Cooler Bike Cooler

An insulated bike cooler makes an excellent addition to a shopping or commuting bike. Or, I suppose, a drinkin' & partyin' bike.

Step 1 Prepare.

First you're going to need a bike, and a cooler. I found mine at the police auction for $2, and it's a great shape for this project. See what you have lying around or can find at garage sales.

To do this the way I did, you'll also need the following:

- one bike
- one cooler. I think this is what I used: http://www.rubbermaid.com/rubbermaid/ecommerce/product.jhtml?prodId=HpdProd200006&catId=HpdCat190071
- one steel right-angle bracket
- an electric drill and various bits
- something to attach the cooler onto the frame: I used the kind of brass bracket that slide bolts (for doors) slide into: see http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=73299-1277-SP1271for example. You could also use the kind of copper bracket they use to hold copper pipes against the wall.
- various bolts, screws, and bits of chain
- you might find it useful to have zip ties to temporarily hold the cooler in place while you try it out.

Comments

[bikebum1975]

Dig that idea seems to me would be a cool mod for going touring to something I plan on doing good way to carry fresh foods with ya.

[knagles]

Cool. Would this not make the bike heavy sided when the cooler is full?

[stephenniall]

i wont use a cooler ! but i will use this to mount my extra cool Camera bag ! yay no more going for take away and having my food at the bottom of a bag

[lucek]

its a good idea. if I can find some of thees coolers I may just have to build a rig to attach them to my rack. and a cooler is good for nonfreezing groceries too. a hard box beets paper and plastic or cloth on a bike. you may have just saved some eggs. and I wonder would my super market give me credit for the cooler like they do for the bags I return?

[MrStupid]

How about using 2 smaller coolers, 1 on each side kinda like saddle bags? Balance would be better and you could probably carry more stuff.

[jofish]

Sure, that would work. Personally, I just added a backpack pannier on the other side which gives a bit more flexibility. It depends what you're using it for: if this is the bike-o-beer then you'd definitely want the cooler. For the farmers market, the pannier is a bit more useful.

[dkfa]

wouldnt this make the cooler not a cooler? Wouldnt the holes make the cold air out?

[jofish]

Well, there's no significant air holes through the cooler itself. The ones in the base don't penetrate the inner shell, and the ones that the bolts go through are pretty much the size of the bolts and have big washers on each side, so there's absolutely minimum heat exchange there. Worth thinking about, but I think there's barely any difference.

[johnnyscolex]

the purpose is to keep things cool longer not indefinitely and putting small holes in cooler then plugging them up isnt going to effect the temperature much unless he was putting the bolts on say a heat source but its a bike not an exaust

[John Smith]

oh thats a good idea! if i could add one to the side of my mountain bike... that would be a great way to bring water and food into the woods.