Homebrew camera mount

Why GoPro when you can GoKodak? This guy mounted his point and shoot camera to his handlebars using a reflector mount and what I think is a 1/4-20 screw. It held for a whole cyclocross race and got some decent if slightly shakey footage of the start until the camera gave up at 3 1/2 minutes.

Homebrew bash guard

While we're on the topic of preventing chain mishaps, 

As seen on SF Craigslist bike forum:

All you need is a heavily used chainring and a grinder (for steel) or sander (for aluminum), and a lot of free time.

Homebrew CX Chain Keeper

I recently changed my cheap Scattante cyclocross frame from a 2x9 to a 1x9.  I had purchased a BBG basguard for use as an outer chain guard but I thought I ought to do something about an inner chain guard, or chainkeeper.  Cyclocross season is coming up fast, so now was the time to do something.  Many people recommend the NGear Jump Stop, but my frame had a little braze-on where that would clamp on, so that wouldn't work.  The braze-on was meant for a front derailler pulley so that you could run a road, bottom pull derailler with a top pulling cable.  I thought, why not use that braze-on? 

I had some aluminum L-shaped DIN rail left over from a work project.

Used the band saw to cut off a chunk.

Used the sander to take the edges and corners off said chunk.

Used the drill press to make some holes.

A zip tie to prevent rotation and give it that custom look.

And voila!  I took it out for a spin to the local park and off some jumps to make sure everything worked.  Couldn't get the chain to derail in the first place so the chain keeper wasn't severly tested.  We'll see if that holds true through cyclcross season.  

Have a Scattante CX frame and need one of these?  I could probably help you out.

What's 100 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?

A good start.

Lawyer Tab Removal... A Pictorial

The fork

The tabs

The tools

The procedure

The end result

I took someone's front wheel off their bike the other day, beginning to spin the quick release, and was told - "Hey - you don't have to do that on my bike!". What a revelation. This bike was built pre lawyer tabs and removing the front wheel was as easy as flicking the brake release and opening the quick release lever. I was so used to unscrewing a quick release by now, I thought that's what they were for. No, they were meant to be quick releases. Read slowly, quick... release... If we wanted to spin things to remove them, we'd buy bottles of Michelob. Instead, we have invented bottle openers and speedy bra removal.

I think Ray Jardine wrote in one of his books (and I'm paraphrasing here) - don't be afraid to modify your stuff, void your warranties and remove labels. You're not as dumb as the lawyers who are involved in retail products think you are. That being said, Nippleworks claims no responsibility for someone who removes the tabs from their forks, then forgets to secure their quick release and actually loses it. Nor, are we advocating the removal of said tabs from a mountain bike, specifically one with a front disc brake. Read this article for an explanation of why that may be a bad idea. We're also not going to buy someone a new fork if they end up taking off their entire dropout, or a new eyeball if they put it out with a tool.

But, if you're mechanically inclined, and steady with a file or power tool (which for us comes from years of working on surgical instrument prototypes), give your bike all the functionality of a 1930 Campagnolo.