Make a Rear Bike Rack from Scavenged Kitchen Materials

 by yoyology

Step 1: Tools and Materials

My primary motivator here was "cheap".  This cost me a grand total of $1.75 because I had to buy a bag of cable ties.  Everything else I had in storage.  Obviously, if you don't have what I have, you'd have to buy it.

Materials
1 Bicycle (mine is a GT Vantara I got from a Craigslist seller recently)
1 Wire Basket
2 Steel Shelf Supports
Cable Ties
Non-Stranded Wire

Tools
Slip-joint pliers
Needle-nose pliers
Wire cutters
Allen wrench (4mm in my case)
Flashlight ('cause I did this at night)

BroCraig says: Dec 29, 2011. 10:10 PM
Can't find the wire basket anywhere. Any substitute material?
bookman413 says: Aug 15, 2010. 11:54 AM
If you're really cheap and you have tin snips or something suitable to cut a tomato sauce can with, you can make brackets out of that metal. Fold it in three to hide the sharp edges. I've done it. It works. It's definitely cheap. On a similar note, I'm making some cheap hose clamps out of scrap metal and some bolts (to tighten them with) this weekend to secure some baskets onto the side of my (expensive and strong) rear bike rack.
Dr Qui says: Jul 22, 2010. 7:02 PM
Nice job,

A friend recently used an old vacuformed cordless drill box to make a ridgid carry case for his bike. He used a dremel tool to cut out the inner skin of the box, the plastic tool cases are nice and showerproof and already have locking clasps in place.
Ironspark says: Jun 11, 2010. 7:52 PM
How strong is it?
yoyology (author) in reply to IronsparkJun 12, 2010. 6:49 AM
I haven't been able to give it a proper test. It hasn't fallen off the bike yet, but I haven't put anything on it, either. :-)
undecided795 says: May 12, 2010. 2:15 AM
It looks good, but you might want to move the reflector to the back of the rack so it'll be more visible.
yoyology (author) in reply to undecided795May 12, 2010. 9:10 PM
I'm planning to.  Just haven't gotten to it yet.  Still waiting on the scratch to replace that blasted tire.
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