Slight Change in Design

We were working on the project some more, and came up with a different idea for how to do it. So here's the updated design:

The lid is also made of slats now, but the bottom is still solid. The bottom row of slats also goes around the outside instead of sitting on top of the bottom. This is so we can use a piece of plywood for the bottom without having to buy edge-banding for it. Smart, huh?

The box as it will look closed. I think the slats on the top really make it look more consistent.

Here it is with a fake wood pattern on it. We're making this out of red oak, as I think I mentioned, and it will have a lovely, dark finish. We're going to put a fair amount of polyurethane on here too, to protect it from the elements, and I'm thinking a satin finish will look best. The bike is shiny, but super-shiny wood always looks a little weird to me for some reason.

I changed the inside of the lid, too. I think the two pieces resting on the inner supports will be plenty, and again, it just looks more like a crate this way.

We still haven't gotten past the planning and purchasing phase, but I hope this weekend will change all that. Thanks for reading!

Bicycle Basket

My lovely wife has a great bike that she really loves, an Electra Amsterdam Classic named Charlotte.

 The bike is beautiful, and it would be perfect for riding to the park for a picnic or something. We just need a means to carry picnic to the park.

The baskets we've found are always really expensive, though. Solution: Build our own. Here's the idea:

This is the body of the basket. It's more of a crate, actually. The outside pieces are 1.5" x .25" slats in red oak. The inside supports are red oak 1x2s (actually 1.5" x .75"). The bottom will be either a piece of red oak plywood or a solid piece of red oak if we can find it.

We have plans for a lid, as well. It could open this way...

But I think we like this better. We'll probably end up adding some extra features, like some leather straps to hold it closed. The inner frame you see attached to the lid will fit inside the outer slats and keep the lid from moving around too much. We don't want it to scratch up the bike at all (my wife seriously loves this bike and is very protective of her), so we're going to mount the box to the rack with some hardware backed with leather to protect the finish.

We're hoping this works out pretty well and costs less than the pre-made baskets do. We need to make sure we can get everything within our budget before we get started so we can take back the pieces we bought last night if it turns out it's going to cost too much. So far it's just a plan, but I think we'll get started with it pretty quickly. The project itself isn't too tough, so we should be able to finish it in a few days of working. I'll post updates as we make progress.