BikeHacks

Lion Bellworks Follow up

Last fall we gave away a Lion Bellworks Bell and recipient Rod installed the prize on a home made cargo bike.  He was kind enough to send along some pictures and comments. Readers feel free to identify donor parts.

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This is my first effort at a cargo bike and while there are a few improvements that will go into the next ones, I am quite pleased with the results. Based on comments I receive every time I take it out, it is meeting with a lot of interest from folks. I expect that there is a pent-up demand for a utilitarian bicycle like this.

When building this unit, I tried to incorporate as many parts from donor bikes as I could. Your readers might enjoy identifying the parts that are used in un-ordinary ways - you might even make another contest out of finding them!!

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And let me say that one of the most endearing aspects of the bike is the Lion Bellworks bell. I use any and every excuse to ring it and it usually turns heads that have a big smile on them - it truly is the most musical bike bell that I have ever encountered!!

I would really be remiss if I did not mention www.atomiczombie.com. Brad and Kathy's website were the inspiration that started my interest in bike hacking. Beginning in the fall of 2011, I purchased the first set of plans and began constructing my first cycle project, a recumbent tandem tricycle. Since then I built a long wheel base recumbent bicycle and a recumbent tadpole racing tricycle. Some of the ideas that were incorporated into the cargo bike came from the Atomic Zombie plans. If you haven't already checked out their website, I encourage you to do so.

Clothespin Bike Light Hack

Sometimes I see a hack that is so brilliantly simple and cool I wonder why I did not think of it. This hack submitted by Midge from across the pond is one such hack. Enjoy.

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I was a bit peeved with those ugly plastic brackets that spoiled the lines of my beautiful bike so I came up with this ten minute cliplight hack. It's cobbled together with a Poundland rear light (are they called Dollar Stores in  the US?), two thin zip ties and a sturdy wooden clothes peg.

The assembly's pretty straightforward, note that one of the peg arms is cut to accommodate the button and there's a small filed groove to channel one of the cable ties. A quick dash of paint to taste and Bobs your Aunties live in lover, one cheap as noodles cliplight. 



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Ammo Can Bike Cooler

Refreshment can be an important part of cycling and recreation, and reader John wanted a way to keep his beverage of choice cold.  He did a great job of transforming an Ammo Can into a cooler and he documents the process below.  Putting the entry together made me thirsty . . .

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I needed a cooler I could bring on my bike when shopping, but more importantly for kickball, softball, and other drinking league sports, since I found no commercial options I built my own. I decided to use an ammo can because I saw so many saddlebag conversions done by motorcyclists. I chose a fat .50 cal ammo can because it is slightly larger than the typical .50 cal cans most people are familiar with while still being small enough for bicycle use.

I was able to pick one up from the surplus store for just under $30 in pretty good shape. First thing I did was sand the entire box and made sure to remove any rust I encountered. Once everything was sanded and looked rust free I started painting. I bought self-priming spray paint, but to be on the safe side I still bought primer. I decided to go with the familiar cooler colors of white over red. I even did a final clear coat layer to hopefully keep the can looking good for a while. This part took 4 days to do because of the extended dry times.

After painting came the hardware mounting, I chose to use hardware from Velo Transit. Since the cooler was going to be carrying the weight of ice, beer, and the can itself, I thought it was better to go with proven hardware vs. whatever I could think up at home. I chose to mount the hardware lower on the cooler body so it would be invisible when viewed from the opposite side. Once the hardware was on, it was time to glue the insulation into the cooler. I choose super tuff rigid .5 inch insulation foam.



The foam I used claims to have an R3.3 rating which I don't really know what it means, but it was the best I could find for .5inch foam. I had to carve out holes for the nuts and washers of the mounting hardware. I just cut pieces for each side and the bottom and glued it in with construction adhesive. To protect the foam, I bought lexan to use as a liner for the cooler. I just scored and broke it with a utility knife, which actually worked very well. After gluing down the lexan with the adhesive, I covered every seam with silicon caulk to prevent water leaking into the foam. I ended up with an interior space that is 10.5 inches long, 5.5 inches wide, and 8 inches deep, it can hold 9 regular sized cans with ice and a 6 pack of the larger 16oz cans with ice.

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Tent Pole Bike Cargo Rack

Reader Chris has become somewhat of a mainstay on BikeHacks with his DIY hacks.  He came up with a spotlight, a car horn, and you might have wondered about the mount he used for his LED light strips.  That question is answered in the video below. 

What I am curious about is if Chris has come up with his own wind powered electrical system for his house.  Certainly sounds like wind is an abundance resource where he lives =)

 

DIY Cargo Bike Plans

Over at Tom's Cargo Bikes, Tom has been generous enough to document the process of building one of his 'hillbilly' cargo bikes via BikePortland.

                                               Photo Credits in this post go to Toms Cargo Bikes

If you're like me, and constantly think of how cool it would be to have a home-built bakfiets or cargo bike, this might be just the inspiration you're looking for.  Of course you also need to be able to weld, on know someone who might do it for you in exchange for say, beer. 

Tom put up some great high resolution pictures of a build in process, along with accompanying notes. If anyone has experimented with such builds, we would love to post so give us a shout out. 

Also, be sure and check out Tom's Flickr photos, where he documents a bunch more of his creations, and don't miss this profile of Tom over at BikePortland.

Cargo on.

Paint Your Bike Disc Brakes

Too often I think we all fall prey to conformity.  Manufacturers spit out a product (perhaps socks) and the masses are just happy to accept it as it is.  There are a few out there that seek to stand out and RL Policar over at Mtn Bike Riders provides a simple hack to help give your boring disc brakes some pizazz. With the paint color of your choice you can personalize your brakes to fit your taste rather than the manufacturer's. 

Witness boring brakes like mine:

And now witness the cool stylized version of RL Policar. 

Picture Credit to MtnBikeRiders.com

Be sure to visit Mtn Bike Riders for the simple steps it took accomplish this disc brake pimp job.

Pimped Out Delivery Bike

New York City food delivery bikes feature some of the best hacks, and when mixed with style you get true awesomeness.  Check out this delivery whip I stumbled upon -

Old compact discs are everywhere for reflective protection, and check out the custom moose mitts. 

From the looks of it the owner took some old oil containers and shredded them for extra style points.  With the poor paint job I think this bike takes home the prize for the coolest delivery steed I have ever seen.  This was confirmed when the random dude in the first picture said, "Totally sweet ride, right?!" 

 

Gutter Bike Fender

Fenders are among the easiest and most diverse bike hacks.  Water bottles (elegant and not so elegant) are probably the most common, but cooking pans, coroplast, and plastic containers are just a few of the options out there.

While strolling around NYC recently I spotted a first - a gutter fender. 

It looks like it is doing its job. 

LED Light Strips for Bike

Reader Chris, he of horn and spot light hacks, is back for more.  This time he explains adding LED light strips to his ride. 

For another example, see this previous post on the same topic.

 

Bike Rear Axle Camera Mount Hack

The folks over at Montague folding bikes came up with a Go Pro camera mount hack and sent along the following guest post.  Enjoy a sweet hack and an option for a folder.

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I'm sure you've all seen the portable Go Pro cameras on the market. They're easy to mount on a helmet or handlebars for riding footage, but we wanted a perspective that would show you the bike as well. For this we put together a homemade bracket to mount our Go Pro on the rear axle. The camera comes with a clip that attaches to a few different bases, one for helmets, one for handlebars, and there's one that's simply flat on the bottom with a sticky adhesive. For our custom bracket, we took a piece of steel about 11 inches long (you could use aluminum for a lighter weight option), drilled a hole on one end for the axle to pass through, and screwed the flat base to the other.



The Go Pro clip slides into one side of the base, so we kept the screw off to the other side, out of the way. The adhesive on the base also helped hold it in place.

Then we just clipped the camera into its bracket:



To mount it on the bike, we used an extra long quick release skewer. We drilled the whole large enough that it also works with a bolt on axle.




We had it angled back to get as much of the bike in the shot as possible:




The resulting video footage is just what we wanted. A unique perspective of your ride that shows the surrounding landscape, and the bike you're on. Check out the video to see (About halfway through is where the Go Pro footage starts).

The bikes being ridden in this video are Montague folding bikes. Their design is a bit of a bike hack in itself. No doubt you're familiar with other folding bikes, but the majority of them have tiny wheels, and lots of proprietary parts. Everyone wants the performance and ride quality of a full size bike, but transporting and storing them can be a hassle. That's where Montague comes in. With 10 different models ranging from 700c road bikes, to single speeds, and 26" mountain bikes, they all fold easily for the car trunk, train, or closet, and deliver the same performance as comparable non-folders.

Montague's folding design is unique in that it does not break the frame's tubing. Both halves rotate around the seat tube, leaving the front and rear intact. They overlap when unfolded, and give you an extremely strong frame. The design combined with full size wheels, and all industry standard components (you can customize your bike all you want!), means you won't even know you're in the saddle of a folding bike. Check out the entire line of Montague folding bikes at http://www.montaguebikes.com/.




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