Bike Tire and Gear Belt

I made a custom belt out of old bike parts. My idea was to use 2 bike gears for the clasp, which works well and looks great. The downside is I needed a welder, grinding wheel and leather punch for the project. I'd love to hear ideas on how to make something similar with less tools!

This article is brought to you by MonkeyLectric and the Monkey Light bike light

Step 1: What you need

PARTS

- 1 old road bike or cyclocross tire. MTB tires are too wide.
- assorted old bike gears. a rear cluster can work. i used a 17T single-speed gear and a 13T gear from a rear cluster.
- 1/4" steel bolt, 3" long.

TOOLS

MIG welder
grinding wheel
leather punch
contact cement
scissors
cable cutter

Comments

[Agentfern]

Did you clean the gears at all?

[Cpt. Caleb]

Hey, I'm doing someting like this but I have no welder, haven't found a strong enough epoxy or glue yet, and solder didn't take

[johnnyappleseed]

I made one. it actually works.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-a-Microwave-Transformer-Homemade-Welder/

[Giesterfarher]

I'm going to try this, but without the tire. I'm going to do the belt in leather and just emboss the tire treat in by hand. The rubber on the tire will rub off onto your shirt and jeans. Nothing worse than skid marks on your pants. ;)

[bobbelsekwol]

I already have a spare" tyre" around my waist, I don't need another one!!!! Just watch your sprockets when you bend down, OW! It's amazing what great "gear" you can make out of bike bits.

[HellborN-HarbingeR]

Wow, it's a modern day "Cog-Piece" haha.

But seriously, undo your belt, whip it out (the BELT you filthy minded person you) and you could do some major flailing damage to a would-be mugger.

What do you want from me, I live in Johannesburg, South Africa, you have to know how to turn anything into a weapon to survive. ;)

[toad]

I made something like this years ago. Works well but hurts to sit down sometimes. Especially now with all my pants shrinking.

[anax22]

nice but don't ride a car waring that or any sudden bricks will lead to a pirsed stomach and u may lose other important things........ u know

[Widget83]

I'm interested to know what type of emergency you could find yourself in to quickly remove your belt.... ~~~~ You're walking through the park and suddenly find yourself in the pants prohibited section and to avoid embarrassment, you need to quickly whip off the pants...kapow, make sure that belt is quick release!! ~~~~ Maybe also in the bedroom, for quick shenanigans.

[mysss]

Say you spill sulfuric acid (car battery acid) on yourself. Or high concentration bleach. Or any other of a number of extremely dangerous things. You want those pants OFF. NOW. Chemicals can either severely damage (burn) your skin or kill you. For example, a biologist (chemist? I'm not positive how the story went.) spilled a huge jug of phenol on himself. He saved his notes, but by the time he removed his clothing and I think went over to the chemical shower, it was too late. He died. But that's lab safety, not belt safety per se. Also, suppose you're caught on something. Just one more argument for carrying a fair-sized knife, in addition to knowing how to undo anything strapped to you.

[BigShotUK]

I take it you've never run into a bathroom at full tilt while undoing your belt on the move to avoid any delays in getting seated for... erm... a movment?
;o)

[MrRodrigez]

 LOL @ THAT

[annguyen]

I would grind off the top and bottom part just to be safe, that stuff looks painful when u bend over.

[Whales]

You might be able to get away with just rounding the edges more, that was it still has the look, without the pain.

[jules15]

This has got to be painful when you bend over

[SinAmos]

Sweet Make.

[kimithy]

This is fantastic! I was a little pressed for time, so ended up just using my two gears like a D-ring belt. Only tools required were box cutter, 2 rivets, mallet, and leather punch. (Basically just put both rings, small on big, on one side of the belt, riveted it closed, rounded off the other end of the belt. Voila!). I'm excited to try this design though - I think it looks a bit better, and puts a lot less stress on the rivets than the D-ring design.

[dan]

can you post a photo?

[NostalgicStone]

Looks awesome!
BUT
I would totally hurt myself all the time wearing this thing

[Allan Mankato]

I don't quite understand how the two gears come together. Further explain with more pics? or a video of how the belt works....

[kimithy]

The big gear is basically the "belt buckle", the little gear slides onto the belt at the other end. You then bring the two gears together, and slide the little gear inside the big one from behind the big one. The little ring stays because it's gear teeth on one side pushes into the rubber of the tire, and the other lays on the outside of the big gear. Once you grind the teeth off the top and bottom of the little gear, test this with the big one - it'll make a lot more sense when it's in front of you! Good luck :)

[handy adam]

nothin a big hammer wont do

[lucek]

that would hurt. ok yes if you're doing some fancy thing or other but running biking sitting down etc. the bike gears would dig into you.

[pueblita]

I love it!... Incredibly creative and resourceful!

[emericanskater]

 would it be possible to arc weld it?

[Kryptonite]

Did you have to use a lower setting for this? My dad's got a welder so that's fine, but I don't know how the gear would stand up to heat.

[MrRodrigez]

 or if you have the ability to, get a hold of a TIG welder, that would be my choice, just make sure to grind the galvanized plating off of the bolt though, or you could get poisoned

[Kryptonite]

Yeah we have a gas mask for that exact reason. I took apart a rear cluster and made an Instructable, check here: www.instructables.com/id/Taking-apart-a-bikes-rear-cluster/

[MrRodrigez]

 haha yeah, i saw that when i first saw this, much better than the method here IMHO, plus, i'm using the sprockets for a double kick pedal for drums, and a few more for an EV I've been wanting to build (likely a motorcycle), so i would rather have them flawlessly disassembled :D

[MrRodrigez]

 try running your welder at around 90 amps or so, and adjust the wirefeed to whatever you can handle, i weld some pretty thin steel at about 60 amps, so 90 should be just fine

[Kryptonite]

With the rivets; I always drill them out but I must try the angle grinder option, thanks.

[dan]

angle grinder is very easy

[Kryptonite]

Found a rear cluster in a dumpster behind my local bicycle store and dissected it today! I plan to make an Instructable on how to take a rear cluster apart, and I remembered this Instructable at the last moment so I thought I'd check back.

[alexanderichartill]

 simple genius

[madwilliamflint]

Pretty slick. Isn't that going to scuff up any pants you wear it with?

[dan]

if scuffing your pants is something you worry about, you're probably on the wrong website :)

[madwilliamflint]

Well no, it just strikes me that that rubber material is going to mar everything it comes into contact with as long as there is a token amount of friction. Clever 'able and the buckle's awesome. But if it ruins every pair of pants you wear it with...

[dan]

it doesn't make any marks.

[madwilliamflint]

Excellent! Now if I can only get welding gear in my 5th floor Brooklyn apartment... ;-)

[zomfibame]

Just being silly, not serious, but as someone who has lived in NYC.... a jumper cable grounded out off of the 3rd rail from your closest subway station might work for welding the bolt n' gear.