BikeHacks

DIY Bike Surfboard Rack Video

We have featured posts on surfboard racks for bikes before, but the following video is perhaps the best I have seen.  My brain is whirring trying to figure out how I can employ such a hack for other purposes since surfing is not a hot hobby in Boston.  Thanks to the fine folks at Korduroy.TV for contacting us and passing this along.  Full written out instructions can be found by clicking here. Ride safe, on land and in water.

 

Rick Reilly Story - Lance Armstrong

Bikehacks.com does not have a long tradition of pointing to news stories distributed by "real" media companies/organizations, but occasionally I read something I find interesting that I think is worth passing along to readers.  Rick Reilly is a sports writer and I ran across a story he wrote about Lance Armstrong yesterday. 

I don't know how to feel about Lance choosing not to fight the USADA, but I do know that I believe way too much money is spent on professional sports or issues pertaining to professional sports.  For example, it makes me sad to hear that over 300,000 jobs related to education have been lost since 2009 and yet the USADA spent millions (with no apparent evidence in the end) to vilify Lance Armstrong.  And then there were the millions of dollars spent trying to prove Roger Clemens took steroids.  When I hear stories like this I begin to think of ways that I believe that money could have been better spent. What's better, hunting down cheaters or funding programs for hard working "normal" people?  I don't have the answer, I just have the question(s).

Anyway, if you are interested in quick read/perspective on the Lance story, Rick Reilly's story can be found here. I for one will likely don some yellow on Friday.

Bike Parking Brake: 100% Natural

Humans seem to spend most of their time either trying to overcome or outdo nature.  We come up with all sorts of products to solve problems, but at times the natural answer is literally right in front of our face, or in the following instance, at our feet.  Reader Kuan sent along the following text and picture:

So simple a solution to a universal bicycle problem.

An old cork is another great bike parking brake solution.

Seat Post Rear Rack Seat Hack

For several years I had a seat post rack.  I put it on a Cannondale road bike to help carry stuff and it seemed like the perfect solution because the bike was not designed for a "normal" rear rack.  I used the rack for about five years and one day while riding home the rack busted.  It cracked near where it attached to the seat post, I assume the victim of vibration over the years.  I suppose I could have overtaxed the thing, I do not remember if there was a recommended weight load.

I was actually lucky when it broke off because it bounced off my rear tire and went behind me.  It could have ended up in my spokes, or could have caused trouble if a rider had been behind me. 

Seat post racks are appealing, but when I saw this hack I was not quite as excited about the idea as I would have been if I had not had my rack break on me.

This is a clever idea, I just hope that 1) the passenger is light 2) the post has a heavy duty weld.

Carrying a Laptop Bag on a Folding Bike

One challenge of commuting by bike is transporting delicate cargo.  A laptop or tablet is pretty standard fare these days and electronic devices and vibration are not the best of friends.  Reader Eamonn, he of hose-clip front suspension lock out fame, sent along his hack for fighting vibration on his commute.  All tex and pictures are credited to Eamonn

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I needed a better way to carry my laptop on my folding bike.  I used a backpack for a long time which works fine except on hot days (sweaty-back syndrome !).  I tried a handlebar mount (the excellent but expensive Klickfix system) which also works well but it adversely affects the stability of a bike which is already a little on the twitchy side.  The bike has a carrier but it is so low down that my heel clips anything that overhangs its perimeter.  There had to be a better way.

My simple solution is to make an attachment for the carrier which will allow the laptop case to be mounted vertically without moving around. The band around the laptop back is a strip of 40mm x 2mm aluminium which is attached to carrier.

I worry a little about the laptop having the guts shaken out of it (its a very nice laptop !) so I use a folded-up and partially inflated tube to give it a little “suspension."

This trades off a little stability for (hopefully) giving the laptop a more cosseted ride.

It works so well I did (almost) the same thing for the folding bike’s big brother…

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I hope someone finds this useful.  If you have thought of a better way to solve the same problem I’d love to hear from you.

A Bike Trailer for Daily Life

Personal bike hacks are the dominant theme of this site, but we also love supporting companies or individuals who are either selling cool bike related stuff or developing cool bike related stuff.  One thing that makes cycling a challenge for some is that it can be difficult to carry stuff.  Bags are certainly the most common option, but space can be limited and if you wear a bag sweat is almost inevitable.  Baskets are nice too, but again there is the space issue.

For those who want to take that "next step" in making cycling a truly practical endeavor, a trailer is a great option.  I have one of these trailers (pic below) and although I do not use it daily, it does get used a few times a month when I want to shopping or transport a bunch of clean clothing to work.

The thing about this trailer in particular is that it is not very customizable.  I have bungee corded stuff to the top of it with limited success, but I am basically limited to the size of the Rubbermaid box that the trailer is built around.

The interweb has made it easy to become your own venture capitalist through pages like Kickstarter.  Some of the stuff on Kickstarter makes me scratch my head (I am working on a post on a failed Kickstarter campaign right now) and other stuff really makes sense to me.

The folks over at BikeShopHub.com made us aware of a Kickstarter campaign they are running to develop a new trailer - one that is stronger on the customizable front.  The video below explains it all and if you are interested in taking your cycling experience to the next level, I highly recommend looking into a trailer.  Pulling a trailer is not really that difficult and it feels pretty cool to not have to rely on a car all of the time.

 

 

Deer Hunting Bike Hack

Note:  If it makes you squeamish to see dead animals, if you don't eat meat, if you love the film Bambi, or if you are an animal rights activist you can stop reading here.  For the rest, this might be one of the most unique submissions we have ever seen to BikeHacks.com. 

I do not hunt but I don't have anything against those who do.  I have thought about how some decry the "sport" of hunting but don't seem to bat at eyelash when major companies or governments either institute or bless mass production or harvesting of wildlife. Okay, enough about politics and on to the hack.

I use my bike all of the time as a way to carry things, and this is while not riding it.  For example, recently I bought a bunch of paint and had to get it home.  I rode my bike to the store, but on the way back I balanced a fairly large box full of several gallons of paint on my bike and wheeled it home.  Reader John, who enjoys hunting, also uses a bike for transport purposes.  Take it away John . . . .

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Thought you might enjoy seeing a technique I've perfected to haul deer out of the woods using a bicycle and zip ties.  I hunt in a road closure area in Western Washington which limits travel to foot or bicycle.  The photos might make some folks squeamish but I'm proud of the "hack" aspect of this game hauling technique. 

So here are the deer I took out of the woods in 2011 and 2010.  I've been using this technique for several years now and found that zip ties make the job much easier than rope or strapping.  I take the seat off the post before mounting the deer to the bike to keep the rib cage and spine from messing up the seating surface.

Anyway, after you've gutted the animal and have it laying on its side, you slide the bike up to it and start attaching the legs to the frame as you can see in these photos.  The smaller deer you see in the 2010 photo was attached with a bit more care than last year's but it seems you always run into some steering issues with the front legs.  The real trick is to try and get your bike's wheels in a ditch or up next to a tree before trying to lift the deer up to a rolling position.  If you've got a few miles to walk out as I usually do, my advice is to make sure you've eaten a snack, taken a drink, and got your gear and rifle strapped on your back because once that animal is upright on the bike you don't want to have to stop and lay it down until you reach your rig.

Also, I use my velcro pant leg strap to attach the deer tag to the horns.  You can see it in the 2011 photo.

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Skirt Guard Bike Hack Wanted

Typically we post hacks that we spot, come up with, or receive from readers, but occasionally readers contact us with a plea for help with a bike related issue.  Reader Mike contacted us with an issue I have zero experience/advice regarding, however I thought the broader community might be able to assist.  If readers have advice, feel free to comment and help Mike out.  And if people have hacks they want to pass along to us for posting, even better!  Take it away Mike . . . .

Anyone got a good skirt guard hack out there? I have a daughter that loves to wear skirts and ride her bike and we live in the USA.  Not much help from bike shops/online out there for this problem...

DIY Junior Bike Passenger Seat

Biking is sometimes so much fun it simply cannot be contained one person.  Reader Emily wanted to transport her boys via bike and with some BikeHacks.com inspiration came up with her own passenger hack.  All pictures and text credited to Emily.

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This hack was set into motion after I came across a picture of a Yuba cargo bike and instantly fell in love. I really liked the idea of the seat on the cargo rack and thought it would be perfect solution for taking my youngest son to and from preschool, which is less than a mile away. Unfortunately, the price of the Yuba was a bit too much, so I  went to work on a cheap alternative. After digging through through the Bike Hacks archives I had a pretty good idea of how I wanted our junior bike seat to look. 

I ordered a bike rack rated for 100lbs+ and once  my husband made sure it fit (sadly, it didn't fit my bike, but luckily it fit his), I set to work on the cushion. The cushion was made entirely of items found around the house: a cutting board from the boat we no longer own, foam padding from an old life jacket, straps & buckles from an old sleeping bag (which secure the seat to the rack and create a handle), and a scrap of vinyl from my sewing stash.

I am planning on adding foot pegs and lining the rack to keep feet out of the spokes, but I am pretty pleased with the progress of this hack so far - and my boys love it too!

Using Hose-clips to Lock Out Bike Front Suspension

I have actually never ridden a bike with a suspension.  I guess this is because I have never engaged in "serious" off road riding.  But what if you have a bike with a suspension and you only ride on roads?  Reader Eamonn came up with the following idea.  I can only assume that bike mechanics will wince at this hack, but I will leave it up to them to offer comment.

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I am considering replacing the fork with a non-suspension unit but I'm finding it hard to find a proper suspension-corrected fork which will maintain the bike's geometry (this is very important) and fits 700c wheels (so the brake bosses are in the right position).  In the meantime to see how the bike will feel with a regular fork I fitted a hoseclip to each stanchion to stop it from moving.  This should give me a good idea how the bike will feel if I do replace the fork. Simple, cheap and effective.

The front of the bike feels much more solid with the hoseclips in place.  It works so well that I'm wondering whether or not to bother replacing the fork at all (I'm not that bothered about the extra weight - I'm not serious enough a cyclist for it to make much difference!)