A few years back I started riding a bike to commute to and from work. I like to drink large cokes and iced teas so I felt the need for a cupholder that would fit my 64oz cup. None of the sport bottle holders I saw were even close, so I made a heavy duty cupholder for my bike out of a chunk of aluminum driveline. I used a discarded aluminum driveline from the scrap metal bin at work that was the correct diameter.

I started by disassembling the driveline, then I cut the piece for my cupholder from the driveline by cutting the tube 6 inches above the yoke end weld and cutting off the majority of the yoke below the weld. I ground down the yoke side to roughly 1/4 inch from the weld, sanded the weld smooth, drew a design pattern, and drilled many holes in the tube according to the design to make the cupholder lighter and more ornate. After drilling holes for the mounting bolts I bolted it to the bike frame.

Step 1: What You Will Need

A large diameter aluminum driveline, or something similar. A peice of PVC pipe with plug would work.
A cutting tool: like a recipricating saw, hacksaw, bandsaw, or chopsaw.
Angle grinder or die grinder.
A 2inch hole saw.
Drill, 1/4inch drill bit, 1/2inch drill bit.
Paper to draw the design for the holes to be drilled.
A felt pen.
A center punch.

Step 2: The Driveline

A driveline is a hollow tube with yokes welded to the ends of the tube. The driveline I used had a slip joint yoke at one end and a u-joint yoke at the other. Depending which end of the driveline you want to use, you will need to do some prep work. If you choose the u-joint end I recommend removing the u-joint before cutting the yoke. If you choose the slip joint end you will need to cut off the rubber boot and pull the outer yoke out of the slip joint. Cut as much of the yoke end of the driveline off as possible. Grind the end down until you are close to the weld, 1/4in-1/2in.

Step 3: Marking the Cutline and Drill Pattern.

Measure 6 inches up from the weld and mark the cutline with a felt pen or marker, use something flexible that can wrap around the driveline as a guide. Draw out a pattern for the holes to be drilled on a piece of paper. I didn't do anything fancy for the pattern, I just drew something out that I liked. Wrap the piece of paper around the driveline and transfer the pattern to the metal with a center punch.

Step 4: Drill and Cut

Three of the 2in holes I put in my pattern sat on the cutline, so I drilled those three holes first. Cut through the driveline along the cutline, now you have a much smaller piece of the driveline to work with. Grind or sand down the weld until it is flush. Drill the remaining holes from the pattern. I drilled all the holes with the 1/4in bit first and following my pattern enlarged some of the holes with the 1/2in bit or the 2in holesaw.

Step 5: Mount the Cupholder to the Bike

My bike has mounting bolts for a traditional water bottle holder on the down tube. I drilled holes in the back of the cup holder with the same spacing as the mounts on the bike and bolted the cup holder in place with the bolts that came with the bike.

I would love to use the laser from the laser from the Epilog Challenge to engrave an ornamental pattern in this and many other projects.