How to Build a Bike From Junk

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Diagram: Cotter/crank/spindle detail.
Diagram: Cotter/crank/spindle detail.
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The parts of a standard bike.
The parts of a standard bike.

Here’s a practical homemade solution on how to build a bike from junk in order to keep down your high cost of getting from here to there. (See the homemade bike diagram in the image gallery.)

A lot of people think of bicycles as either toys or (in these days of fancy ten–or more!–speed roadriders) status symbols . . . but a bike can provide a convenient, efficient, and downright practical means of basic transportation. The members of my family, for example, make all their short trips from half-mile jaunts to the post office to three-mile “milk runs” to the nearest dairy farm–by pedal power.

Of course, those of you who’ve recently priced two-wheeled errand-runners know that the cost of new machines can be formidable: Even most ordinary one-speed coaster bikes start at around $100 these days! Well, I’ve got good news for you. Bicycles that are bought to serve as toys tend to be used up and discarded like toys . . . and there are thousands of good thrown-away frames and parts just waiting to be pieced together and pedaled off. I think you’ll find how to build a bike from junk surprisingly easy to scrounge up those components from junkyards–as I did–and construct a fine, functioning bike for no more than $10!

CHOOSING YOUR WHEELS

I suggest that for your first effort, at least, you build a simple one-speed cycle. Sure, the low gear of a three-speeder can be helpful when you’re climbing hills, but such units are generally more complicated to work on than are the old reliable coaster bikes (and more expensive . . . you’d probably have to spend at least $8.00 on new brake and gear cables and a shifter, since such components tend to rust quickly).

  • Published on Jul 1, 1982
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