Turning your bike frame into a woven basket

Yeongkeun Jeong and Aareum Jeong created the "Reel," a bike accessory that invites you to create a woven container on your frame, using a clever system of adhesive buttons to keep it secure:

The concept is fairly simple. Reel comes in two parts: a long piece of strong red rope, plus a sheet of clear plastic buttons. Peel a buttons off the sheet and attach them at regular intervals along your bike’s frame (they form teeth to keep the rope in place, preventing it from sliding to the bottom of the frame). Then uncoil the rope and start looping it around the diamond-shaped hole that’s formed by your top tube, down tube, and seat tube. When you’re done, you’ll have an ad-hoc “basket” to portage everything from patch kits to baguettes (just like on the Tour!).

Although, to be frank, Reel seems like it’s tempting fate. Twisting a thick rope around your frame, only millimeters away from complex mechanical system that keep your body in motion in traffic… Well, let’s just say, we’d test it out on the sidewalk first. Ride safe!

Bike Storage at High Speeds (via Crib Candy)

• [Alexander Somma]

  I always find that a long ribbon of double sided Velcro allows you to do things like this.

• [Ipo]

   Duct tape. 
  But that would make it permanent. 

• [semiotix]

  Actually, it’s not a thick rope, but a thin tape. Under tension. And those complex mechanical systems millimeters away have pointy bits!

  I’m sure the inventor is perfectly safe, but as for me and every other yahoo who’ll half-ass reading the directions, this is probably pretty dangerous.

  • [John_Wilmot]

     It isn’t tape, but the same weave that makes up most tension straps on backpacks. You can see that more clearly in the shot of the kit. Concerns about knees and baguettes aside, it should be pretty sturdy.

    • [travtastic]

      It’s webbing, presumably the standard nylon stuff. It’s fairly cheap.

      Absolutely dangerous when applied here, though. It would make a lot more sense to use the webbing to make a similar basket, and then attach that to the frame.

    • [Richard Dagenais]

      And another word for webbing is tape. Seriously, go to a climbing shop and ask.

• [Paul Renault]

  Me, I’d like to hear the engineering reasons why the not-really-rope has to be red.

• [sjofels]

  That bike has just to many gears, for this kind of product, also what happened to a good sized backpack?
  Then again I always wanted to crush perfectly good baguettes with my knees.

  • [Symbiote]

    Backpacks make your back sweaty, for all but the smallest distances and lowest speeds.

    • [sjofels]

      Then there are a legion of other products  like bags and binders that do a much nicer job of retaining your swag. (my bike bags can hold a 24 bottle crate of beer each, HURRAY!)
      There are even some that come in the same hipster-neon-odi grip style colors.

      And I’d much rather have a sweaty back than entanglement issues at 30kmh.

• [Matt Fidler]

  Why is this getting so much attention online?  It’s the exact opposite of intelligent elegant design.    

  • [Robert Drop]

    You may have answered your own question.  
    I get the feeling that this was intended to be goofy and playful rather than a practical design.

    • [MelSkunk]

       I think it passed goofy and ended up on head-shakingly bad. If it’s a joke it’s a subtle one.

    • [Ian Wood]

       You’re postulating a Poe’s Law for industrial design?

• [Ian Wood]

  A complicated and ineffective solution to a problem for which multiple and simpler proven solutions already exist.

• [skeletoncityrepeater]

  The adhesive worries me.

• [joeposts]

  Little known fact: The baguette was invented to make it easy to carry bread home from the boulangerie by strapping it to the frame of your bicyclette.

  • [Paul Renault]

    Strapping it to the frame – like so?

    • [joeposts]

      Non, comme ça.

      • [SedanChair]

        That’s the Frenchest bike I’ve ever seen–which is impressive since every bike is, to some degree, French.

      • [Paul Renault]

         Mais, ce n’est pas une baguette!  C’est un pain bâtard!

• [Antinous / Moderator]

  I see Isadora Duncan possibilities here.

• [Peppermint]

  Sadly, another fun and interesting object that women will have to do without…

  • [AlexG55]

    Assuming they only ride “ladies’” bikes- I know plenty of women who ride bikes with a full crossbar.

  • [knappa]

    Only if they ride a “woman’s” bike; which as far as I can tell, few women do.

  • [pKp]

    Or people with small legs. I’m a guy, and I prefer the “ladie’s bike” type because it’s easier to mount/dismount.

    • [Stephen Schenck]

      My mom’s a big fan of these: http://www.biria.com/series/easy-boarding

      The hub gear’s pretty neat, too.

• [stumo]

  Fairly sure this would screw up my gears and rear brakes – and if you get a crosswind you’ll suddenly notice it a lot more. 

• [L_Mariachi]

  Makes it a lot harder to carry your bike up and down stairs.

• [mccrum]

  No water bottle or bike pump for you!

  Unless you have a basket, which would be pretty amusing…

  • [Michael Smith]

    The bottle could be on the underside of the down tube, or attached to the back of the seat, triathlon style, or pushed into the webbing more likely. 40 odd years ago my mum made a bag to go in that part of the frame when I had a job delivering junk mail.

• [Richard Dagenais]

  What’s wrong with a backpack?

• [noah django]

  I ˆwantˆ this to work, but I just don’t see it.  Maybe if the strapping was slightly elasticized?  Otherwise it’ll be loose under no load and therefore in the way.

  I’m intrigued.  If I come across a bunch of springy webbing, I’ll see what I can come up with and get back to y’all.

  one thing’s for sure, I’ll be damned if I lace my ride with bright red.

• [vinculture]

  You might as well ask me to cut my brake lines as attach that thing, because it looks like having much the same effect on safety. And, go on the sidewalk? Don’t think so.

• [hadlockk]

  Re: testing it on the sidewalk; it’s illegal to ride on the sidewalks in many cities.