michaelalanjone

I wanted to illuminate the frame on my commuter bike. This is how I did it.

I bought a battery-powered strand of white LED lights right after Christmas, on sale. It has wired LED's attached to a 4-AA cell battery case with an on-off switch. It was ~$3 on sale.

I bought an 8-foot piece of clear tubing, sold for connecting a tropical fish tank pump to an aerator nozzle, at Wal-Mart for $1.12. I took an X-Acto knife and lanced the tubing from end to end.

Then I slipped the LED wiring into the clear tubing, all the way down. Just to keep the LED's/wiring from slipping out of the tubing, I wrapped a little clear tape around the tubing, about every 6 inches.

I threaded the tubing [backwards] from the chainstay, up the down tube, left a little loose around the stem, across the handlebar and back, and then along the top tube, finally back to the rear rack. I thought about using tiny, thin black zip-strips, to attach the tubing to the frame, but I didn't have any, so I just used clear tape. I know, I know, the tape will leave adhesive on the frame; if I take it off, I will just have to clean it with alcohol. I stuck the battery case in my commuter bike's trunk, which is velcro-mounted to the rear rack.

I know this is not the best picture, but it is difficult to photograph in the dark, and plus I shot the pic with my BlackBerry. It would work even better on a white or light bike, (mine is black), because it would reflect off the frame. It would really glow on a flourescent frame.

It is eerily bright white light, like my white LED headlights, won't get hot like incandescent bulbs, and the LED's run for 110 hours on 4AA cells. That's a little under 200 trips to work, in the morning, for me (45 minute commute).

fearfeasog

that's really awesome! go go DIY!