Knobby All Terrain Rubber Wallet with Optional Smack-lights

One of my neighbors put a pile of mtb tires out on the street for garbage pick up. Naturally, my hunter-gatherer instincts took over and I dragged them all back to my lair to gloat over. It's possible that I have too many old bikes (nevah!). May as well have too many tires as well. Especially nice ones. And I truly dig the tread patterns and want to make everything out of them. I was working on a wallet design, and then the contest came up and gave me the kick I needed to make it into an instructable.

yeah, so anyway...
MTB Tires are cool. And this knobby thing lights up when you drop it. If you're like me, you always have a few extra tires around that you can't possibly throw away, because well, they're so cool. Now you can have a wallet that is as cool as a knobby mountain bike tire. And if you go for the optional drop sensor... If you drop your wallet, the lights fire off like, um i dunno what. some tiny french polizei car inside your wallet your something. You or a person with you is bound to notice and see where your cool wallet went, and if you're in a crowded nightclub or whatever, it lights up every time someone kicks it or steps on it.
Interestingly, the lights also go off if you smack your friend's head with it. You can't beat that for entertainment.

video of the cr-azeee lights:
http://www.youtube.com/v/0MxrhrgJ07o

Step 1 Materials

Old MTB tire.
MTB (large) Inner tube.
Scissors.
Pop-rivets and riveter. Or substitute your favorite fastener method.
Something sharp to puncture with.
A hole punch. Or do without it.

Comments

[Tommi Potx]

Mighty fine Instructable! This has inspired my creativity, for instructables yet to come. Thanks for giving me a reason to stash all those old tires!

[ilpug]

very well done. funny and informative. amazing wallet. Although i don't plant to make the wallet (i already have about a dozen various DIY wallets I've made lying around) the impact sensors from shoes have inspired me to all kinds of stuff. I only have one thing to say. did you use backing washers on the rivets? it didnt look like it in the pictures, or if you did, I couldn't tell. Woulndt that make it possible for the rivets to pull through?

[ineluctable]

ilpug, with this particular tire used the rubber is so hard that actually retained the rivets properly and they haven't popped through. this was a bonus because I wanted to keep the weight and bulk down. putting the rivet in the thick part of the tread rather than the groove helps. glad you were inspired by the impact light re-claim. would love to see what kind apps you've come up with for them.

[ilpug]

Cool then, that is an added bonus. nicely done.

[indelible]

Awesome I live in a tree and drop my shit all the time. This is exactly what I need, if only I knew somebody handy enough to make me one?

[ilpug]

this might be a slightly odd question, but why do you live in a tree?

[fbalien99]

you live in a tree and have a computer... awesome.. weird but awesome

[Tommi Potx]

Me like!! Must make!!

[zen of zappa]

hello! i would first of all like to say this is the coolest wallet i have ever seen. i am definitely planning to make due to various local bike stores throwing away old tires, but i still need to acquire a rivet gun and rivets. what is the cheapest brand and what size rivets do you use? i cannot wait to make this!

[freewheeler]

if not riveting,grommets would work quite well

[wobbler]

Not according to Wallace, he'd prefer it if you used cheese, Wensleydale .preferably.

[rubber ninja]

Dudes, to make holes you can, use hand held hole punches, that come in varying diameteres, punch under wooden surface, very effective.I do like the rivet detail, but theirs also an option of using press studs and zips.explore sum more, but i think your wallet is rad!

[amarxyz]

5* for the comedy!

[MasterRiddles]

you shold make one in the form of an i pod touch or i phone case.

[komecake]

  LOL. This is cool. Question though... since you're smacking it on the table to make them light up, and when on feet you have all of that weight on your side to make them light up, would it dropping to the floor actually be enough pressure to make the lights go off?

[lynks]

If you use grommets you can attach a chain for that real "biker" look.

[rattyrain]

Nice... ...and Pan's Labyrinth was pretty strange...

[Eggbertius]

Strange may be a bit of an understatement...

[masterochicken]

And so it belongs
http://www.instructables.com/group/toughstuff/

[drummonkey92]

hey, i'm making one of these now, have you seen the innertube wallet instructable? i started making that and thought it would look awsum to cut up a tire as an outer.

[ineluctable]

great! i have, and i think they're a perfect match. post pics or make instructable of it. was thinking snaps might be a good closure fastener, or the magnetic method, which other instructablers claim doesn't erase credit cards.

[drummonkey92]

like i said, i'm in the process of doing it now, the curve put in the innertube is proving to make it more difficult than i had thought. i will post pics when it's finished though :) i probably won't make a full instructable on it since it's mainly just combining to people's ideas, might ask if the author of the other wallet would be up for collaborating as i'm not using a sewing machine for mine. if i do i will make sure to add a link to this page.

[Shadowguy2010]

This is a great idea. Very creative, and, (heh) quite 'stylish'.

It looks good, and is something I would consider making.

=D

[mettaurlover]

idea for even more improvement: add sound to it and a (if you know how to make one) remote controlled low-voltage flat capacitor taser in case someone else decides to pick it up. or if your friends think it would be a good idea to hide your wallet.

[ClosetMonster]

Very cool looking. This would make a great impact resistant Ipod case too. I may have to make one. Thanks!

[eeeXsmart]

awesome idea!! i probably have some old tires laying around ;)

[bedbugg2]

oh my freaking god this is too awesome!!!! this will make a great wallet for when dh mtbing...if it falls out your pocket it doesnt have a chance of loosing its grip in the dirt

[omkar_hummer]

temme one thing how do i cut da tire if it is not avaliable originally cut????

[bedbugg2]

what?

[bedbugg2]

and i had the 99th rating!

[carver]

This is AWESOME. I got to make one of these. like i said AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME!!!!

[ineluctable]

Thanks! I've found that some tires can be a lot tougher to mold to your wishes than others. I warn you, this can be a challenging project. I think the design could be improved by making it more complicated. Like really cutting up the tire and putting it on more of a frame. For this instructable I wanted to keep it really simple, and the choice of tire made a big difference. Look in the comments below for some good design suggestions people have made...

[live4cracking]

Very cool !! Great job.

[Dantex]

this is great!!!

[Remote Man]

Excellent!!!!!!! 9/10!!!

[StiltGuyJoe]

WOW, man ... Wow. That looks pretty bad ass, I need to try that when I get a chance. Excellent job, very creative!

[John Smith]

How can I keep the tire flat? The sidewall is thick, and it won't stay flat.

[John Smith]

Oh yeah, it's kevlar reinforced, if that makes a difference.

[ineluctable]

not sure if it's the kevlar or not. hard to say w/o seeing it. It's true that some tires have really thick, springy sidewalls and may require a different design. I've been thinking that I'd like to add to the design so that it will get really flat with more tire types. My thought is to add light rigid rectanglular plates to the inside and rivet them in. these could be little stiff pieces of plastic or aluminum, and they would go behind the inner tube sleeves, right up against the inside of the tire. Really I think the best might be to combine my design with the magnetic closure of the 'bitchin inner tube wallet': http://www.instructables.com/id/EWHFR7GF0X1RVBY/
and put rivets (or bolts or thick thread or whatever you choose) all the way thru the metal plate and the tread. that way the wallet gets nice and flattened and has that great mag-closure. i thought about something along these lines originally, but didn't want the weight, and assumed magnets would be too dangerous to keep near mag-striped cards. i haven't played with hard drive magnets, but I know there are some nice flat rectangular neodymiums for sale on line.
The mtb wallet is a pretty challenging design. it definitely gets easier after making one or two that you just assume won't turn out well, just to give yourself a feel for the medium and the particular tire. It's tricky, but I hope you can figure out a design you like.

Another thought is maybe try stitching it together. I thought about using a 'speedy stitching tool' (a sewing awl) rather than rivets. they're super handy:
http://www.acehardware.com/sm-speedy-stitcher-and-reg-sewing-awl-kit-110--pi-1297138.html

[John Smith]

I don't have a picture, but I can see small fibers funning diagonal to the tread. Right now, I rubber banded the basic shape, and I put it under a ATV, where i'ts sitting now. I'll get back to you.