Bicycling, Photography and Programming

Posts tagged “DIY

Details of Male Pneumatic Bike Hitch

I tacked the inner tube strips on to the copper pipe and chain stay with electrical tape. This keeps the assembly in place while tightening the hose clamps on.


Towing a Wire Hand Cart?

I really like the idea of the Burley Travoy, which is a much refined version of the concept of pulling something like a (Whitmore) wire utility cart–the kinda cart that “grandmas” do their shopping with.

Well…i’m not a grandma, and I don’t ride a fasionable bike, either. So, when packing a pile of canvas sacks around a farmers market, as they fill up, I really want to put them in a stroller because the do get heavy, and commuting back to the bike stand after every visit to a booth is something of a time waster. This is a good opportunity for such a wire cart. I suspect the price of a wire cart is much lower than a Travoy.

Possible cons to towing one of these wire utility carts is bouncing and rattling. The wheels on these carts are so bitty I don’t see how you could safely tow them at a speed over about 10mph. I wonder if it would be possible to put some 12in kids wheels on such a cart and extend the front legs with some tin cans.

The only other bit of engineering is coming up with a hitch. For a short bike (not a long tail), a horizontal pipe mounted to the seat-post…something like this I’ve seen advertised as a kid’s wagon, or golf bag caddy towing hitch. I bet about 20in long segment of 2in dia of PVC would be a good starting point.

Is this crazy? Let me know how many wheels I’m re-inventing.


Quick thot on handlebar bags: a trash can

I was reading Ken Kifer’s article on building your own panniers, and he had a good suggestion on a DIY front pack: the bottom half of a small office waste bin. You can get kits to adapt handlebar brackets to baskets, you would apply one of them. The benefits include it being rigid, being brightly colored, and waterproof. The challenge is that you need to improvise a lid, and you probably wouldn’t get the benefit of a map window on top. However, cutting up a clear 2L soda bottle might give you a map window, come to think of it.

But what would make a clever lid? Huh–the rotating flap of a kitchen waste bin of course [forehead+palm=thwap!]


BYOB – Bamboo Bike!

I’ve never seen a bamboo bike before! This is really RAD.


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