Wooden Bike Basket

When you look at many bike friendly European cites, you will notice that most people bike to work in normal street clothes.  To do this, you need a classic bike with fenders and a chain guard.  The Schwinn Coffee was perfect for this except I didn't have a way to carry my computer.  Instead of choosing the bike basket in the front, I went with a wooden crate in the back.  This is perfect for carrying my computer as well as groceries from the farmers market.  Here is how I did it.

I found this box at a Goodwill and was probably intented to be used for decoration because the slats were held on using small staples.  The first thing I had to do was to reinforce the slats that were used for attaching to the bike rack.  I did this by using some small L brackets and 1/4" X 20 screws.

Next I added a couple more nails to the other slats to keep them from falling off.  The two slats that attach to the bike rack really take all of the load.

To attach the box to the bike rack, I used stainless steel hose clamps.  These have the advantage of conforming to the odd shapes and wont rust.  I used two clamps on each side.

The first picture shows a top view.

The second picture shows the clamps from the bottom.

The box works perfect for holding my laptop in a protective case and groceries.  There are a couple of minor issues. First, since the box is so big, I need to swing my leg over the top tube rather than over the back tire. This takes a little stretching but you get used to it. I may cut the box down in the future to make this easier.  Second the box puts a lot of weight high in the back of the bike.  This causes the bike to be a little unstable.  Third, there is a bit of a rattle.  This is probably caused by the fact that the bike rack has a spring loaded mouse trap thing that is used to hold things down.  In the future, I may change to a stronger bike rack.  This should minimize the swinging and rattle.

Overall, the box adds a lot of functionality to the bike while still preserving the classic look.  I am currently looking for a traditional dynamo light to complete the effect.