custom bicycle basket

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I ride my bike around alot becaue i live in a small town and ive decided to build a basket. i dont know how big it should be or what kind of steel i should use.
Reply:Not that it's important but define "basket", Are you thinking of something in front of you handlebars or behind the seat, or are you thinking more along the idea of saddlebags for a Harley?I would think 1st of t flat deck or basket behind the seat, followed closely by the saddlebag idea. Look at motorcycles, lots of good ideas there.Sheet metal comes first to mind. Fold it up the way you want it and weld the seams. I think a wire basket would be lighter but a bit more difficult to fabricate with the number of pieces that would have to be positioned.Size will depend on what you plan on carrying. If you go grocery shopping I'd make it fit a std paper grocery bag at a minimum. Going to work, make it fit your laptop case or brief case. Material will depend on what you can weld. My 1st thought is alum due to weight and corrosion resist. 2nd SS sheet or wire if alum isn't within you capabilities. Last MS and painted.The portable welder on the bike might be an interesting pict if you weld for a living. I have this pict of a 3 wheeler with a flat deck and a small welder genset on it all of a sudden!Good luck.
Reply:I made three of them over a period of time, gave one away and still have these two. One is a beach cruiser bike, the other a mountain bike. The racks however both hold crates, plenty heavy duty!! The mountain bike already has low gears to choose from, the other bike I reset the gear ratio as low as I could with sprockets from the local bike shop!Those were the days!City of L.A. Structural; Manual & Semi-Automatic;"Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore."Job 28:1,2Lincoln, Miller, Victor & ISV BibleDanny
Reply:Maybe you can find an old shopping cart and fab something from that. Wire is definitely lighter than sheet but its not weatherproof......
Reply:tanglediver I like the tow hook for the bike, complete with loops for safety chains no less! Does it have a plug for trailer lights too?  I'll assume the trailer's under 3K so you won't need brakes on it.A nice little tow behind cart would also be nice if you had a bunch of stuff to haul. Tanglediver, I'll assume the hook was to tow the kids wagon or what not around?
Reply:Originally Posted by TEKMaybe you can find an old shopping cart and fab something from that. Wire is definitely lighter than sheet but its not weatherproof......
Reply:Originally Posted by 808APPbut don't get caught with it. stores pay big money for those baskets. I know here in Florida it is arrestable to be in possession of shopping carts, milk crates and bread trays if they are marked with a company name or logo.
Reply:I think it would be cool to make an aluminum diamondplate box to fit on the rack behind the seat. It would be weatherproof and fairly light. I would bolt it down to the rack and make it lockable. Sometimes I want to leave stuff in my bike rack bag, and I do have a small lock on the zipper to keep honest people out, but it's too easy for someone to just remove the entire bag if they wanted to. This way hopefully a thief would move on to an easier target.Something like this, but only about half the height. Maybe I should buy one, cut it in half and weld the bottom back on.Lincoln AC/DC 225/125 Stick Linde HDA-300 MillerMatic DVI MIG Miller Dynasty 200DX Hypertherm Powermax 1000
Reply:A nice .50 cal ammo can or one of the other surpluss military ammo containers woud make a nice waterproof container. Sort of heavy, but alot cheaper than building one yourself. You could allways modify it if  you wanted and just keep the lid assembly.
Reply:Thanks DSW! I didn't even think about ammo containers. Sorry Daedric for hijacking your thread.Lincoln AC/DC 225/125 Stick Linde HDA-300 MillerMatic DVI MIG Miller Dynasty 200DX Hypertherm Powermax 1000
Reply:I was just looking at this older thread and decided to throw my .02 in, check this link out buddy http://www.paulcomp.com/click on baskets/racks for a well engineered product that may give you some ideas