BikeHacks

Bike Fishing Rod Holder

Reader Ryan, who submitted posts on both a hardside pannier and a Bike Santa Sleigh Trialer also decided to turn his back rack into a fishing pole holder.  All text and pictures are credited to Ryan.

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The newest bike hack to come out of my workshop is a prototype fishing rod holder. My favorite greenway trail runs beside a large creek that is full of fish. I'm not really a fisherman but I figured I'd give it a try. The design I chose holds the rod vertically against the side of the rear rack.

The 1" PCVcollar worked fine for my rod's handle but I'm sure different poles use hadles of different thicknesses. A PVC female-female coupler could be used to achieve almost any size. I used wooden dowels because (A) I had them sitting around [free!] and (B) they are light weight and rigid enough for this application. 

 

The rod holder is constructed of -

• two wooden dowels (sharpened at one end to add a danger factor)
• a small piece of 1" thinwalled PVC pipe
• a piece of scrap steel
• zip ties
• electrical tape
• spraypaint
• "rubber band" made of old innertube

 

From the pictures it is pretty easy to see how everything goes together. Just set the parts in place and wrap liberally with electrical tape. To complete the install- spray with spraypaint to add that certain "bling" factor and zip tie it to the rack. I have not made it fishing using my new rig yet but a quick test ride reassured me that it should work swimmingly.

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How cool would it be to see someone riding with their catch dangling from the rear rack?

Weight Stands Turned into Bicycle Repair Stand

Bike repair stand posts get a lot of traffic on the site and reader Adam pointed us to an instructable he posted showing how he turned a weight stand into a bike repair stand.  Lifting weights is pretty boring so I don't blame him =)

Some text and a picture are below, the full meal deal is available on the instructable page. 

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Basically I've took apart the stands completely, and made "fresh start".

I cut the main tube (vertical) so the bottom bracket will be on about 75cm just enough to work comfortably. I'm not a giant ;-)

Basically nothing to explain you can see on the picture how it's made.  The design of the feet might look strange but the point was to keep the stand folded and hang on the wall when is not used.

What I used:

Weight stands
some old front hub with skewer (actually only axle with cones/nuts and skewer)
piece of 5mm thick plastic
Some 10/8/6mm screws, washers and nuts
electric drill
10/8/6mm drill bits

It's quite handy to have all necessary tools on the stand, so you can attach small bucket/box/tin and also a piece of plastic gutter underneath chain will prevent grease, degreaser etc... dropping on the floor - Cheers

It's a Family Thing

One of my favorite things to do when I visit my parents is to dig through old shoe boxes full of pictures.  I live pretty far from where I grew up so this is an activity I do not frequently engage in.  I juxtapose this activity with digital age photography and certainly would not want to go back to developing photos in order to see them, but there is something cool about flipping through old physical photos as opposed to clicking around a computer with a mouse.  Anyway . . .

Early in the fall my last grandparent passed away.  Grandma Margaret was a great pen pal and could always be counted on to keep a conversation going.  I attended the funeral and afterward my mom was showing me a bunch of photos and miscellaneous things that Grandma collected that I had never seen before.  One photo that brought a smile to my face was this one -

My Grandma is the shorter one on the left side of the picture.  It's nice to know an affinity for cycling runs deep in my family.  Rest in peace Grandma. 

Cobra Tire Tool

Whenever I hear the word "Cobra" the movie Karate Kid always comes to mind.  Those darned Cobra Kai and their preening and sneering!  Why that movie did not win an Oscar I have no idea.  At least that is what I thought when I saw it as a middle school student when it came out. 

 

A new bike tool just might have the opportunity to dislodge the Cobra Kai from my brain when I hear the word Cobra.  The fine folks that make the Cobra Tire Tool sent me one to review and here is the video that shows how it works.  

 

I am excited to use most bike related products shortly after I receive them, but this is one tool I hope I don't have to use soon.  After all, that would mean there is a problem with one of my tires.  I will sit on it for a short time to see if I encounter any real problems, and if not I will just take a tire off for the fun of it to see how it works.

Look for a review sometime down the line and if any readers out there have experience with the tool, feel free to comment. 

DIY Weather Resistant Iphone/Ipod Holder

Plastic bottles often get a bad rap for environmental reasons, but I would like to think that bike hacks incorporating plastic bottles are making a small dent in keeping plastic out of land fills.  It seems that not a week passes by where I do not see an old plastic bottle re-purposed on a bike, and some are quite elegant. 

The following text and picture come from the blog Cycling Experiences.

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Today, as it rains in North Carolina, and I look for a bag or other low-cost rain protection it dawns upon me that a drink/pop/soda bottle will likely give as much protection as a bag, although it is not sealed. I cut the bottle to work on my Trek Project One, my RANS Citi Crank Forward, and my Catrike 700. Water from the open end could be problematic. If so, this is when I put the phone in a waterproof bag and into my pocket. I have a taller bottle that I’ll use for added protection. This is essentially a no-cost solution.

Photo from jalexartis' photostream

 

Worst Bike Name Ever?

How companies come up with names for products has always bewildered me .  The names either seem to be incredibly arcane or seemingly meaningless number and letter code combinations.  It's like a few people in a cubicle somewhere get it, but that's about all.  I'm sure my R900 Cannondale makes sense to those who manufactured the bike, but it means nothing to me. Or the headphones I am listening to as I type this - CX 300II (Sennheiser).

One company that nailed it in my eyes is Apple.  The whole "i" series is pretty genius if you ask me.  Apple seems bullet proof on the name front because the iPad name was panned when it was revealed but now the things are selling like crazy and I have not heard an iPad name joke since . . . I can't remember when.

I started thinking about this topic when I passed a bike rack the other day and saw the bike above.  "Tourist?"  If that were my bike the first thing I would have done would have been to wrap an old inner tube around the top tube.  I did not even notice the name of the bike in the background until I was typing out this entry.  Now "Epic" is a name I would leave uncovered for sure.

If readers have thoughts about bike names, good or bad, feel free to comment. 

Anti Monkey Butt Safari Towel Review

Cycling is super dope but does have some complications.  One major complication is perspiration.  Anti Monkey Butt has sent along two products for us to review and I have been happy with both.  The first was their Anti Monkey Butt Powder.  I like the powder so much that I don't just use it when I ride, I use it everyday.  Let's just say I like "that dry feeling."  I cannot tell you scientifically that it is better than Baby Powder, however I can say that it performs well, smells good, and is well worth testing out for yourself.

The second product they sent along are what they call their Safari Towels. 

They are not joking when they label them as "extra large" and "heavy duty" on the package.  For years I have used baby wipes to towel myself down after commuting to work and check out the size comparison. 

I am sure it is not the best for my skin, but my practice has been to put my baby wipes in a Ziploc bag and and dump in some wintergreen rubbing alcohol to increase the cleaning potency. 

Again, I am not a dermatologist, however the ingredients of the Safari Towels seem pretty friendly. 

As far as a review, the towels work great.  They are durable, big enough to really clean your whole body, and are damp enough to get the job done.  The only "complaint" I have is that they are so big.  I feel like by using them I am killing the earth or something.  I know I am killing the earth with baby wipes as well, however I guess I justify it by thinking I am saving water by not dampening a towel and then having to consistently wash it, thus using even more water.  Anyway . . .

The moral of the story for me is that this product is not meant for daily use.  What it would be great for is camping or long trips where you can't access a shower.  In thinking back to a bike camping excursion I took a couple of years ago (summary of entries here), this is a product I wish I had taken with me.  If I go on another camping trip or am away from "civilization" the Safari Towel is definitely something I will pack along.

Do you have advice related to cleanliness?  Feel free to share in comments. 

All of Broadway - By Bike

Helmet cams capture some pretty cool stuff and Scott Lamb of BuzzFeed rode all of Broadway in NYC from North to South with a helmet cam, sped it up and added a super cool soundtrack. Enjoy.

 

Epoxy Putty for Helmet Hacks

There are various ways to attach things to a helmet, and whether it is wise to attach things to a helmet is a subject of debate.  Lights and cameras are the two items I see most frequently attached and if anyone out there is interested in a custom mount there is a great to create one using epoxy putty.

The author of an instructables post on the topic clued us in to this cool idea.  Full instructions are available via the jump in the last sentence and a few pics and text to whet your appetite are below.

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This is a procedure to adapt a helmet mount to fit any oddly shaped bike helmet with a removable mount.   This will give you a secure mount for most any of the new sports video cameras.  I am using this with a Contour HD camera but it could be adapted to any other camera.

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Boston Commuting - First Impressions

Yesterday morning was exhilarating - I commuted by bike for the first time in Boston.  For a long time I had been wanting to take a weekend day to test out my commute and I did so on Sunday.  Sunday was beautiful and a friend of mine guided me on the route that he thought was best. Then yesterday I gladly left my Charlie Card in my wallet, ditched the hordes of coughing masses on the T and breathed in the morning air. 

I am crashing in a place south of the city and the start of the commute is not so glamorous, but it gets better at the river.

There are bike/pedestrian paths on both sides of the Charles.  The south seems a bit smoother so I chose it for my ride this morning.  This is something I never saw on the Hudson River back in NYC -

All in all my first impression is a good one.  I saw a ton of people riding.  On the route I chose I do ride in a fair amount of traffic to start which is not all that great.  I might eventually try to find a less trafficked road - Mass Ave. is a bit busy and there are lots of buses and parked cars to deal with.

Overall though the river pedestrian/bike paths seem great and I see myself spending a lot of time on them.  Those with Boston commuting experience are welcome to chime in with comments.