BikeHacks

Fashion Forward

New York is synonymous with fashion and while running an errand through the fashion district I noticed this sign.  I got lucky with the person riding in the bike lane to match. 

It is nice to see fashion people jump on the bicycle bandwagon for fashion week.  Last year DKNY littered NYC with orange bikes for fashion week in an attempt to get attention but this year others seem to have put out a better idea.  From the Web site tourdefashion.com comes the following description of the program:

During New York City’s Fashion Week 2011, one of the hottest designer accessories won’t be a handbag or stiletto. Instead, fashionistas will have the opportunity to borrow one of the 30 bicycles designed by fashion royalty including Diane von Furstenberg, Isaac Mizrahi, Betsey Johnson, Prabal Gurung, Elie Tahari and others.

The bikes were purchases from a local company as well, Bowery Lane Bicycles.  I spotted one a while back and it is nice to see them doing well. 

Let's just hope this does not spawn an army of three-speed terrors. 

Etsy Bike Items

Evan, who sells some bike related stuff over at Etsy, sent along the following two simple but effective bike part repurposing solutions.  First off is a wall bike rack . . .

. . . and in case you have not found a creative way to open your favorite beer, here is a modified fork for that purpose.

 

Bike Seat Chain Theft Deterrent

Reader Kari from Chicago spotted the following hack, which just so happens to be number 7 in our list of 8 Solutions to Fight Bicyle Part theft. It would be more "tight" with an inner tube wrapped around it.

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Spotted at Broadway & Wellington in Chicago.  I've always shied away from a fancy shmancy seat because I would be too paranoid about it being stolen but then I saw this great hack!  Granted, it would still be easy enough to cut through the chain but it's at least another obstacle to swiping a seat, especially if a thief doesn't have a chain tool or bolt cutters on them.

Bike Trailer for Windsurfing Equipment

I have a dream.  A dream to own a bike trailer one day.  This dream will likely require that I not live in a fourth floor walk up apartment building that is 111 years old and is square footage challenged.  Reader Mark contacted us with a great little hack of a trailer meant to haul kids, but that he has re-purposed to haul windsurfing equipment.  All text and the picture below credited to Mark. 

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I used a bike trailer designed for children to transport a full windsurfing setup.  I used the existing parts, just reconfigured them to hold what I needed.

This trailer that I pulled my two kids around in has a handle that attaches to the back so that you can use it as a stroller.  So I clamped the handle to the front instead and slipped the seat backing off of the cross bar that holds it up.  This was simple because the whole thing is designed to fold.

Then I just put surf pads on the crossbar and the handle and Voilà! A surfboard rack.  I then took some webbing that I had from my climbing days and strapped the rest of the gear to hang underneath the crossbars.  My wetsuit and all the other stuff goes into the seating area of the trailer.

BTW, this is an $80 trailer from Target (InSTEP Journey Bicycle Trailer) so it's easily accessible to most.  And although I love to get out my tools, the only tool I used to mod this was a screwdriver needed to detach the seat backing from the crossbar.  The other thing I like about this hack is that the trailer is easily returned to it's original purpose.

$10 Homebuilt Bicycle Maintenance Stand

We continue to receive great DIY bike repair stand ideas from our readers.  This time Mike went MacGyver on his garage workbench and created a repair stand for less than $10.  All text and pictures below are credited to Mike and the original pictures can be found via his photobucket account. 

If you have a created a maintenance stand feel free to email us.  For a summary of all the DIY stands featured on Bike Hacks click here. 

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Faced with a need to elevate my bicycle for a bit of maintenance, as well a lack of funding for anything better, the “MacGyver” that is present in most of us came to the rescue.
 
The garage already had a workbench and a vise which would serve to hold a length of 2x4 in an upright and vertical position.
 
Two additional and shorter lengths of 2x4 were stacked one on top of the other, and a drill mounted hole saw was used to create a U-shaped notch in each piece.
 
A used computer mouse pad was cut into sections and used to pad the U-shaped notches.
 
One of these notched lengths of 2x4 was attached to the vertical member using a 5 1/2” HD “L” bracket.
 
The remaining notched length of 2x4 was attached on top of the other using a simple hinge.
 
The top tube of the bicycle is placed into the lower notch, the hinged length of 2x4 brought down to clamp the bicycle in place. Gaps in the mouse pad cushions protected the cable runs.
 
At the time of creation, a simple C-Clamp was used to clamp the hinged portion in place.
 
A later “upgrade” (shown in the photos) involved the creation of pivoting bolt and a round piece of plywood used as a knob to which a threaded Tee nut was pressed into place.
 
Now, after dropping the hinged portion downward, the pivoting bolt is rotated downward and into a notch, and the plywood “knob” simply tightens the package together.
 
Material List:
 
1 ea    2x4x72”
1 ea    2x4x20”
1 ea    2x4x18”
2 ea    1x2x4”
1 ea    1” diameter wood dowel x 2.25” long
1 ea    1/4-20 Carriage Bolt x 6” long
1 ea    1/4-20 Cap Nut
1 ea    1/4-20 Tee Nut
1 ea    5 1/2” HD “L” bracket
1 ea    1 1/2” or 2” hinge
1 ea    Used mouse pad

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Greeting Card Bike Hack

Reader Leo was doing some recycling recently and came up with an alternate use for one of those musical birthday cards.  All text and the picture credited to Leo.

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I was putting out the recycling and came across the birthday my folks sent me and realized, I can’t put the noisemaker in the recycling bag, so I tore the card apart to pull out the sound.
 
I got to thinking, “This might work as a bell when coming up behind people in a bike lane”  so I started fiddling with it to see where it would fit on my handlebars, close to the brake levers and noticed, duh, the speaker is a very strong magnet, so voila!
 
It rests on my frame and a cable tie secures the switch to the frame, so all I have to do is touch that and the fanfare to Star Wars blares!   This is a foundation hack, for all of you mechanical sorts, there should be lots of ways to improve on the idea.

Beer Bottle Cap and Can Bike Decorations

We have featured several hacks involving beverage corks used for bike related purposes and in a recent post featuring the creative use of some wine and champagne corks I tossed out the question of whether or not people had run into uses for bottle caps when it comes to bike related hacks.  We received a few comments and emails which inspired me to come up with something I have not seen before. 

Reader Steve alerted us to an Instructables mirror hack that involves a bike spoke and a beer cap.  Some think that mirrors for riding are nerdy, and they might just well be, but I have been riding with one (Cycle Aware) for years and love it. 

Reader T.S. let us know that Niner Bikes sells a headset top cap piece.

Reader Michael came up with his own stem bottle cap hack.  Here is some text he wrote and a set of pictures to match -

My bike has a quill adapter post that allows me to use an unthreaded stem. I noticed last winter that water pooled in the top of the post and it started to corrode the top of the stem bolt. My easy fix was to take a beer bottlecap and glue it over the top of the post. It makes a fairly watertight seal and I haven't had any issues with it at all.

I pulled it off today to take some pics for BikeHacks and it looks just like it did before I put it on. Reapplied some Gorilla Glue and back on it goes. A local brewery in town even has plain stainless bottlecaps that match the rest of the steel and aluminum parts on my bike. I keep intending to try to remove one bottlecap in absolute pristine condition (no dents or creases) and replace the one that has been there for most of the last year. I haven't succeeded yet but I'll keep trying.

And Reader Baz clued us into the fact that The Bicycle Escape turns bottle caps into head tube badges. 

This all got me to thinking about a related but simple hack that I had not seen before - simply cutting up a beer can and using it as a bike decoration.  To experiment I took a discarded envelop and used it to measure around my seat post tube.  I then taped it to a Budweiser can, used a utility knife to cut the top and bottom of the can off, and then used some metal shears to cut it to size.

I would advise exercising caution when cutting as the aluminum can be sharp.  To that end, once I had the can cut to size I covered all of the edges in Scotch tape and then zip tied it to my seat tube.

My Globe actually has a head tube badge holder on it that would have worked great as seen in this picture submitted by a reader. 

But long ago I took a patch of high adhesive reflective tape and put it in the badge holder.  This Bud can was a good test just to see how the process worked and when I do it again in the future I will pick a beer that is less likely to be associated with NASCAR. 

If have beverage container related hacks feel free to email us for posting. 

 

 

Knog Bike Light Hack

I have never owned a Knog light (AKA "hipster cyst") but I see them on bikes in NYC all the time.  One bike principle I live by is to never buy a bike light that does not use a battery type that is not offered in the rechargable variety.  A long time ago I bought a CatEye light that required a watch battery and I think I gave it away after the battery died because I did not want keep going to the store to buy replacement batteries.

Not all Knog lights use watch batteries and reader Peter sent along a simple hack to keep your Knog battery from going dead by accident.  All pictures and text below are credited to Peter. 

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The popular Knog Gekko bike lights are turned on and off by pressing a button next to the LEDs.  But because this button projects, the on/off button is easily pressed accidentally, causing the light to be switched on while it is in a bag or pocket, causing the the batteries to drain.

The light is made of two parts: the electronics and battery-holder, including the LEDs which stick through holes in the stretchy latex holder, which includes the on/off button. It is an easy task to cut a few millimetres from the end of the on/off button, so that it no longer projects.  I used an ordinary pair of sharp office scissors, but a small pair of nail scissors might be better (or even toenail clippers?)

I did not take any pics of the actual process, but the first picture shows the end result; the second one shows the on/off button being pushed outward with a finger, and the third one shows what you are aiming for: the on/off button is now slightly recessed, instead of sticking out.

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Flipphandle Kickstarter Idea

Kickstarter has featured several bike related concepts and the following is a clever idea to assist with the space bike handlebars can take up.

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Flipphandle, a patented bicycle stem that allows handle bars to be turned or flipped to the side for easy storage, is seeking investors on Kickstarter.com, a crowd-sourced venture funding platform for creative projects. Flipphandle is seeking to raise at least $75,000 in 60 days – or before Sept. 13.

Push a button on top of the stem. Swing the handlebar 90 degrees. It locks in place. When you want to ride, push the button. Swing the bars back. They lock in place. And away you go.

“For a century people have been banging into handlebars and trying to figure out how to store or transport their bikes in tight spaces. This is the challenge that got me excited; an obvious and common problem that nobody has solved yet … until now, Mr. Lacreu observed. “Now you can snap the handlebars out of the way and take a bike easily in an elevator, on a train or even just walk respectfully on the sidewalks. I’m hopeful that bike owners everywhere will embrace this useful invention and help me raise the money to bring it to a global market.”

 

DIY Bike Grocery Panniers

This entry is a Bike Hacks classic.  Trevor sent us the following way back in 2008. 

I just developed a bike hack that you might like.  I call it "The $4 Grocery Panniers".  I wrote a how-to over at bikeforums.net. (see the forum for full instructions and more pictures).

All you need is: 

    * 2 reusable grocery bags
    * 1/4" thick 2'x4' piece of masonite (or "hardboard" at Home Depot; same stuff used for clipboards)
    * 1 bungee cord