Dragon, Broom, Golden Gate Bridge & Chupacabra Bikes

Maybe you change the color of your grips or throw on a new set of bars when you want to give your bike a new look. Jay Broemmel of Cyclecide does quite a bit more to distinguish his ride for the other rides in the bike rack. Check out the photos of the bikes Jay has designed and built. Make sure to watch the YouTube and the dragon's eyes. Also, note that when you squeeze the brake lever, the dragon's mouth shuts.

According to the statement on its site, "Heavy Pedal Cyclecide Bike Rodeo is a club of alter-bike mechanics, mariachi-punk musicians and psychotic clowns who love bikes, beer and building stuff. Together we form a traveling pedal-powered carnival that is fun for people of all ages." 

Go click around on the Cyclecide site, as well as two other sites that feature Jay's bikes, Laughing Squid and Rock the Bike. All three Bay Area bicycle sites have lots of bike-related posts, images, video clips, and creative projects that will make you grin.

Chinese New Year is February 7th. And 2008 is the Year of the Rat. So, bring it on, Bay Area bike artists. Make sure to post links to photos of your transportational creations.

   

Photos lifted from Laughing Squid for the Dragon bike and BikeRodNCustom3 for the Broom bike. Click on the Read about the rare Schwinn bike built for a Wizard of Oz cast member.) Cyclecide for photos of the Golden Gate bike and the Chupacabra bike. (Yes, that is a flame thrower.)

laughing squid to rockthebike
to gizmodo

Salsa Stem Size-O-Matic Helps to Answer Stem Questions

At Interbike, I spoke with Mark in the Salsa booth, since we sell Salsa bikes and components at the shop. And we started talking about the Salsa Size-O-Matic II stem measuring tool kit. The Size-O-Matic II is an adjustable stem tool that you can use for determining a stem length and angle that feels most comfortable for your specific riding position.

To use the Size-O-Matic II, you attach it to your 1 1/8-inch steerer tube on your fork or to a provided 1-inch adapter, which fits in your traditional 1-inch head tube. It comes with shims (inserts of varying widths), so you can attach your current handle bars of 25.4, or 26.0, or 31.8 clamping diameter. By moving the stem fore and aft (back and forth) and incrementally tilting it up and down, you can better determine the length and angle of a handle bar stem that works for you.

For example, some customers with new race bikes are transitioning their older steel race bikes into commuter bikes. For that riding application, they want their handlebars raised higher, and they want to sit up a bit more, so they don't have their heads down in traffic. Other customers feel crunched up in the cockpits of their bikes, and they want a longer stem with a steeper angle, so they can effectively reduce their drag and comfortably stretch out while riding. The Size-O-Matic can give you a better idea of what a change to your current stem's length and angle might mean in terms of performance and comfort.

(FYI: Do not put the Size-O-Matic II on your bike and take a ride; let me say that again, in case I wasn't clear. Don't ride with it. The tool is marked in white print clearly to this effect for those who can't help but think, "Sweet. I am going to put this baby on my bike; take a ride, and really dial in my stem measurements." Remember: It is measuring tool only, not a proper and safe stem.)

First photo by Wheelgirl at Interbike, Vegas 2007. Second photo lifted from the web.

Head Tracking with Wii Remote & Track Bike Racing Game

I've been thinking about Johnny Chung Lee and his presentation, "Head Tracking for Desktop Virtual Reality Displays Using the Wii Remote." I watched Johnny clearly explain the concepts and demonstrate head-tracking with the Wii remote a few days ago. 

Watch the YouTube, and after the concise explanation, at about  2:45 into the video, you'll see what all of the excitement is about. Someday, if the Nintendo Wii game developers start seriously downing some kegs of Red Bull, weekend warriors will be able to sprint the last 200 meters of a Grand Tour flat stage at 45 mph with three dozen pro cyclists trying to box them out. Or you might chose to tear it up in a Six Day track bike race on a track banked to your liking. For those who have no desire to ride Paris Roubaix, it will become more challenging to blow up, burn, shoot, kill, and drive the nouns in your games.

Check out the quick links to Johnny's other projects like the Wii remote whiteboard on johnnylee.net. Click on procrastineering.com to read about more "productive distractions" from the guy with 3 patents, 4 patent applications, a Ph.D from Carnegie Mellon University, and the panache to wear a Krispie Kreme doughnut hat in the photo on his curriculum vitae.

Holiday Music & Light Video Occupies Loved Ones, Gives You Time to Think About Your Next Bike Ride

We all know what happens when families get together for the holidays. You are not allowed to disappear for five hours on a bike ride, and someone gets put in charge of keeping an eye on all of the cousins until it is time to eat. The cousins who are school age are pretty easy to handle. They usually design some sort of game that includes running around the house and yard happily screaming at the top of their lung until it is time to eat or someone gets hurt. The little kids need more attention. They can't really sit still for a whole movie; they don't understand football; the bigger kids don't want them around; and momma is busy catching up with her sisters. All the tiny kids want to do is rewind, at least forty-six times, a short video that fills them with wonder.We at Wheelgirl are here to help. This short video clip will make your holiday babysitting job a piece of pumpkin pie.

My favorite part is between 1:09 and 1:39, where a bit of Christmas mystery really makes itself seen and heard. Click on the YouTube to watch with amazement. The little ones will screech with happiness. And I am pretty sure your great aunts and great uncles will proudly adjust their Santa hats and shake their snow globes to the beat once this video begins to play. The seniors have been listening to Jingle Bells for seventy-to-eighty years, but never have they seen and heard the December song set to a 4th of July fireworks display. Auntie, wearing the reindeer antler headband and the Christmas wreath pin on her sweater might have to wipe a tear of joy away from her eye with one of her candy-cane-themed dish towel.

Best wishes for the holiday season from everyone at Wheelgirl. (More about the guy who made this dazzling display and the song he used after the jump.)

via gizmodo

From what I can gather from the YouTube comments, Ric, is the guy who turned his Valencia, California home into a synchronized holiday music and light festival. According to Ric's comment replies: He set the lights to Ochre Jingle Bells, from the album "A Very Unschooled Christmas," which he got on iTunes.(And yes, he can still open his garage door.) The song is set to an FM frequency, so it is not blaring over loud speakers. If you are riding around in Ric's neighborhood in Valencia, you can tune into the song on the radio and listen to the midi-filled music on the radio while you watch the amazing lights dance to the beats.

Grandparents Want You to Buy a $120 EAI Gold Medal Track Cog With Your Christmas Money

OK, a few people have been coming into the shop asking about the Gold Medal track cog by Euro Asia Imports (EAI). I just got off the phone with Steve at EAI, and got the skinny on this world-class cog that is made in Southern California and has been out on the market for about a year. Dave at EAI organized the effort to get these cogs to market. (A bit about the history of EAI after the jump.)

The EAI Gold Medal cog goes one step further than the EAI Super Star cog. This is why national track teams from all over the world are buying the Gold Medal cog from EAI, and you may even see the best track racers in the world riding this cog in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China . The cog is polished; the teeth are refined (by machine), and some hand finishing is done to ensure all is perfect. Then, the Gold Medal cog is coated with titanium nitride (TiN). This TiN coating, which gives the cog its lovely gold color, is used in Formula 1 race car transmissions. The TiN coating is so tough, it doubles the life of the cog and markedly reduces chain friction. (Yes, doubles the life of the cog.) The well-engineered tooth-shape of the cog is designed to be run with a high-quality 1/8th-inch track chain.

The Gold Medal cogs come in 1/8th inch only, with teeth from 13T to 18T. The cog comes in a black pouch, and the msrp is approx $120.  EAI offers a quality black steel EAI cog (msrp approx $36) and the excellent silver steel Super Star cog. The Super Star comes in an orange pouch, and it is a cog on which track riders have won international kieran races. It is polished and has a refined tooth shape. The refined shape of the teeth help to make the chain roll with less resistance. (msrp approx. $60 )

I have the Deluxe and Super Star EAI cogs in the shop, in 1/8th-inch and 3/32nd-inch sizes. Christmas week, I will have some Gold Medal cogs.  So if Granny gives you a holiday card with Frosty the Snowman on it and a big-headed Ben Franklin inside, it may be because she really wants you to have this special cog. Make sure to give her a big hug, and be a good grandchild and let her ride your fixed gear whenever she wants.

 

The EAI Gold Medal, and the EAI Super Star photos taken by Wheelgirl. The EAI Deluxe steel cog photo lifted from the EAI site.

A bit of history , EAI was founded by the late Bob Hansing in Southern California in 1973. Bob rode as a track racer for the Navy during World War II, so EAI had maintained a focus on high-quality track bike componentry. The family company is now run by his daughter Dede.

Speedplay Pedals & The Museum of Pedal History at Interbike

I visited the Speedplay booth at Interbike, where I talked with Leo, and he gave me the skinny on Speedplay's line up of pedals. One of my favorite visual treats at Interbike was Speedplay's Museum of Pedal History. (Check out the photos.) If you are new to road biking, Speedplay pedals are the ones that look like lollypops. The double-entry pedal part attached to the crank arm is a small, round disk. The pedal platform and cleat attaches to your cycling shoe.

The Speedplay Zero titanium pedals allow you to either set a zero float, so your foot is in a fixed pedaling position, or you can set a 15-degree micro-adjustable float. The Zero titanium pedals are 82 grams each and the cleats are 52.5 grams each. So a set of pedals weights in at 269 grams or 9.48 ounces. These pedals let you adjust your pedaling position fore and aft (back and forth), side to side, and rotationally. Speedplay has a Road Pedal Comparison tool and Mountain Pedal Comparison chart on their site. You can put in your road pedal and compare it to a Speedplay model or you can compare two Speedplay models. (More info and photos after the jump.)

 

 

Photos of Speedplay pedals lifted from the Speedplay site. Photos of the Speedplay Museum of Pedal History taken by Wheelgirl at Interbike in Vegas 2007.

We have customers who ride and race the Speedplay X pedals, and these also come with titanium axels and hardware, but the X pedals allow for unrestricted float. (See after the jump for more info. on float.) For those newer to cycling or those of lighter body weights who were finding the racing Speedplay pedals a bit difficult to click into, Speedplay came out with the Light Action pedal. It takes less leg force to click into the Light Action, hence the name. Speedplay also makes Frog pedals, so if you want to have your cleat recessed (not sticking out of your shoe), you can get this model. It works like an SPD mountain pedal. But you have to use the Speedplay Frog cleat that comes with the pedal, your Shimano cleats won't fit with the pedal.

The Drillium is Speedplay's racing platform pedal with pins that stick into the tread of your rubber-soled shoe. Not everyone wants to be clipped into their pedals. These are designed for mountain and BMX bikes. (You cannot put toe-clips on these.)

It is important to note that the Speedplay Zero (grooved) and the Speedplay X (uniform surface), and the SpeedPlay Light Action (divots) have different shapes and cleat springs. The cleats and pedals are not interchageable. Speedplay does offer rebuild kits. So, if your pedals are in need of a bearing overhaul, bring them into the shop. It is easy to rebuild them, so they feel new. And most of the pedal models are offered with either titanium, stainless steel, or chrome-moly hardware and axels. So you can get the same features, but pay more if you want the pedal set that weighs less.

(Photos of Speedplay pedals lifted from the Speedplay site.)

Those New to Cycling & Pedal Choices

If you are new to road biking, some cyclists, particularly pro riders want their foot locked into the same position. They want no float in their pedals. Or they want minimal float. In the case of a pro rider, having his or her foot locked into a position is a relief, because it means their foot is always in the right position during their workday on the bike. This position is determined by a fitter and a group of people who work to fit the pros as well as the pros' own experiences riding their bikes thousands and thousands of miles year in and year out. These riders are working and living on a bike.

For weekend warriors, recreational riders, or those cyclists with previous joint injuries from other sports, being locked in the wrong fixed position can put strain on your joints, and it can be a scary prospect. Suggestion: It is best to have a fitter determine whether a fixed position is the best position to make the joint work in a safe and comfortable way. If you are new to cycling, and you have a history of knee discomfort, ask your fitter to recommend some pedals brands and models. You can easily injure yourself by not knowing what you are doing and not asking someone who knows what to look for in solving joint and pedaling discomfort.

For those new to cycling, remember: When you buy a set of pedals, each set of pedals comes with a set of cleats in the box that work with those pedals. Before you buy the set of pedals, make sure that the style of cleat actually fits on your cycling shoe. Cycling shoes are made for specific types of riding. For example, if I ride in a cycling shoe with an SPD drilling on the sole of the shoe, the cleat is recessed. It doesn't stick out of my shoe, so I can walk into a cafe without having to balance on my heels. But I have to buy SPD pedals in order to wear those shoes. If you don't have shoes or pedals, figure out what kind of riding you are going to do, and buy the shoe that is a reasonable choice for that riding application. If you are constantly getting on and off of your bike to eat and visit during your rides, don't buy an expensive road racing shoe, since you will wear out the light-weight performance cleats by walk around on them continually.  Come by the shop if you have any questions.

Protect Your Fixed Gear Frame with Black Tape, Kashimax 5 Gold, or Frame Pads by Reload, Bici Concept, Ugly Pads

Road and mountain bikes have derailleur and brake cables. And these various cables shorten the arc of the handle bars, so the bars can't swing around; smack your top tube; leave a dent, and make you really sad. If you are new to fixed gear riding, you may scratch your top tube from locking up you bike, and that might be fine with you. You might be a messy cat. But not even the messiest of cats wants knowingly to destroy most of the resale value of a track frame by wrecking the paint on purpose and denting the top tube.

So, if you ride a fixed gear bike, one suggestion is to perform a variation of one of these actions: (1) Wrap some scraps of bar tape, cloth tape, or black electrical tape around the top tube right where the bars will make a dent if they make contact, and you can lean the bike on this taped part when you lock it to avoid scratching the paint; (2) Sew your own frame pad; (3) Buy a pricey, minimal, Japanese-made Kashimax Five Gold rubber track frame top tube protector; (4) Have a custom frame pad company make you the frame pad of your skidding and style-filled dreams.

At the shop, we sell the Kashimax top tube protectors, Reload frame pads, and Bici Concept frame pads. The other day, rider Casey came in with an Ugly Pad, which I noticed, since I hadn't seen the Tat fabric pattern before. Frame pads are not super expensive, and make great holiday gifts, but I would recommend giving a friend or family member a gift certificate or accompanying them to the bike shop. It is really hard to know what pattern or color someone is going to like. I am constantly amazed by the color or pattern I think someone will like and the color or pattern they actually buy. You may not want to give an urban  rider the equivalent of a Santa decorating the Christmas tree winter sweater. They may not let their bike wear it. Suggestion: Unless you are psychic, ask or give a gift certificate.

In the following photos, Nic demonstrates the perfectly fine and inexpensive black tape option. Next is the minimal but expensive Kashimax option, and lastly are some frame pad photos lifted from the Reload, Bici Concept, and Ugly Pad sites.

 

Solar Table Let's You Run Laptop Outside

The Sun Table, by Sudia Designs,  is designed to power your laptop and mobile devices while you hang out on your urban balcony or on the patio at your off-the-grid home. Of course, the cost of the solar table versus the cost of running an extension cord carrying electricity from a wall outlet is a consideration. But if you don't have a wall outlet in your off-the-grid home, you can quickly create the option of working remotely via your laptop.

For bike touring, there is not of yet an easy, inexpensive, light, portable solar solution for powering a laptop, so you can work remotely and get paid while you are away from your office building. I know that this does not make sense to people trying to get away from civilization on a bike. But computers never sleep. So, if you work on a project basis in high-tech, you can tour on your bike during the day, do your computer work via stored solar energy at night, and thus, get paid while you bike tour.

I like the idea of the solar table, because it doesn't require me to change my behavior. So, maybe the market for these solar tables are places that already have outdoor tables for working and socializing, like Starbucks, Peets, coffee shops, and outdoor cafes. If this solar table inspires you to come up with a good design which lends itself to bike touring applications, put up a post. Here is the info. on the solar table.

According to Sudia, located in Brooklyn, NY, the Sun Table is made in the USA, weighs 45 lbs, and costs $3600.00. The panel is a 64-watt multicrystalline with triple-junction solar cells. Its construction is unbreakable; it has a polymer encapsulation, and there is no glass. The Sun Table stores "13 amp hours, at 12 volts. That equals 156 Watt/hours in total. Enough to run a laptop for over 3 hours, or a TV for 4 hours." It is not designed to run big kitchen appliances. It takes 3 hours to charge in direct sunlight, and there is a battery meter for the Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) battery, so you can tell when the table needs to be recharged. It is not designed to be used in a rainstorm or submerged. The batteries can be replaced, and almost all of the table can be recycled after its 25-year life expectancy comes to an end.

Sudia Designs Sun Table
Treehugger to
to gizmodo

Make a Holiday Reindeer from Worn Bike Parts and Donate Decent Bike Parts to Trips for Kids

It is time to get your holiday art groove on by taking the broken and worn out bike parts you are holding on to for no reason that anyone but you can understand and making a reindeer.

All you need are some zip ties, a few mugs of hot chocolate, and a sense of humor. If you don't have a sense of humor, ask your friends who do have senses of humor to help you. We don't want the little children having holiday nightmares about one of Santa's troubled and savage attack reindeer. (Post a link to photos of your worn bike part reindeer.)

*Suggestion: While sorting through your old bike parts to make your worn bike part reindeer, you can box up and donate the dated and working bikes parts that you know you are never going to use again to Trips for Kids (TfK). You will help to give a kid the gift of riding a bike.

Photos and Worn Bike Part Reindeer by Wheelgirl.
Parts include black zip ties, rusty bent toe clip, ripped and rusty toe strap, those horrible canti brakes with broken springs that bike mechanics love to hate, seat with bent rail, worn rim, worn and/or broken chain rings, bar tape wrap excess from garbage, black tape excess from aforementioned bar wrap, broken seat clamp for reindeer tail, old exercise bike that was scavenged from a pile of refuse three blocks away and abandoned by the scavenger in front of my home for no known reason. Oh, lucky me!)

First 100-Percent Solar Bus in Australia Can You Take Your Bike?

Adelaide, Australia launched the first totally solar-powered bus yesterday. The bus is named, "Tindo," which is "Sun" in the language of the indigenous Kaurna people. I couldn't tell if there was a bicycle carrying rack on the bus. Combining bus and bike transportation works pretty in the Bay Area. (Adelaide cyclists, post a thought on this.)

The bus was manufactured by Design Line, head-quartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, with a principal manufacturing facility in Ashbury, New Zealand.  For you gearheads, here is the tech info from the Design Line press release:

"Using solar PV panels supplied by BP Solar, the solar PV system at the new Adelaide Central Bus Station will generate almost 70,000 kilowatt hours of zero carbon emissions electricity each year, making it currently the largest grid-connected system in Adelaide. Much of the funding for the $550,000 solar PV system has been provided by the Adelaide Solar City program, with the Adelaide City Council also committing significant funding. [My note: The city is ponying up over $8 million dollars toward achieving initiatives.]

With an operational range of 200 kilometres between charges under typical urban conditions, the air-conditioned solar electric bus is able to carry 27 passengers, with 25 seated and two wheelchair spaces. The bus uses 11 Swiss-made Zebra sodium/nickel battery modules which give it unprecedented energy storage and operational range."  [My note: Read more about Zebra batteries here and here.]

"The Lord Mayor says the solar PV recharging system and resulting carbon neutrality sets Tindo apart from other electric buses used around the world. 'There are few pure battery electric buses around the world, and most are characterised by being significantly smaller in size than Tindo, and they have a shorter operational range,' he says. 'The Adelaide City Council’s solar electric bus is the only one recharged using 100% solar PV electricity.''"

Photos lifted from the Adelaide City Council site.

adelaidecitycouncil.com to a-new-life-downunder
to autobloggreen.com to ubergizmo.com

Jagwire Ripcord New Colors for 2008 and Swatchalator

At Interbike, I talked with Ketty and Jason at the Jagwire booth. I was on a search for the thick woven BMX compressionless brake housing that I had received from a Jagwire at Sea Otter a few years ago. I didn't find that specific housing, but I did get the scoop on the new 2008 Jagwire Mountain bike Ripcord colors.

You can check out how your bike looks with different colored Jagwire housing by using the Jagwire Swatch-a-lator. It has a photo of a BMC mountain bike, and when you rollover the different colored housing, it superimposes the housing color over the cable housing on the bike photo.

If you want to trick out your mountain bike with some color accents in 2008, the new housing colors are as following:

- Dirt Rag brown (a translucent red brown)
- Red (kind of a cherry red)
- White
- Merida Green (like a bright lime green)
- Other colors available include Black, Ripcord, Expressway, Titanium, XTR Gray, Hi-Tech Gray, Sterling Silver, Pearl Silver, Blue, Hot Pink, Yellow, Maxxis Orange, Gold Medal.

Head Mechanic, Daniel, really likes Jagwire products. The company has been around for over 20 years, and the products, in his experience, are high-quality and mechanic friendly. Since we are a shop, we buy Jagwire cables and housing in bulk. But Jagwire makes do-it-yourself brake and derailleur cable and housing kits for different bicycles and cycling needs.  (Actual contents of the Ripcord kit, other cable and housing kits, and more photos after the jump.)

Photo of the Jagwire Swatch-a-lator lifted from their site, photo of the Ripcord pack taken by Wheelgirl at Interbike in Vegas 2007

From the Jagwire site, the Ripcord kit contains the following:

"Brake kit includes: 2 lined ferrules, 2 nosed ferrules, 2 POP ferrules, 3 cable donuts, 2 cable tips and 650mm of sealing liner. Derailleur kit includes: 3 lined ferrules, 7 nosed ferrules, 6 cable donuts, 1 raincoat boot, 2 cable tips and 2100mm of sealing liner
Complete kit includes the contents of both the derailleur and brake kits
Cables are slick stainless material
Compatible with Shimano / SRAM–mountain"

Other cable and housing kits available from Jagwire, include the following:

- Ripcord Cable kit (compatible with Shimano and SRAM mountain products)
- Hyper Cable kit (compatible with Shimano/SRAM/Campagnolo mountain and road)
- Racer Cable kit (compatible with Shimano/SRAM/Campagnolo road)
- BMX / Heavy Duty Cable kit.

Photos of Ripcord taken by Wheelgirl at Interbike in Vegas 2007

Solar LED Christmas Lights Thanks Altoids, IKEA & China

It is getting dark at 5:00 pm, and I have a bike shop signs that needs to be lighted at night during the winter holiday shopping season. So I repositioned a solar garden light ($5) in an Altoids box, cut off and took some pieces from some battery-operated IKEA Glansa LED Christmas lights ($1.98), and made some solar LED Christmas lights that don't require a wall outlet for their power. It was less expensive to modify stuff that had already been manufactured than to start from scratch.

When it is dark, the photo sensor in the solar panel of the solar LED Christmas lights tells the circuit to use stored battery power to turn on the lights. When the sun is shining brightly, the sensor tells the circuit to not turn on the lights, but rather to take the electricity made by the solar panel and store it to a rechargeable battery, so the battery has the powers to run the lights during darkness.

I am sure that others will be able to enhance this design. But for now, I can concentrate on building two sets of Chris King BMX and road bike wheels and avoid dealing with plugs, ladders, hooks, wires, and holiday electrical fires.

The next thing is to make solar window lighting for the Wheelgirl large, store-front windows. You can always make some solar LED Christmas lights to joy up an ugly window in your home. Jump for the instructions and more photos.

Photos taken by Wheelgirl. (The little lights around the Wheelgirl sign are two short strings of solar LED Christmas lights.)

I am not an electrical engineer. I am a beginning electronics hobbyist who is happily learning from reading and doing some of the projects under the online sweet and complete direction of the ladyada.net site. (Check out my post on the Minty Boost USB portable battery pack project.)

For this solar LED Christmas light project, I changed out the original rechargeable battery for a stronger rechargeable battery. (I am still experimenting with rechargeable batteries and solar panel recharging times.) I also chose the IKEA Glansa LED lights because they look truly horrible in the daylight. They are tiny and weak. Perfect for this project, since they are inexpensive LEDs, and they draw very little battery power. They look superfine and almost elegant in dark conditions. And, after carrying around this project for a week, I decided that sometimes at night, I want to turn the lights off. In that the only way to do this was to pull out the battery, I added a switch. I poached the switch from the IKEA Glansa LED battery pack from which I cut off the string of LED lights.

If you are an electrical engineer, please post your enhancements in a way that true beginners can implement them. We all enjoy using information that helps to make our projects better. And I know there are certainly things that can make this project better.

Here are the steps for making the solar Christmas lights. (Like during high school mid-terms, I would read all of the instructions before you begin this project.)

1. For this project, I chose a solar garden light with a photo sensor built into the panel. It makes things a bit easier. Solar garden lights with external photo sensors have a white bump, which is the photo sensor, near the solar panel. The ones with the sensor built in have no white bumps anywhere. The sensor is a silver strip.

2. With a screw driver, remove the cover of a solar garden light. Cut out the solar panel from a solar garden light. Make sure you don't cut through anything important. I used a thin pen knife. No rush, take your time. The plastic is pretty soft. I actually separated the plastic battery holder from the panel for this project. That is why there is old glue everywhere. You don't have to do this, just make sure that when you are done, the solar panel and attached circuit can fit in an Altoids box.

 

3. Put the Altoids box face down, and trace around the panel, so you get know the correct size of the hole you will cut with the Dremel. WEAR EYE PROTECTION, and cut out the hole,  You can't ride a bike very well with bits of metal in your eyes. 

4. Drill a hole in the end of the box. This is where the lights will come out.  Again, protect your eyes from any flying bits of metal. Drill from the outside in, so any sharp pieces are facing inside the box away from humans. Make sure to choose a drill bit that allows for a big enough hole for the lights.

5. A few lunch runs ago, I got a mini glue gun for $4.39, so now I can get hot glue all over myself, my clothes, and my workspace. Put down a thin ribbon of glue and press the panel into place, so it faces outward, and the photo sensor is not covered. The circuit and battery should fit into the box with the lid closed. (I took this photo for illustrative purposes after I had completed the project, that is why there is why you can see a wire coming out of the box.)

6. Look at where the LED is soldered to the circuit board. You don't want to touch a battery with a soldering iron, bad idea. Take out the battery, and desolder the LED.

7. Then, making sure there is no battery in the IKEA Glansa LED Christmas lights, cut off the string of lights. Remove the insulation from each strand, and stick one wire from each side of the strand into the holes in the circuit board that used to hold the LED. The LEDs should light up if the positive wire is in the positive hole and likewise for the negative wire. If they don't light up, you may have put the positive wire in the negative hole. So, switch the wires.

8. When you have determined the correct position for the wires, thread the lights through the hole in the Altoids box, and solder the wires into the correct holes. Since I got the glue gun, and was making a mess, I put a gob of glue on the wires leaving the box to protect them from being pulled out of the circuit board.

9.  If you want to make the light string longer, you can cut off the very last light on the end of the IKEA lights and solder another string of IKEA Glansa LEDs to it. Make sure you match positive to positive wires and negative to negative wires. If the LEDs light up, you have it right. If not, switch the wires around. Cover the connections with clear tape, if you can, for protection. Black tape, for this application is kind of overkill, and bad ugly. So far, I have about an 11-foot string of IKEA Glansa LEDs attached to the circuit in the Altoids box. This gives me much cheer.

10.  In that I wanted to be able to turn off the lights after the shop closed, and the only way to do that with the circuit design was to shine a light on the solar panel, I added a switch. Desolder the switch from the IKEA Glansa LED light battery pack from which you cut off the LEDs.

11. Solder one end of the wire hanging from the switch to the metal tab coming from the battery. I picked the battery tab that has a wire going directly to the circuit board and has the least amount of wire who-ha going on around it. (In this case, it was a blue wire.) I put the switch on the inside of the Altoids box, so the case looks clean, and the switch doesn't catch on anything. The lid to the Altoids box is hinged and easy to open and close. Remember: The switch has to be turned on again in the morning for the circuit to work its magic. I took the parts that held the switch in place in the IKEA battery pack and reused them by flipping the holder upside down and using the glue gun. So, the switch is glued to the flipped over holder. It is more stable, and it fits neatly inside the Altoids box.

 

 

12. And there you go, a little solar LED Christmas light joy this holiday season coming to you from the Wheelgirl bike shop.

All photos, in questionable light and conditions, taken by Wheelgirl.