Hey, thanks for stopping by! If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to the RSS feed. You can also subscribe to BikeHacks by email. Thanks for visiting!I’ve been disenchanted with our old generic bike trailer’s hitch. It’s a clamp-style hitch that’s a total PITA to get tight. I was ogling used Burley trailers [...]

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In a post a while back I wrote about how I love the concept of bike knickers, but I do not love the thought of departing with massive amounts of money to acquire them. I did not go into great detail about how I made my knickers and have been meaning to return to [...]

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Cyclicio.us points to this fantastic tutorial on making your own rack-mounted hydration system.
The strength of this system is that it keeps the water off your back, the bladder is easily replaced and it’s easy to clean. The tutorial shows the system mounted to a rear rack, but a front mounted rack would probably work [...]

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Truing wheels isn’t the same as building wheels. Similar equipment is used, but wheelbuilding is more labor intensive. And requires some specialized stuff. Truing up an already-built wheel, however, doesn’t have to be scary (though you’ll probably make your wheel worse the first time you mess with it. Tip: tighten less). You’re gonna need a [...]

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Great DIY project over at Blue Collar Mountain Biking for making a bottle opener from a cog and a bit of chain. Just gotta get an old cog and cut it up. Full directions on the site, with pics, when you follow the link.
Alternatively, if you’re not a handy-person, you can just buy one in [...]

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CETMA racks are the coolest. They’re front mounted racks of varying sizes that are pretty much bombproof. And they’re made in Eugene, Oregon…just a couple hours south of me. One day I will acquire one (maybe this year!)–probably a five rail rack with the fence, powdercoated.
I’ve also lusted after Ahearne racks, here in Portland. But [...]

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If you’ve ever had to lock your bike up out of your sight in a publicly accessible place, you are probably familiar with the gnawing feeling in your gut that makes you wonder if your ride will still be there when you return. There are ways to help alleviate the gnawing, not the least of [...]

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Mountain Bike Omaha has a post about a nice looking homemade ski mount for a mountain bike. I wish there were some instructions for the build, but you kinda get the idea….
UPDATE: Coach Levi passed along some instructions for building a skibike. Thanks, Levi!

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There are a TON of decent tutorials for building bike lights. But…how can I put this gently…they are not all equally attractive. If you showed me two lights side by side and they had equal performance, I’d choose the pretty one every time. That’s probably why I’m writing this on a Mac. Ahem.
Anyway, here’s a [...]

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It’s not always necessary to buy parts. Sometimes a little creativity can save you some bucks and give your ride a little style. Plastic water bottles are getting a lot of flack for taking up space in land fills, but they can also be used to keep road grime off. With a [...]

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