Homebrew01

How about a presta tubed wheelbarrow. The tire was flat, so I had a presta 26" mtn bike tube, inserted it in a "figure 8", and pumped it up. The tire's lumpy from uneven tube distribution, but good enough for moving weeds and wood chips.
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Andy_K 

I don't know if this counts as a "use" or not, but a friend made this "steampunk laser gun" for my wife, incorporating a set of Campy shifters he found at an antique shop.

scarlson 

Home-built a crossbow as a teenager, pull weight was 200lb so I couldn't pull it back by hand, so I incorporated a BB shell and crank as a winch. Or as a proper medievalist would call it, a cranequin.

obrentharris 

Choke Lever on Bruce Gordon's custom Vespa that my son is restoring.






Brent

thumpism 

I used to keep a LH crankarm in a rear rack bag between the seats in my old truck, in case I needed a cudgel for any reason.

DrIsotope

The 16" wheels+tires from the 2-kid trailer I used to tow my kids to school in are now on my Swisher walk-behind string trimmer. They slipped right on. Same axle size and everything.
I repaired the neighbor's lawn mower with old shift housing, a Jagwire MTB brake cable, and the fixing bolt from a terrible Bengal mechanical disc caliper.
I have some drawers in my workshop that use old Trek aluminum water bottle cages as handles.

CliffordK

Hmmm... I'll have to go take some photos, and hunt down other photos soon. I burnt up my Fiat 500 Starter Motor Cable long ago, and it has been replaced by a bicycle brake cable. Occasionally needing replenishing as the drilled bolt cuts through it.

I've also used brake and shifter cables as wires for picture hangers, been doing that for eons.

I've got to have a few more bike parts around here.

Spokes can be as versatile as wire hangers.

The Bike Coop has a set of 16" or 20" wheels that they use for the reusable tags for their bike valet. Clip the tags to the spokes in the wheels when not in use, then clip one to the bike, and give one to the customer when the bike comes in.

I didn't do the config, but my powder coat booth uses a wheel like a steering wheel to allow the powder coating rack to be turned.

Bike related, of course, but my heavy hauler trailer uses two 16" Schwinn OCC wheels.


I bought this bird feeder a while ago. I'm considering whether I want to keep it as a bird feeder, or restore it as a bike wheel.

rocks in head 

Here's a rear derailleur, chain, and large cog from a mid '90's kids mtb that my dad and I installed on the oiler servicing the Nasal 3B powerhammer in his blacksmith shop.

thumpism 

I used Presta valves on a plumbing project about 30 years ago. Replumbed one end of the house and had to pressure test the hot and the cold lines before going live so drilled the copper caps to fit valves removed from tubes and capped the 1/2" copper supply lines and pressurized to see if they would hold overnight and they did.

SurferRosa

I've never used them (knock wood), but I have two bludgeoning tools at the ready. The mace, a long and gnarly mtb seatpost, is near the bed. And the battle axe, a Campy GS drive side crank arm, is hanging on the kitchen wall.

Piff 

I have to admit I've swung around a crank with a single chainring attached and thought it'd make for a good weapon in a bad situation.

oneclick 

Don't hold it by the pedal.

thumpism 

Could not find the original copper piece but I used this one to pressurize kitchen/bathroom lines that already have the cutoff installed just outside the wall. With this in place and the cutoff fully open I can pressurize the line back to the next valve; in that house it was from the first or second floor down to the basement. If it did not hold overnight that meant I had to do some resoldering along the way somewhere.

non-fixie 

Shimano shifters, kept my cheap lawn mower alive for another four seasons or so:

norskagent

droppedandlost 

chainring picture hanger

juvela

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...did not know you had a moat

probably there to help protect all of those wonderful vintage two-wheelers!


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juvela

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now i wouldna wish to get in the way of a quarrel from that thing!

do you have a collection of arbeletes?

as a youngin' had an x-bow with a draw weight of eighty lb nominal - that were eno' (!) it was strong eno' to cause the trigger/latch mechanism to fail - excite-a-mente it were...


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juvela

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forum member @1simplexnut posted these images from Aotearoa in another thread.

they show a jogging/cycling path created from a disused rail line.

along one stretch of the path a fence of sorts has been fabricated made of derelict cycles.






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scarlson 

I used to! Powered by all manner of things, from ganged rubber bands (first iteration) to inner tubes to trampoline springs. I also had several trebuchets and mangonels, one of which was wrist-mounted like a slingshot but more accurate. I was an absolute terror to my neighbors as a child. This was the king of them all, made from a truck leaf spring, and the only survivor from my collection. It was (and still is) slightly scary to shoot, but the trigger's a rolling-nut good for 500lb I think. The cranequin could pull that as well. The first bolts/quarrels I fletched up were too weak and split down the middle when I shot them, both halves taking diverging trajectories with a mist of splinters flying generally downrange! These days I shoot with Harvard Archery Club. They "get it" when it comes to homebuilt bows.

Harhir

Old kids bike with a 26" wheel in the seat post as wine glass holder. The handlebar now also had Edison style bulbs.

imakecircles

I'll often use the little leftover scraps of bar tape to tape handles of other varieties. For instance that way, I can feel like I'm cross training when mowing the lawn.

Bianchi84

Suntour Chain- Key Chain

Glennfordx4 

Jeff Wills

I found an extra-crappy MTB wheel abandoned on the I-205 bridge one day. A little shopping at the hardware store, some pop-rivets, and a post sunk in concrete later... artsie-fartsie windmill: