EASY PARTY BIKE

Ever want to listen to music while you bike, not using boring headphones? How about taking music to outdoor parties without having to lug a set of speakers around? This is a super-easy way to listen to music while you bike...

PLEASE: Post your ideas to add on to this in the comments section, for everybody else, and me, to do. There's never too much music or speakers to blast while biking!

Step 1 THE INFAMOUS PARTS LIST

What You Need:
A cheap mp3 player, it will be alot easier if it takes a disposable battery...
A bike
A ton of duct tape
An old speaker... I used a speaker from a broken amp
Some batteries, the bigger (D) the better
A speaker cable

NOTE: You're mp3 player might break, thats why the cheaper the better...

Comments

[DIY Dave]

I would put some kind of cover over the cone of the speaker

[heyzuphowsitgoin]

to protect it? good idea i think i'll end up doing that... if i end up riding through a few puddles or a lake again it might get wet! can exposure to sunlight also damage it? what materials do you think would be good to cover it with?

[Sky Woulf]

i once mounted a set of 6x9 el cheapo's in the rear deck of a car, lots of sun, and trash flying around. so to protect them a little i glued some thin nylon i cut from a sleeping bag to the mounting gasket (the one that runs around the top of the cone next to the screw mounting holes). it vibrated nicly, and kept the sun/trash out of the cone.

[DIY Dave]

I mean something like speakers come with when they are new. some kind of screen or something so your speaker won't get torn up

[butterflycookies]

if you touch the copper wire to one of the regular wires you will get a BIG boost in sound quality

[Quiksilver2693]

It would better to have power going straight to the speaker like some subwoofers.

[Quiksilver2693]

Like instead of having the speaker being powered by the mp3player have the speaker being powered from another source as well.

[Da_Fudge]

That wouldn't work. You would damage your speaker very quickly. You have the battery across the speaker, that is going to be constantly pushing out the cone and will create a short.

[heyzuphowsitgoin]

haha thanks... im looking into taking the amp from a boombox... think that would work?

[Quiksilver2693]

Possibly.

[heyzuphowsitgoin]

thanks for the input, i'm not sure i understand though... what do you mean?

[zeroemission]

every time you double the number of speakers, you get 3 extra decibels which is the same as doubling your amplifier power! just make sure you don't lower impedance too much as it will fry an amp. 4 ohm is the lowest you want to go with most amplifiers. car amps can handle 2 ohms.

2 X 8 ohm speakers that share the same + & - (parallel) on an amp = 4 ohm load. when you wire the same speakers with one's + to the amp +, and then it's - to the next speaker's + and THAT speaker's - to the amp - (series), you double impedance to 16 ohms. by combining BOTH techniques with 4 speakers, you can get 6 free dB with the same exact load on an amp. that's like doubling your power twice.

as mentioned too, putting speakers in a cabinet will help you get deeper bass by canceling the sound's out of phase back wave. it doesn't make as much difference at higher frequencies.

you don't really need to build a big heavy wood box either. sometimes car stereo installers test subwoofers in cardboard boxes which are much easier and lighter to work with. really, a little bit of box resonance might help "warm" the sound of your small speakers. it would sound cleaner with a solid box though.

if you can find them, some people have built really nice speaker cabinets using the heavy cardboard tubes used inside carpets shipped to carpet stores. that thick cardboard makes for a really good enclosure that isn't resonant.

more speakers = louder
a box = deeper bass

other than that, you need more power

[zeroemission]

you could always get a sonic impact amplifier, but at $50+ (US), they cost a little bit of money. you can also get really cheap amplifier kits from 1 watt to 10 watts per channel if you can handle some wiring. the easiest thing might be to get a used pair of powered computer speakers and remove the power transformer, usually the plug (aka wall wart) and substitute battery power instead. these days people even throw working PC speakers out if they upgrade because they're so cheap. just make sure you match the power level. AA, AAA, C & D batteries are all 1.5 volt, so if you have a 6v transformer, you'd need 4 batteries. usually too, the power cable is color coded with the white striped wire being positive and the plain black negative.

[Vasilcz]

Please, how I heighten volume speakers? Play me ghastly quietly. Sorry for my English.... I'm 15 and I am form the Czech Republic

[cornboy3]

You could mount it in a cardboard box.

[ravingking2008]

it will go soggy

[fatrickuk]

I would suggest you to use an amp for the speaker though coz you might not get enough sound if you connect your mp3 directly to the speaker.

[rocknrollskwurl]

id build a simpal speaker box (1/4 ply works best) and carpet the insaide and your bass will double

[heyzuphowsitgoin]

wouldnt that also reduce the treble though?

[rocknrollskwurl]

just equal the treble and bass a little more

[RaisedByRobots]

I always wanted to do something like this. Be riding my bike up to a stoplight with the music going 'FOOM FOOM bdup FOOM'. He he. Very cool. How long does the battery last when you're driving the speaker?

[heyzuphowsitgoin]

i dunno, i made this yesterday, but without the fancy battery rig mine uses an AAA battery, it lasted around half and hour. id guess the C that im using will last a little longer, but i dunno how long haha yea thats why i made it :p

[theRIAA]

lol@ cheap cameras that take mirror images

[heyzuphowsitgoin]

haha... or macbook pros :p i woulda expected alot more from a macbook pro!

[theRIAA]

well... if it's a webcam, it's understandable...

[LinuxH4x0r]

I used to have a sanza e130. It's screen cracked. Twice. Nice job!

[heyzuphowsitgoin]

thanks! i found my sandisk under a desk... i lost my newer sansa somewhere else in my room... the thing seemed bulletproof to me! howd you crack the screen?

[LinuxH4x0r]

too much pressure on it (probably keys next to it)

[Vautikos]

Great concept, but the execution is a little underpowered. I'd love to see a stepped-up version with a rechargeable amp and stereo speakers. Good work though.

[heyzuphowsitgoin]

haha thanks... i did what i could with 20 minuts and some crap lying around my house...