When ever I take a banana In my pack for mountain biking it always gets squashed.

Plastic guards are all very well for walkers but they don't stand up to sliding down a hillside with a bike on top of you.

To this end, I made the Ultimate Banana Guard and it works.

In the video you will see that it resists, impact, abrasion, attack, squashing and not least, for the sake of fun, fire.

Please vote if you like this Indestructible.

No bananas were harmed in the making of this video.

Step 1: Cutting the Tube.

I imagined building a hinged metal box but then I remembered the bed frame on my metal pile, ( everything eventually gets used ).

The curve was perfect.
I measured it against a few bananas and cut a suitable size.

Step 2: Making the End Caps.

The bed frame had plastic plugs for feet.
I removed these and cut plywood discs , with a jig saw, to fit inside.
This will stop the ends of the tube from being deformed under extreme pressure.

Step 3: Adding the Ring Pull.

I wanted to use a ring pull but could find nothing suitable.
I found some toggle bolts from a lawn mower.
I tried one, and although it would do, it wasn't the look that I craved.
I searched my house again and found a little bracket and then a hose clamp.

It was a much better design.

Step 4: Lining the Tube.

I cut out discs of bubble wrap and glued them together; I stuck this in the base.

Four strips of bubble wrap were glued to the inner tube.

The lid has no padding because the banana has its own stalk as protection.

Step 5: Painting.

I wanted this to look tough and although I usually use matt black for everything, I felt that this project warranted the military touch.
I had in mind the colour and stencil look of ammunition boxes or grenades.

I looked up the Russian, Chinese and various other countries' names for banana but none really looked that good so I just chose, " B.GRENADE ".

I used matt olive paint for the tube and yellow for the stencil.

Step 6: Testing.

That is pretty much it; please see the video for the testing of this guard.

It held up against impact, abrasion, attack, squashing and fire.

I'm off to eat a banana.

FOH