Bike handlebar mounted hands-free book holder

Doing any riding on the exercise bike this year? Getting bored going nowhere fast? Don't have a TV to help the miles go by? Tried reading but discovered that sitting upright on the bike negatively impacted your work out? When my wife found herself in the same predicament, she asked me to help her out.

Step 1 Parts and pieces

1 - Used bicycle handlebar stem. I got this free for the asking from Mountain View Cyclery and Fitness in Post Falls. This is my recycled piece and it was the only one he had. Sorry...
1 - Book holder. Barnes and Noble sold it for $12.95. It will hold paperback and hard cover books.
1 - 1/4-20 all thread bolt. I used a 5 inch long bolt but pick one that fits your stem.
4 - flat washers. Two sized to fit the bevel inside the stem, two sized to fit flush with the outside of the stem.
4 - 1/4 inch flat washers to help hold things together.
2 - 1/4 inch nuts.
1 - 1/4 inch lock nut to make sure it stays together.
All the hardware came from my neighborhood Ace hardware store.

1 - Dremel with a cut-off wheel and grinder bit.
1 - ratchet and socket(s) sized to fit your bolt and nuts.
1 - adjustable or combination wrench sized to fit your needs.

Optional:
1 - bench grinder to speed up the correction of a marginal Dremel cut.

Total cost of parts: about $15.

Comments

[sleeping_gecko]

At first, I was thinking, "That's a terrible idea! It's bad enough that people try to drive a car while reading/eating/changing pants!" Then I saw it was for a stationary bike. Great idea, and nice reuse of some old bike parts!

[BellaStella7]

changing pants?!?!?! HAHAHA!!!! That is the stupidest thing I've heard!!! Why would someone change their pants while driving??? that is dangerous! :/

[BellaStella7]

But I don't doubt the fact people would do that. haha

[sleeping_gecko]

I was just kidding, but I wouldn't be surprised! People do crazy stuff while driving. I've changed my clothes in a car a few times before, but I always park the car to do so. I had a friend who was using a phone and stopped paying attention...drifted across the center line and hit a semi truck head on. Anyway, I was just kidding about the pants, but I have seen people reading, eating, and talking on phones before. And then you'll have the people with huge dogs that are trying to lick the driver's face, and that sort of thing. You have to be careful on the road, especially if you're on a bike!

[galadriel]

I once called highway patrol on a guy who was driving erratically on the Interstate..as we went by, we saw that he had a book (appeared to be a Bible) spread out on his steering wheel. How is it rational to read while driving on the Interstate?

[bixy]

fundamentalists are never rational. that they are americans doesn't change the level of neurosis.

[sleeping_gecko]

Right...because it's only a fundamentalist that would be reading a book-that-might-have-been-a-Bible...not to mention the implication of your comment-namely, that fundamentalists are never rational. This would include fundamentalist antiTheists as well as fundamentalist Theists. The fundamentalist Christians that I know are, for the most part, pretty rationally-thinking folks (which is not to say I agree with their theology and politics often, let alone always).

I did see someone reading a book on the Interstate not too long ago.

[dedlast]

Just last week we passed some lady on the freeway doing that same thing-at 70 miles an hour at that. Not sure what she was reading, though.

[bixy]

probably looking at her cell phone...

[Squid Tamer]

I thought the same thing! Nice instructable!

[goatgirly]

that's what I thought too! ha

[shammallamaman]

Me three lol

[tki]

Yeah, nice, except the angle and the position of the holder. If you put your head _over_ the book, and you surely will bend over it, it will be destroyed by the perspiration really fast. Or you're not excercising, just imitate it. :-)

[bixy]

not sure about you guys, but at the gym they have book holders on the stationary bikes, and your head isn't OVER them, you're looking forward and down. anyone else have any moronic criticism? Who reads anything looking straight down? And that's what towels are for.

[dedlast]

Well, maybe not exercising very hard, anyway. Actually, the angle may not be good for a hard-core rider, but for the kind of workouts we do, it's almost perfect. I have in mind a modification to add some more adjustability but that will have to wait for a couple more weeks.

[blodefood]

Surely, this would be illegal in some provinces or states. Not the book holder, though. Reading while riding. If you want to alleviate boredom while riding, just do it in the city. You could get yourself killed in pretty short order if you are not watching the traffic. That can be an adventure in itself.

[ClockworkDragonfly]

You should at least read the instructible's intro before commenting, as it specifically mentions that this modification is for a stationary exercise bike.

[bixy]

Anyone with a brain would understand this is for a stationary bike. Sorry not a nasty comment, but yours are.

[allfortheboss]

Check out my blog post on this Instructable:
http://frumhacks.blogspot.com/2009/04/excercise-learn-great-combo.html

[dedlast]

Wow. Thanks for the plug. I appreciate it.

[Ricardo222]

I'm going to mod it to hold a laptop and HULU my ride.

[dedlast]

There you go! I am going to add a mod to hold my GPS. It's hard to get lost where I live but you never know...

[ShadowJesus]

Why would you read and ride your bike?

[sensoryhouse]

WTF?

[sensoryhouse]

Oh..... at first i thought this was for riding down the street.

[FeedTheGrid]

Well done, dedlast; very cleanly done instructable, too!

[I_am_Canadian]

Im putting one on my mountain bike, and noone's going to stop me.

[Hoaxinmi]

I like this i'm going to have to make one.

[rimar2000]

Good idea. Really, the stationary bike is so boring... "Your" blonde is fine.