I like to listen to tunes while riding my bicycle. Some people wear headphones, but those are illegal on city streets and dangerous even on bicycle trails. So I decided to mount an mp3 speaker system to my handlebars and ended up with something that is really adaptable to carrying any small electronics on a bike.

Step 1: The 'dashboard' - a Bird Suet Feeder

I was looking for anything that I could use to mount the portable speaker system onto my handlebars. Although the cylindrical shaped speaker system looked like it would be easy to attach with cable ties or similar, it really wasn't. So I browsed though the local Big Lots and spied this Suet Feeder for birds. It's intended to hold a chunk of animal fat for birds to peck at. It's plastic-coated wire.

Step 2: Remove What You Don't Need

Open the suet feeder, and remove the chain. The chain is intended to hang the feeder from a tree or a porch.

Step 3: Mount Your New 'dashboard'

Attach the suet feeder with plastic cable ties, resting the feeder against the handlbars and the handlebar stem, to provide a strong and stable three-point attachment.

Step 4: Attach Your Mp3 System or Anything Else You Desire.

I used velcro cable wraps to attach my speaker system. I used wire cutters to cut out a small part of the suet feeder wire box to make it easy to clip my iPod shuffle onto this 'dashboard'. I also plan to attach my Garmin "Runner's GPS" watch whenever I want to have a speedometer/odometer/heart rate monitor in constant view.

The box still opens, so I could conceivable carry other small things that I might not want to put in my pocket.

I use rechargeable AA batteries in the speakers. I don't know how long they last, but they certainly last a lot longer than an hour-long bike ride.

UPDATE: I went for a 14 mile ride with the music playing and discovered that the speaker unit that I used did rattle a bit on bumpy surfaces. A bit of foam under the speaker unit (folded old mousepad?) would definitely cure any issues like that. The ride, by the way, was really a lot more enjoyable to me with music.