DIY handlebar Lunchbox thing
So recently I’ve been looking at handlebar bags like the Sunlite Bartender 4 and thinking about how useful these can be. Albeit generic looking and not at all unique, which is something someone like me is often concerned with when deciding on bits and parts that will have no overall cohesiveness nor rhyme or reason in how it matches the bike. I got thinking about wacky ideas for handlebar bags and instantly the vision of a clunky metal lunch box found itself in my minds’ eye. So I started looking on eBay for rad lunch boxes and found all sorts of cool ones…eh, cool to me. Stuff like “The A Team” or “The Dukes of Hazzard” were obvious choices, but not cost wise. I found a repro KISS lunch box that rocked! Then came the thought of drilling holes into them…or drinking from a 1983 thermos…YUCK!
So I reconsidered and settled for a compromise of space and functionality over pure aesthetic. Which as you can see is definitely not an issue here. An Einstein Bagels lunch box with handle removed.
Then I got working on a high-tech mounting system that will securely hold my lunch box and it’s payload while riding over bumpy terrain and not be clanky and loud…
Now the fun part….drilling holes with precision and exactitude…
I then secured the lunch box to the mounting system with superior stainless hardware for easy removal at rest stops and so noone steals it while I’m inside a liquor store shoplifting…
So now I can carry my three PB&J sandwiches and a can of Mountain Dew safely and within easy grasp while I’m riding. Plus, I can tape the queue sheet to the inside of the top of the lunch box for easy reading at busy intersections. I’m also going to trick it out with bottle cage mounts on either side for a couple cans of Sparks.
Here’s the finished product!
There’s just enough room for my hands to comfortably grab my dialed BMX brake lever in case of emergency. So there you have it. Seven dollars worth of hardware and a one dollar lunch box from a consignment shop…and I’m rollin’ deep. I tested it (with four innertubes in boxes) around the backyard and it rattles like crazy and clanks and jiggles….perfect.
Rob
rob this is a rad idea. i really like it. i bet if you bought a can of spray glue (3m super 77) and some felt, you could line the inside and virtually eliminate the noise, which might be fine for a 30 minute ride, but could drive you nuts on 50 milers.
additional ideas include using rubber washers,
these things: http://govart.com/images/hwr_d-ring1holeLG.jpg
and stainless bolts on the top of the rack to then string some elastic line thru in a box w/ x pattern, to you could strap shit like a jacket to the top. i find thats pretty handy. or your cue sheet. whatever. remember: more than say, 5lbs in your bar bag means wonky front handling, exaserbated by the relative height of your mounting. all i am saying is, one bottle cage might be all you want. unless you are rocking miller lite pony cans.
It really doesn’t rattle that bad…but I am looking into some different ideas like glueing a piece of rubber around the top of the inside of the lunch box to kinda seal it a little tighter when it’s closed. That’s the part that rattles, the lid when closed. The lunch box is hella flimsy so it’s kinda wonky to begin with. I just want to put things like my phone, some snacks, the queue sheet, and maybe a condom in there.
Q
Looks cool Rob. I’d love to have my Evel Knievel lunch box mounted like that but I’m not puttin’ any holes in that thing.
Some other ideas:
I used to sell some h-bar bags that had a heavy guage wire support bar that started on the side of the bag, went over the h-bars and under the h-bar stem back over the h-bar and back to the other side of the bag. I can’t remember if it was Cannondale or another company.
Cannondale did have some bag system that had a bracket similar to your setup but they used some 1/2″ wide metal strap around the bars.
Is that bike a single or fixed gear?
OK, so it is purty rad.
I’m down with casey’s lining, but velvet not felt. I mean come on.
Also you should glue the fender washers on and some rubber washers to the box and replace the inner nuts with wing nuts for convenient removal.
It totally needs a built in LED (micro)headlight, maybe some turn signals.
I would be all over one for here. But the cobbles rattle my teeth. Not sure this would survive long.
(before I got mad at it and tossed it in the river)
btw. RideaBike. fixie
-cory v praze
velvet doesnt come in wool.
i second the wingnuts.
had anouther thought, via mel: use lauan or luan (low grade mahogany plywood, corrected) to reinforce the inside of the box, which would stiffen it, strengthen it, and barely add weight. i used lauan in my rear bag i designed. drilled for weight reduction of course.
in other news, i passed my orals yesterday. horray me.
I may try the wingnuts, but I’m not strengthening a lunch box with wood. Not that it isn’t a good idea, just that I’m not trying to overdo something that is supposed to be simple. I would LOVE to see Casey do something of this nature though. It would be like one of those bad ass 70’s conversion vans with airbrushed scenes on the side and lights all over it and a captains chair inside next to the wet bar. He’d probably use a CHiPs lunch box too.
HAHA
Rob
ok you could use giant washers salvaged from the chassis of your neighbors car too.
Very Cool DIY