What are bicycles made of?
Bicycles take 7 things directly, among them steel, aluminum, carbon fiber, paint, steel wire and ball bearing. Trace them back and you pass 52 made things on the way to 23 raw materials.
How bicycles are made See it on the map
What goes straight in
From the ground: 23 raw materials
- Crude oil through aluminum
- Coal through aluminum
- Air through carbon fiber
- Water through paint
- Natural rubber latex through tire
- Sulfur through tire
- Iron ore through steel, manganese
- Limestone through steel, quicklime
- Dolomite through steel, magnesium
- Manganese ore through steel, manganese
- Natural gas through steel, manganese
- Bauxite through aluminum, alumina
- Titanium ore through paint, titanium dioxide
- Quartz through steel, magnesium, metallurgical silicon
- Timber through steel, magnesium, metallurgical silicon
- Rock salt through paint, titanium dioxide, chlorine
- Zinc ore through ball bearing, sheet steel, zinc
- Copper ore through tire, brass, copper
- Lead ore through tire, brass, lead
- Tin ore through tire, brass, tin
- Corn through tire, polyester, PET plastic, ethylene glycol, carbon dioxide
- Sugarcane through tire, polyester, PET plastic, ethylene glycol, carbon dioxide, baker's yeast, molasses
- Sugar beet through tire, polyester, PET plastic, ethylene glycol, carbon dioxide, baker's yeast, molasses
Made along the way: 45 things
Metals 12
Chemicals and fuels 25
Oxygen gasQuicklimeArgonPetroleum cokePropyleneAmmoniaTitanium dioxidePigmentCarbon blackPropaneSulfuric acidCaustic sodaNaphthaChlorineMethanolBenzeneEthyleneStyreneNitric acidCharcoalHydrogenToluenePara-xyleneEthylene glycolCarbon dioxide