(dramatic music)
- You know what, Jon?
I really love Christmas.
It's the time of the year for family and friends,
fun and games.
Maybe even a Christmas film.
Something like Tron: Legacy.
- Tron: Legacy? - Yeah.
- How do you Christmas film, man?
I'm thinking more James Bond Moonraker
or something like that.
- I'm watching Tron: Legacy and the imagination
would just run wild with thoughts
of having an actual Tron bike.
- Yeah, and funnily enough, mate,
I've always wanted to actually build a Tron bike,
but I don't have the skills, well, the time,
necessarily the electronics available to actually make one,
but where there's a will, there's a way.
- Well, forget all that.
Coming in for a drink?
- No, I've got to go to the shop,
to get a few bits.
You have a nice Christmas, Jon.
- Have one for me, you too.
(upbeat dance music)
- Oh hello there, Jon. - Hello, mate.
That new conversation we had about a Tron bike,
I thought, why not actually we turn it into reality?
So I was up all night with the soldering iron,
and went down to the local electronic supply,
and anyway, I managed to get hold of some various
different LED packages that I reckon we can make this bike
look really average in the daylight, and then at night,
hopefully fool a few people into thinking we've got
an actual Tron bike.
How cool would that be?
- Come on then, Jon.
Talk me through what you've got here.
What exactly is everything?
- Right, okay, well, I managed to get these two meter long
surface-mounted diode LED strips, if you like.
They come in multi-colors.
So if I turn them on now, look at that,
they go through it.
Obviously, we want them in one color, ideally blue.
Now, these are self-adhesive, two meters long,
and they've actually got a little control switch here.
Look at that, it calls out mode, demo, speed and color.
So we can change that and also the speed
and the brightness and everything.
Now, they're kicking out a massive four and a half volts.
Well, also that's how much power they're draining,
and that's inside of this handy little battery pack here.
Now, I've also got a really thin
lighting strip here, so check out that.
Just when it see, little bit of light there.
Two modes, what three modes, caulk some flashing
and faster flashing, but that is so thin.
I was thinking about sticking that on your helmet.
These are really bright, really bright, all of them.
Now these are going to go around
the inside circumference of the rim.
- [Chris] Oh cool. - How cool is that?
And we're going to attach that to the spokes somehow.
A little screw there, so it's going to fix on.
If not, then we can rely on the mechanic's best friend,
electrical tape.
You do a wrap somewhere,
and I'll just do a straight line somewhere else.
- I'm happy to do that. - I'm sure
someone else will tell us we've done it wrong anyway.
- Okay, so we're going to true GCN style.
Batteries up in the command center,
the iGlow saddlebag.
Do you want to do the top tube?
- No, you can do that one.
- All right, okay.
(upbeat electronic music)
- Do you like how I've made you do this first, Chris?
So it goes wrong, it looks bad on you.
- [Chris] Get that going, get it stuck.
- Yeah, I like how you started off with the top tube,
so that when I've got the down tube,
I'm in sort of the firing line from anything
which does have to come up.
Thanks, mate.
Drop it all.
Drop it like it's hot.
What is the Christmas break for if it's not for coming
in here and sorting out our very own Tron bike?
- I've been a little bit unsure
as to how to even begin with the chainstays
and the seat stays.
- (laughs) Yeah, thought I'd leave that one to you
at the back. - Do I want to do it
all in one go and try and twizzle it up to the crank?
Or do I want to... - [Jon] Twizzle it,
I like that word.
- Twizzle, twizzle, twizzle.
Or do I want to go with the straight lines
that we've got at the front?
- The front end of things, Chris,
I'm thinking this battery pack here could actually
be like the DI2 junction box.
So what I'll do is tape the battery pack
underneath the stem, and then wrap the bars in these.
(upbeat electronic music)
We're like chalk and cheese us two, but I like it.
But it could be like that,
like a climbing shifter look for the DI2 (laughs).
- You have that weird, awkward wrap to make by the hoods.
- [Jon] Yeah, figure of eight.
- [Chris] It's a bit like that here, Jon.
Look, around the droppers.
- [Jon] Oh yeah.
Wow, yeah, I don't know.
- [Chris] And you called me haphazard.
- All right, so, if I could have some electrical tape.
- [Chris] You may, you may.
- There we go, I can just secure this nicely to the bars.
It's looking all right.
It's not my finest work,
and it's probably not your finest handicraft either.
- Don't forget, it's only got to look good in the dark.
- That is true, yeah, yeah.
Now I'm a little bit unsure of what to do next.
We've got two meters remaining.
We've not done the non-drive side chainstay or seat stay.
We've not done the forks.
- How about we carry on with the wheels,
get the LEDs in there.
Then, when they're done, we'll turn on all the lights,
turn off the studio lights,
and then we'll see what it looks like,
see what the bike looks lit.
- Yeah, make our decision on that.
Yeah, let's crack on them with the wheels,
and see what we can do.
(upbeat electronic music)
Attach my little control unit on the inside of the spokes.
It's a little bit dodgy.
Might have to use some more black tape, I reckon,
for this, to hold it on, mate, but...
- [Chris] Some zip ties.
- Yeah.
So I'm going for the interlacing,
trying to keep it as close to the edge
of the rim as possible.
What I really hope though, is that it can still
get through the actual,
the forks and everything.
Chris is dismantling the bike, it looks like.
- Well, my first attempt was laughed at the rim,
so behave, you two.
So I'm going again.
I've come up with a better idea this time.
- [Jon] The good news is this stuff's quite long,
so if you do have a 36 inch wheel,
you could probably do this circumference.
- [Chris] You wouldn't catch all of you putting this
on this bike, would you?
- [Jon] No, you would not.
(upbeat electronic music)
Oh that looks good.
(laughs) It looks better than the first effort.
Okay, mate.
Right, so we've both done our wheels.
I've got to say, I don't really know
what you've gone for with yours, but...
- What do you mean?
It's a tri-spoke.
- Is it?
- Well, look at it.
It's beautiful.
It's a work of art.
Although I quite like yours, to be honest.
- I tell you what, let's turn the lights off.
So let's have them off, please (snaps).
And wow, look at it now! (laughs)
- [Chris] Step back and admire, Jon,
because when the wheels start spinning,
then it starts to make a little bit more sense.
Look at that.
- [Jon] Tell you what, that looks pretty cool!
Doesn't it?
- [Chris] High-five in the dark?
- [Jon] Yeah, high-five in the dark.
I bet it looks amazing with the LEDs.
What we need to decide is where this last strip of LEDs
is going.
- You're right, I think it's going on the forks.
- Yeah, that was good.
That was unanimous, simple.
Really rough terrain, really, but this...
(upbeat electronic music)
There we are then, mate.
Stand back, admire the beauty of the bike.
I think we should have one final look at it
before it's actually taken to the streets.
- Her maiden voyage, Jon.
- Come on (snaps).
Check it out!
- [Chris] Spin the wheel, spin the wheel.
- [Jon] Oh it's spinning, look at that.
- [Chris] I like the neon blue.
It's a good color.
- Yeah, well,
it would be my thing. - [Chris] Tron-tastic.
- Let's take it outside.
(upbeat electronic music)
Oh come on, where is it?
I really want to go on that Tron bike.
It looks so cool!
Everyone will say, "Wow, look at that guy!"
Whoa, whoa, steady on this.
The cheap bike's a super bike.
- It's not a cheap bike, it's a Tron bike, Jon.
- Well, admittedly, mate, we did set the bar pretty high.
Can we build a Tron bike?
The answer is no we can't.
But by night, we could fool anyone,
and, quite frankly, it did, didn't it.
- It did, we've had quite a few gatherings
of crowds around us, didn't we?
- Yeah, in daylight, it looks pretty awful,
but like I said, at night, it looks all right.
- Just has to be ridden at night.
- Yeah, well I hope you've enjoyed this video.
We've really enjoyed having a little ride around,
well you have, I've yet to have a go yet.
- You can ride it to the pub for that drink
we promised ourselves
when we finish this. - Fantastic, yeah.
And I can enlighten you about exactly how it rides.
Right, I hope you've enjoyed this video.
And if you have, leave a comment for us down below.
And also, don't forget to subscribe to GCN channel.
And also, click the little notification icon below
so you get alerted each and every time we put a video live.
- And for more homemade creations from us at GCN Tech,
click on your screen right now.
- See you in the new year.
Right, it's my crew.
I'm going to go show off.
- Off you go.
Do you want a helmet?
- [Jon] Yeah, I better.
- [Chris] Act cool, Jon, act cool.
- Act cool, all right.
Cool.
- [Chris] Act real cool.
- Cool.
Do the leather jacket, really.