10 Bike Hacks
If you’ve ever carried your bike through your house or apartment like this, you know
how difficult it can be to navigate tight spaces.
So next time do it like a pro mechanic: Turn your bike upright.
This gives your bike a smaller footprint and reduces its turning radius, keeping your home
free of disaster.
If you need to get up a step, just nudge the seat with your knee.
Zip ties are useful for all sorts of emergencies, so many of us keep them in our bags.
But if you ride without a bag, zip ties can be stored in your hollow crankset.
Just push them in so they fold over, and that should be enough to keep them in place.
Although these can be tricky to get back out, it is better than them coming loose.
Someday, you’ll be happy you had zip ties on hand.
These little crimps prevent your derailleur cable from fraying, so I always have a ton
of them in my shop.
But if you don’t have access to crimps or a bike shop to buy some at, suitable replacements
can be found at your local hardware store.
There, you’ll find a huge variety of extremely ugly stand ins, from hollow rivets, to electrical
connectors.
These will all cost just a few cents, and work more or less like the real thing.
One of these might even be a great way to troll if you’re into that sort of thing.
It’s pretty easy to just lay your backback on the table to load it up, and indeed backpack
loading is not a problem that needs to be solved, however…
I really like hanging mine on my bench vice.
This helps get the pack out of the way while I lay my supplies out on the bench, and the
little nub on the crank makes for a perfect hook.
Of course, if you don’t have a bench vice you can use an actual hook.
This may even be a great place to store your pack while you aren’t using it.
In another video I showed how an adjustable wrench with these markings can be used as
a caliper, to get rough measurements of things like seat posts, bolts, and other bike parts.
But it’s only good measuring outside diameters.
For inside diameters, you can attach some short pieces of zip tie to the jaws.
This isn’t pretty and if you find yourself using this hack often, it’s probably time
to invest in some calipers.
But it can get you by in a pinch.
If you need to film yourself while riding, you can use a multi tool as a phone stand.
Just open the wrenches, and wedge your phone between them to get the right angle.
This isn’t ideal for all shots, but it’s better than trying to stand your phone up
on a rock or something like that.
You’d also be hard pressed to find a multi tool that this doesn’t work with.
This next hack isn’t so much of a hack, as it is a tip: Use waterproofing spray to
protect your stuff.
They sell products like this at outdoor stores which can be used on all textiles including
bags, tents, shoes, or anything else made of fabric.
You just spray it on your gear and give it about an hour or so to dry fully.
At that point, water will just bead up and roll off.
So if you get caught in the rain or splash through a creek, the water won’t have a
chance to actually soak into your gear and keep you wet all day.
These products are available in varieties specific to gear or clothing, so make sure
you get the right stuff.
The coating doesn’t last forever, but you can always re-apply it.
If you’ve never been brought to your knees by a Charley horse, you haven’t pedaled
hard enough.
But you know what can give you temporary relief from these dreaded leg cramps?
Pickle juice.
I’m usually quick to write off natural remedies as junk science, but this is actually a real
thing.
However, it’s not the electrolytes in pickle juice that stop muscle spasms, like was once
thought.
It’s actually the strong flavor of pickles which overwhelm the sensory neurons in your
mouth, throat, and stomach.
It’s like a kosher defibrillator for your leg.
For a more portable cure, you can actually just use mustard packets, which have the same
effect and are much easier to carry around.
This adapter will allow you use a Shraeder pump, like you’ll find at a gas station,
with a Presta valve stem.
But in a pinch you can make one out of a valve cap.
First cut the top off of the cap just above the grippy part, and then screw it on your
stem upside down.
Make sure the valve is open and positioned a bit below the rim of the cap.
Now a Shraeder air pump should make a good enough seal to pump up your tire.
This even works with those big crude gas station pumps.
Of course, the cost of using one of those pumps can be more than a real presta to shraeder
adapter, so it might be a good idea to purchase one and keep it with you.
Picks are extremely useful tools that everyone should have on hand.
And if you want to get crafty you can make one out of a bicycle spoke.
First, grind the spoke to a point with a file or grinder.
If you get the metal too hot, it’ll become brittle and crack easily, so try to do this
little by little, and maybe even keep it cool with some water.
I like to bend the tip to a 45 degree angle to make it more versatile.
Also, put a hairpin bend in the other side to keep the pick from turning in the handle,
which you can make from a crappy piece of wood from your backyard.
You can pretend to be one of those restoration youtubers, and get fancy, but at the end of
the day this is a pick made from a spoke.
It’ll only be good for light duty tasks but sometimes, that’s more than good enough.
At least it’ll look kind of cool and you can say you made it yourself.
I hope you found these ten bike hacks entertaining, or maybe even useful.
Many of these were suggested by you, the audience.
So watch the playlist at the end of this video and if you can think of any hacks I haven’t
done yet, put them in the comments below.
If your hack gets added to my list, I’ll give it a heart.
Thanks for riding with me today, and I’ll see you next time.