Things to make out of old bicycles. I need some ideas.



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Gunluvver2

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I have a small basement shop with a couple lathes, a mini-mill, metal band saw, tubing benders etc.
I am semi-retired so I am always looking for different projects that I can do. I acquired several
old bicycles at a Police auction recently and after putting together one good one for my Nephew I
had several frames, wheels and so on left over. I made a pedal powered potters wheel and a pedal
powered sharpening stone out of a couple of them. The wives of a couple of my friends want me to
make potters wheels for them so that will probably use up most of my extra parts I now have. Do any
of you have any ideas for projects that would use parts from old bikes?

TIA, Dennis
 
How about a pedal powered generator to run your TV, in the event of a power failure? (I like
exercise and I HATE watching TV in the dark) :)

--
Lewis.

.........................

*******************************

"Gunluvver2" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I have a small basement shop with a couple lathes, a mini-mill, metal band
saw,
> tubing benders etc. I am semi-retired so I am always looking for different projects that I can do.
> I acquired several old bicycles at a Police
auction
> recently and after putting together one good one for my Nephew I had
several
> frames, wheels and so on left over. I made a pedal powered potters wheel
and a
> pedal powered sharpening stone out of a couple of them. The wives of a
couple
> of my friends want me to make potters wheels for them so that will
probably
> use up most of my extra parts I now have. Do any of you have any ideas for projects that would use
> parts from old bikes?
>
> TIA, Dennis
 
[email protected] (Gunluvver2) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> I have a small basement shop with a couple lathes, a mini-mill, metal band saw, tubing benders
> etc. I am semi-retired so I am always looking for different projects that I can do. I acquired
> several old bicycles at a Police auction recently and after putting together one good one for my
> Nephew I had several frames, wheels and so on left over. I made a pedal powered potters wheel and
> a pedal powered sharpening stone out of a couple of them. The wives of a couple of my friends want
> me to make potters wheels for them so that will probably use up most of my extra parts I now have.
> Do any of you have any ideas for projects that would use parts from old bikes?
>
> TIA, Dennis

Dear Dennis,

Wheel-truing stands?

Carl Fogel
 
[email protected] (Gunluvver2) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> I have a small basement shop with a couple lathes, a mini-mill, metal band saw, tubing benders
> etc. I am semi-retired so I am always looking for different projects that I can do. I acquired
> several old bicycles at a Police auction recently and after putting together one good one for my
> Nephew I had several frames, wheels and so on left over. I made a pedal powered potters wheel and
> a pedal powered sharpening stone out of a couple of them. The wives of a couple of my friends want
> me to make potters wheels for them so that will probably use up most of my extra parts I now have.
> Do any of you have any ideas for projects that would use parts from old bikes?
>
> TIA, Dennis

Make new bikes: http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=62-0071422676-0

There was a pedaled generator powering a small TV at the last Portland Bicycle Show.

Jeff
 
Lewis Campbell wrote:
> How about a pedal powered generator to run your TV, in the event of a power failure? (I like
> exercise and I HATE watching TV in the dark) :)
>
>
You beat me to it! For best results use a decent motorbike alternator (you'll have to have a battery
to get the thing going) and, of course, a power inverter to give the appropriate AC voltage unless
your TV is designed to run from a low voltage battery.

You could run the AC from the alternator straight into a transformer but this is unlikely to work
terribly well. The sort of frequencies the alternator puts out will make the transformer rather hot
and waste a lot of power.
 
[email protected] (TBGibb) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] (Gunluvver2) writes:
>
> >Do any of you have any ideas for projects that would use parts from old bikes?
> >
>
> I read of making a tandem out of two frames. Check Sheldownbrown.com
>
> Tom Gibb <[email protected]>

Dear Tom,

Most sensible suggestion that I've seen so far.

Old wheels and frame-bits could also be lashed together with a welder into wheelbarrow-hauler
thingies of the kind beloved by gardeners and deer hunters, the latter field-hearse perhaps
appealing to the original poster.

Carl Fogel
 
[email protected] (Gunluvver2) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> I have a small basement shop with a couple lathes, a mini-mill, metal band saw, tubing
> benders etc.

damn. im jeaaaalous.

> Do any of you have any ideas for projects that would use parts from old bikes?

lots of folks cut the r.triangle off bikes and bend the ss/cs's out. leave the seatpost and saddle
on. instant stool (use enormous saddle for best effect).

if it were my machine shop: id make more bikes! torch a few lugged beaters, and witht he
resulting tubesets fillet braze yourself a tall bike, chopper, recumbent, unicycle, etc. or a
custom road frame.

anthony (who really really misses shop access, and wishes there was something he could do
abotu that.)
 
[email protected] (Gunluvver2) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> I have a small basement shop with a couple lathes, a mini-mill, metal band saw, tubing benders
> etc. I am semi-retired so I am always looking for different projects that I can do. I acquired
> several old bicycles at a Police auction recently and after putting together one good one for my
> Nephew I had several frames, wheels and so on left over. I made a pedal powered potters wheel and
> a pedal powered sharpening stone out of a couple of them. The wives of a couple of my friends want
> me to make potters wheels for them so that will probably use up most of my extra parts I now have.
> Do any of you have any ideas for projects that would use parts from old bikes?
>
> TIA, Dennis

You use the seat and upturned handlebars to make something that looks like a bulls head and sell it
to an art gallery for large volumes of money.

http://home.xnet.com/~stanko/head.htm

Marty
 
"Gunluvver2" <[email protected]> wrote in message =
news:[email protected]...
| I have a small basement shop with a couple lathes, a mini-mill, metal =
band saw,
| tubing benders etc. I am semi-retired so I am always looking for =
different
| projects that I can do. I acquired several old bicycles at a Police =
auction
| recently and after putting together one good one for my Nephew I had =
several
| frames, wheels and so on left over. I made a pedal powered potters =
wheel and a
| pedal powered sharpening stone out of a couple of them. The wives of a =
couple
| of my friends want me to make potters wheels for them so that will =
probably
| use up most of my extra parts I now have. Do any of you have any ideas =
for
| projects that would use parts from old bikes?

Before you start cutting up the frames, can you tell us what the frames = are? It'd be a shame to
cut up a good Bridgestone or some other vintage = frame when there might be someone here (myself
included) who would be = interested in the right frame in the right size.
 
>Before you start cutting up the frames, can you tell us what the frames = are?

Most of the stuff I buy is steel. When I go to the auctions I take a magnet with me. My shop is set
up to handle steel. If I had Aluminum, Titanium or some of the more exotic materials I don't have
the right equipment for welding etc.I usually end up buying the stuff that nobody else wants. There
is usually a $7.50 minimum for the really nice bikes and some of the bidders drive the prices up on
them past retail. After all the really good stuff sells the auctioneer will lump the ones that
didn't get bids into groups and sell as a group. I get a lot of good parts that way.

I imagine most larger cities have bicycle auctions similar to what we have here (Lincoln, Nebraska).
In the wintertime there can be some real bargains. If you are on a budget and need parts it is worth
a looksee. DL
 
On 26 Nov 2003 22:27:25 GMT, Gunluvver2 <[email protected]> wrote:

> Do any of you have any ideas for projects that would use parts from old bikes?
>

Make a entry for the Rube Goldberg contest : http://www.purdue.edu/UNS/rube/rube.index.html

I'd like to see a ping-pong ball traveling down a Cannondale tube, hitting a trigger switch that
powers a little Greg LeMond, who cycles around a corner to relay a monkey swinging from a bike
chain, that relays over to Lance Armstrong, who rides over some cancer cells ...

I hope you weren't demanding practical ideas.

--
__/_ _ _ _) /(- \/(- _) .
-----------------------------------------------------------
 
In article <[email protected]>, Steve Sanfratello
<[email protected]> wrote:

> On 26 Nov 2003 22:27:25 GMT, Gunluvver2 <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > Do any of you have any ideas for projects that would use parts from old bikes?
> >
>
> Make a entry for the Rube Goldberg contest : http://www.purdue.edu/UNS/rube/rube.index.html
>
> I'd like to see a ping-pong ball traveling down a Cannondale tube, hitting a trigger switch that
> powers a little Greg LeMond, who cycles around a corner to relay a monkey swinging from a bike
> chain, that relays over to Lance Armstrong, who rides over some cancer cells ...
>
> I hope you weren't demanding practical ideas.

Practical ideas:

http://www.pedalpower.org/maya.html

They helped kick-start a program in Guatemala of taking old bike bits and turning them into
human-powered light-industrial machines, a good idea in parts of the world where the power grid is
less reliable than the workers.

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email protected] http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club
 
[email protected] (Gunluvver2) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
>....

> Do any of you have any ideas for projects that would use parts from old bikes?
>
> TIA, Dennis

Don't hate me for this, but if a bike is really done as a bike... It turns out that fine steel
tubing like 531 and aluminum tubing make the best Windchimes.

There are a number of sites for windchimes, and somehow, the old frame living on the patio "singing"
in the breeze is sort of a fitting end...

Nick
 
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