:::Introductions:::
I have fallen into the Blog world. At least its not about something mindless, such as my life... Its about bicycles, and how to maintain a bike on a college budget. So thats what this blog represents, that, and my love for my cheap bike and proud of my ability to maintain it. So, what I will try to accomplish, without getting too distracted on tangents, is to provide How-to guides to pimp your bike the easy (cheap) way, cool bikes I see around campus including fancy ones (that I drool over) and others that have followed the makeshift route, also the bikes that make me cry, because their obvious rust and poor care.
I go to a small town college that consists of primarily deer hunters, and about 5 minutes you can be biking through the country side. It took me roughly a week to realize I needed a bike, not only would it get me extra sleep time, I also hated spending time with my roommate. I bought a bike from a thrift store, a red, Open Road, Mont.Ward Road bike. For a total of $9.00, the bloody bike lock cost more than that. The bike was named "Jessica." Nearly Three years later, Jessica and I have been through thick and thin, covering most of the back roads, getting creamed by a car at the intersection that has the most accidents and including a death, good news, I came away uninjured, and the damn bike left a huge dent. (I love my beast) Since then I have been quite gung ho on having reflectors on my bike... problem is, reflecting tape is no good, and actual bike reflectors cost about 5$, thats an entire meal. Measuring things in meals is how I determine if anything is worth buying. So, this starts how to create reflectors.
:::Creating Reflectors:::
Reflectors keep you from getting dead more often, its one of the more proactive things you can
do to avoid being not seen by a car. That and carrying a small hammer, but thats another story.
Problem with me, is that there was no reflectors on Jessica (bike) besides on her petals which
didn't help me any. There are a few options for creating reflectors.
a. Reflector Tape ($2.50) while handy, you'll have to cover your entire bike for it to really work.
b. Convince your parents that you'll die for sure if you don't have some form of reflection, thus, getting fancy reflectors you can cover your bike, self, and bike bag and never be hit again...
or
Make your own!
1. Head out to the nearest parking lot around campus, its best to do this around thirsty thursdays or other days when the majority of students have booze in their system.Where the tendency to hit things is high. Check and try to find someone that has been hit, look for red tail lights matter. Find a piece around the size of the bottom of a soda can. DO NOT smash someone's tail light, look for someone that already has the damage... they don't need ALL the chunks.
2. Search around for some tinfoil (or you the remainder of your reflective tape) of equal size and put behind on the textured side of your fragment.
3. Find some electrical tape, if you live in the dorms, quite easy to walk door to door. Adhere the foil to fragment until all you have is a token of reflective fragment. Use the tape to adhere to bike.
4. Now you have a reflector!
