General Cycling Discussion - Odd uses for cycling parts

Does anybody else out there use bike parts for uses other than that which they were designed for?
I find that ruined tubular tyres make great chainstay protectors, and blown tubes make good seat-stay wear covers, preventing my panniers from rubbing the paint off on my C'Dale.
Tubasti, despite being a lousy tubular cement, not only holds those aforementioned seatstay protectors on (without plastic-ties), but also keeps handgrips on flat bars from turning! It might also be good for gluing liners into the inside of tyre carcasses, if I were to do that.
I saw a guy once who used old rims as a mobile, hanging from his porch ceiling.

I have done the mobile thing with old chainrings and sprockets. My wife made a cool ankle bracelet with an old chain.

I have a beer bottle opener made from a sector of chainring welded to a loop of chain.

You can use bands of inner tube around your lower headset race to keep mud out.
Also, slice them length ways, and use them as extra wrap around your bars, beneath the bar tape.

By cutting the valve stem out of an old tube you can use it as a tire liner. Don't know how effective that is tho.

Old, blown inner tubes have so many uses. I've used bit of inner tube as replacement shims under handlebar mountings for lights etc., as a seal on the valve on my beer fermenter and as an S&M toy <no, hang on, that was in a dream ;)>

I went through a phase a few years ago of using old chains to make jewelery - bracelets, necklaces etc. I even wore an actual length of chain as a bracelet once, but it was too uncomfortable - do you have any idea how hard it is to use a chaintool one handed?

I like the mobile idea. I've got a few old worn chainrings and clusters lying around. Might be a fun project to do with the boy.

Allister

cycletourist

Hi...is that you Bicycle Bob ???

Ride safe....Dudley

Well Do'h !

Guess I could have just hit the profile button !

Originally posted by cycletourist
By cutting the valve stem out of an old tube you can use it as a tire liner. Don't know how effective that is tho.
IS THIS BICYCLE BOB!

(If it's not, <sorry!>...if you are, WHAT'S HAPPENING, DUDE!!!!!! I honor you, guy! ;))

Thats gotta be Bob. Dont you recognise the face?

Hi guys,

Yep, it's me. There was already a bicyclebob here so I couldn't use that name.

Cycletourist is an old name from the days before a girlfriend started calling me BicycleBob.

keep riding,
(and be good to your wrists, you might need them someday)

b-bob

I'd know that face anywhere.

Old tubes are great for just about everything: attaching broken rear blinkies for example. I made a carnical mark with them once.

I always have many front lights whose handlebar attachment is broken around the house for general use.

frames are great to hang towels and other clothing items they work as coat hangers too. Rear matellic baskets work well as kitchen trash or in the bedroom to place socks and nuderwear.

I have been thinking of setting up an using an old bike and a dynamic front light as alternative source of lighting in case of nuclear disaster.

This isn't strictly a bicycle part, but I actually found a use for a car today (can you believe it?). You see, I was being chased by this dog up a hill that was too steep to just outrun the bastard. I stopped and stared at the dog for a while from behind my bike, then I heard this car coming from a distance. When the car got close enough to intimidate the dog, I took off. I got enough ground in those few seconds for the dog to just totally lose interest in the chase. :D

Chris

Originally posted by Chris L
I got enough ground in those few seconds for the dog to just totally lose interest in the chase. :D

Chris
"Mr. Spanky!"

:D

Originally posted by PapeteeBooh
Rear matellic baskets work well as kitchen trash or in the bedroom to place socks and nuderwear.
"Nuderwear?"

:D

Sounds cool to me! ;)

Pete,
It is good to see the accident hasn't dulled your wit! Or is that the pain killers talkin'.
:D

Originally posted by Pete Clark

"Nuderwear?"


Seems like a Freudian slip of the tongue. I meant to say underwear

Originally posted by PapeteeBooh
Seems like a Freudian slip of the tongue[/I]
You type with your tongue? Cool!

Originally posted by velocipedio

You type with your tongue? Cool!

It takes some practice. The nice thing is that it is easy to type on very small keyboards like the one you have on PDA, packet computers, etc.

It's slips of the tongue like this that spawn millions in profits for commercial enterprizes.

"In the evening, when the lights are low and expectations are high, slip into something more comfortable...slip into NUDERWEAR... ;)

At the Chicago Cultural center are a couple of chairs made mainly from inner tubes and old city bicycle racks. The racks are used for the main frame of the chair, and the inner tubes are used for the seat and where one's back goes.

Since they are on display as part of an exhibit, I couldn't actually sit in one of them, but they were fun to look at.

Make a 1 inch 'rubber band' from a section of an old intertube. When you stop, pull it from the hand grip around the front brake hand lever. Just lean your bike on anything and it will just sit there. When riding, just leave it around the hand grip, you probably won't notice it.

Well y'all get busy! If you build what Bicycling thinks is the best whatever from old cables, you can win a new set each year for the next 25!

Cheers...Gary

Old inner tubes make great straps for your bike rack. We cut the stems out and use them for lashing anything down.

I put worn out grips on my lawnmower and weed eater.

I also use my old full-fingered gloves for lawnwork.

I use old spokes for almost anything that needs to be secured.

A buddy uses a flat bladed spoke as a sip-tube holder on his camelback.

I've made a windmill out of an old wheel.

Made a gate in the shop out of an old frame using the headset as the hinge.

I've bolted an old saddles to a bar stool for fun!

I use my old handlebars are breaker bars for stubborn nuts and bolts.

I once used an old crank with chainrings attached to break up some hardpack soil in the yard.

Old spokes make good ear-wax removal tools.

They are long enough to use on your pet bear as well!

Just an hour ago I used a section of inner tube to open a resistant jar of strawberry preserves. I immediately thought of this forum but decided it was not worthy of posting. So I was delighted to find this thread resuscitated.

P. S. Do not attempt this with an inner tube still in the tire. You might get strawberry preserves in the tire. They would probably seal small punctures but cannot be depended on as sealant; besides, they are the wrong color.

Originally posted by JonR
P. S. Do not attempt this with an inner tube still in the tire. You might get strawberry preserves in the tire. They would probably seal small punctures but cannot be depended on as sealant; besides, they are the wrong color.


LOL!!! Good ole JonR humor!!!

a cross section cut of the inner tube is very good to to stop the television from moving

I've seen old rims made into pot hangers with a little light chain and some hooks, it worked quite well.

Old rims can be made into chairs as well, nylon cord, strung like tennis rackets for seat and back, and legs of rims, cut in half.

Ride in your mind
Pat

Pieces of old tyres make great exhaust pipe hangars.

I am drawing a blank, except for the fact that, if I think in reverse,
I have a number of examples of "Odd uses for non-cycling parts on my bicycle."

1) Handgrips from a Swedish-made walker (shaped like squids.)

2) Reflectors from:
a) auto supply stores
b) home depot

3) miscellaneous metal brackets, also from home depot

4) batteries and chargers from Radio Shack

5) zip ties from the dollar store

6) unknown filing cabinet parts

7) CO2 cartridges from :eek:mart for bb-guns

8) whistle

9) whatever-whatnots, etc., as I find them useful

10) roasting rack not included

:eek: :eek: :eek: