Specialeyes
Guru
- Location
- Essex
So I've come across a recurring problem and finally resolved to have a go at finding a solution. Namely, how to prop the bike up for a mid-ride photo.
This photo sums the problem up perfectly:
Vintage bike (Bianchi X4) on a concrete road on a windy day, propped solely by a bottle of Tesco isotonic drink - a disaster waiting to happen. Other solutions include twigs, bidons, helmets, rocks and whatever-else-happens-to-be-within-reach. Any one of them leaves the Pride and Joy precariously balancing while you jump away and take a photo before the wind catches it and over she goes. Plus, it just looks a bit crap. I wanted something that would fit in a pocket or under a saddlepack so could be taken on a ride and that would be 'presentable' enough to not need any editing out.
Blimey, I feel like one of our GCSE Design Technology visitors with their Year 12 surveys!
Anyway, that set me thinking, then sketching, then a brainwave from Mrs Spesh then off to the shed!
10mm clear PETG and, hopefully next week a 15mm clear rod to match (but for now a similar piece of ali will do). The rod slides through a slightly oversized hole which means the angle and therefore overall height can be changed. It's a bit of a dodgy prototype with some over-zealous flame polishing by yours truly, but next week I'll get one of the lads in our workshop to CNC and polish one properly.
The end result with no Photoshop other than to zoom and crop the second image:
I know the real fun is to go out and ride and enjoy the smiles more than the miles and I might have found a solution to a non-existent problem, but it was a fun couple of hours!
Next challenge, of course, is how to line up the DT shifters 'at rest' while maintaining 'Biggie Smalls'!
This photo sums the problem up perfectly:
Vintage bike (Bianchi X4) on a concrete road on a windy day, propped solely by a bottle of Tesco isotonic drink - a disaster waiting to happen. Other solutions include twigs, bidons, helmets, rocks and whatever-else-happens-to-be-within-reach. Any one of them leaves the Pride and Joy precariously balancing while you jump away and take a photo before the wind catches it and over she goes. Plus, it just looks a bit crap. I wanted something that would fit in a pocket or under a saddlepack so could be taken on a ride and that would be 'presentable' enough to not need any editing out.
Blimey, I feel like one of our GCSE Design Technology visitors with their Year 12 surveys!
Anyway, that set me thinking, then sketching, then a brainwave from Mrs Spesh then off to the shed!
10mm clear PETG and, hopefully next week a 15mm clear rod to match (but for now a similar piece of ali will do). The rod slides through a slightly oversized hole which means the angle and therefore overall height can be changed. It's a bit of a dodgy prototype with some over-zealous flame polishing by yours truly, but next week I'll get one of the lads in our workshop to CNC and polish one properly.
The end result with no Photoshop other than to zoom and crop the second image:
I know the real fun is to go out and ride and enjoy the smiles more than the miles and I might have found a solution to a non-existent problem, but it was a fun couple of hours!
Next challenge, of course, is how to line up the DT shifters 'at rest' while maintaining 'Biggie Smalls'!
- and stop calling me Shirley!
)
