On a recent trip to the library, Virginia was wishing she had a basket on her new bike. The old one, still in service (though not reliably so), had a trusty front-mounted one.
Though equipped with a rack, the new bike was clearly lacking the personality and utility of the vintage Dunelt. So, she came up with a brainstorm that just so happens to be a—if I may say so—perfect solution.
I ran to the hardware store for $5 worth of brackets, nuts and bolts, and down to the basement for a few scraps of an old inner tube for placing between the rack and the brackets (don’t want any squeaks when riding), and the actual box.
We happened to have a couple of these old wine boxes (one of the local wine shops was giving them away a few years ago… you never know when you might need one, right?). I busted out the sander, smoothed down some of the rough edges, drilled a couple of holes and now she has this:
It happens to be the perfect size for transporting a lunch, a bunch of books, her u-lock and helmet (although, the helmet stays on her head during the ride, but it still fits).
And, best of all, it comes with a sliding top to keep everything secure.
I know you can buy much lighter, much more waterproof versions of these bike trunks (and most of them start at $75 or more). You can’t go wrong with a solidly built pine box that you got for free and a few bucks for some hardware. Plus, it just looks cool.
I’m not sure about the wine, though. It’s not one we’ve tried before. We might have to after this, what with all that free advertising.