iPod/MP3 Player Bicycle Speaker

A simple passive speaker for your bicycle using the parts you have lying around. Loud enough to hear on quiet roads. A person with very basic soldering skills should be able to do this; doesn't require any advanced electronics knowhow.

I made this because getting up those hills can be easier with some tunes, and I didn't have the cash to buy one of the commercial ones. I really liked this too because it recycled things that weren't being used anyway - go green!

Step 1 Materials Needed:

This instructable describes how I made my bike speaker. It's intended to give ideas for others to modify for their tastes/materials. It just uses what I had around and available; thanks to my friend Chris who donated the speakers that were just lying around.

Materials needed:

Passive computer speakers (or active, but my available speakers were passive). The ones I used were branded Creative, and they were made by Cambridge Soundworks, so they were good quality. This helps.
Screwdriver - mine required Philips Head
Wire cutter/stripper
Soldering iron
Solder
Cassette tape case
Scissors
Foam
Cardboard/stiffening material
Glue gun (or sewing implements, if preferred)

Optional:
Remote control
Nonslip material
Mesh/screen to protect speaker

Comments

[Punkguyta]

my pc buzzer speaker is bigger than that.

[Yerboogieman]

so....no amp?

[susanrm]

Nope. Don't want one, don't need one. But feel free to modify it with an amp if you so choose. :-)

[Deightine]

Notably, I know you're not interested in an amp yourself... but if you ever wanted to, it might be possible to wire in an amp attached to a capacitor that was wired to one of those old wheel-generator-headlights as a charger. Totally green, and most of the parts are probably stuffed in drawers in every cyclists garage in North America. I may have to put some thought into what it would take to get a capacitor bank hooked up to one of those little generators and use my waste-motion while biking to charge batteries for things.. hmm.

[cojo88]

Great idea, you could use a Timex iControl watch to control your iPod. http://www.engadget.com/tag/Timex/

[susanrm]

Nice idea if you have one... my remote control works well, though, and is a bit more convenient when riding, I think.

[martymunch]

Hey this is a cool idea, you could hang it between the handle bars in the front? You may not get the best sound blasted at you but you would avoid the side sliding and knee knocking. This would also help to prevent the speaker from laying and bouncing on your iPod.

[susanrm]

Thanks for the idea. That might work on a bike with flat handlebars, but there's just too much space with drop handlebars. The speaker, which is too short, would have to be suspended (on what?) over the front wheel, which makes me worried about it falling off, hitting the wheel, and instant smush as I run over the whole thing. With the current setup, the most likely scenario of falling (very unlikely!) is that it falls to the side, is cushioned and is easily retrieved. It only really hits my knees when it falls to the side. When I fix that problem, the leg thing will be fixed. :-) Also, the speaker doesn't lie or bounce on the iPod; there's too much space in the case for that.

[martymunch]

Oh yeah I couldn't tell to well from the picture what style handlebars you had. I see what you mean. They would hang. Yeah that could be costly and dangerous. You could try to mount a piece, of cut in half, PVC pipe to the bottom to prevent sliding to one side. kinda like a little "c" that rides over the bike frame.

[susanrm]

Actually, today I found the cause of the pulling to one side. It's the front piece of fabric that wraps around the handlebar stem. I will eventually modify it so that it is balanced, but for now, I just balanced it by putting the iPod on the opposite side of the case. Worked quite well.

[martymunch]

good deal

[joejoerowley]

Cool! Great Instructable!