One of the most fun, green, and practical ways of getting around is riding a bike. Unfortunately, it can be a bit of a challenge to, you know, not DIE while commuting on your bike.
It’s hard enough during the day, but some of the real challenges of staying safe on a bike come at night.
Check out these 3 amazing DIY ideas to make your bike visible at night… and to turn a few heads and earn major cyclist cool points too!
Oh sure, there are plenty of readily available headlight, turn signal, and blinking light rigs available on the market to help keep you safe while biking, but I always prefer a great DIY project over something I can buy.
What about you?
Awesome DIY Bike Lighting Projects
The Bright Bike
The Bright Bike project involves wrapping your bike with 3M’s Scotchlite Plus Reflective 680 Series Engineering Grade Vinyl (which can be found at sign supply distributors).
By day, your bike appears to be a solid black color…but when hit by light (like headlights or a camera flash), the bike shines a bright, high-reflective ultra white.
Check out the Bright Bike flickr page for pictures of bikes that have been reflectivized…and to submit your own!
Cool Cathode Fluorescent Lighting
This bike lighting project is one of my favorite and reminds me of my very brief gangsta rap phase from the late 90’s when everyone was rockin’ neon glow from under their chassis and thumpin’ them subs while cruisin’ the strip.
Oh yeah, you know what I’m talking about!
This project is definitely going to be turning some heads when you cruise down the moonlit streets… which is a good thing, since you want people to take notice of you on a bike.
As with many electrical DIY projects, some basic soldering skills will be required, but after a couple of practice tries, you’ll have that down pat.
The Holiday Bicycle
I absolutely love Chrismtas lights. Every year I deck out every eave of my house with lights…so what could be better than decking your bike out with LED Christmas lights too?
Bonus Non-Lighting Bike DIY Idea
This last idea has NOTHING to do with bicycle safety or lighting ideas, but it’s just too creative to NOT share.
For the just plain lazy or the urban dweller with no room for a garden, I bring you the bicycle window box.
That’s right, now you grow and bring your herbs and veggies with you, wherever you go.
Priceless (but probably not very practical…)!
Seriously though, can anyone see this as being a useful idea for every day life? Maybe it has some potential to actually be just that!
What are some of your favorite bike DIY ideas?
I think every little step toward living green is an awesome one… but eco-snobbery sucks! My goal is to help newbies learn the most important steps toward living green — individually and collectively. Personally, I strive to have as little impact as possible on Planet Earth while I'm here.
