Platic No. 5 Bicycle Fender

Fender hacks are no stranger to Bike Hacks and why not?  Who wants all of the muck from the street on them?  Reader Clayton submitted the following to Project Remake on magezine.com. He sent it to us and if you want to vote for his project, see the link below.

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Plastic No. 5 is very difficult to recycle in some areas. It has a multitude of uses from food containers, medicine bottles, and straws; this one takes up 122 cubic inches landfill bulk. 19.8 million bikes were sold in 2010 according to the Bicycle Manufacturers Association, that is 2,414,600,000 cubic inches of space we save with this one container. I cut the container in a way so the corners fit over the tires. It is connected with rivets end to end and spray painted black. Not to mention the wire hanger I also repurposed for this remake.

PLASTIC NO. 5 BICYCLE FENDER

 You will need a plastic container; I used a Jelly Belly container which has a hexagonal shape.

•  Something to mark with like a sharpie.
•  Something to cut with like a saw or a box cutter.
• A drill.
• Rivets and a rivet gun.
• Coat hanger.
• Zip ties.
• Paint optional.

I did this Plastic No. 5 Bicycle Fender as an entry to a recycling contest called Project Remake, http://makezine.com/project-remake/vote.html I needed to repurpose something so it would not end up in a landfill.  You can do this with any plastic container but I really liked the way the corners fit around my back tire.  I drew and outline down the flat sides of the container, also around the base and top at the point where the plastic became really hard.  I used a saw to cut through the hard parts of plastic around the top and bottom, then a box cutter to cut down the sides. 

Drill holes that match the rivet size at each end of each piece of plastic.  Rivet together all the pieces end to end.  Figure out the where you want to attach your coat hanger the dill some more holes so zip ties can fit through and tie around the hanger.  Bend your hanger so it reaches your dropouts and cut off the excess.  Also cut out sections of plastic where the fender will meet you bike and just let it fit right in.

If you want to help vote for my project and show the country how bicycling DIYrs do it go to http://makezine.com/project-remake/vote.html and vote for Plastic No. 5 Bicycle Fender.

Comments

[Raiyn]

Props for the design, but Whole Foods takes #5 for Preserve who uses it to make recyclable toothbrushes etc.
http://www.preserveproducts.com/recycling/gimme5locations.html

[Clayton]

Thank you so much BikeHacks for posting my project on your site.