — although Bleijh Industrial swears it isn’t that hard. “If you can make a sandwich, you can surely build a Sandwichbike,” they promise, adding that you should be able to do it in 45 minutes. Just remind us where the mayo goes?
Along with the weatherproofed, PEFC-certified wooden frame, you get aluminum cylinders milled by hand, 14G stainless steel spokes, 26-inch Schwalbe Big Apple tires, and a Shimano single speed/coaster brake (HIPSTER). The bike’ll best fit people 5’3” to 6’6”. But is it hardy? “Our wooden baby can compete with any steel or carbon frame,” Bleijh Industrial says.
The €799 bike ($1,083 for us Yanks, plus $200 shipping) ships in one neat 37-pound package in January 2014.
