Reduce, reuse, recycle

I was surfing the web yesterday doing some Christmas shopping when I came across this. http://www.downbound.com/Recycled_Tire_Belt_p/tcn-vc-velo-slb.htm

It's a belt made from an old tire that costs $70. I was pretty blown away that you could sell an old chopped up tire for $70. I found another one for $25 and yet another just made from an innner tube for $50. It's pretty weird to see these companies latch onto the whole bike culture and exploit the hell out of it. Yes it it good to see them advocating recycling, but reeping gross profits from it kind of defeats the purpose. Anyway the point is that bike tire belts are cool, fun, and easy to make on your own. I've made a few of them and given some to friends, and wear one myself. It's one of the best belts I've had, and I love it to pieces.

BLING!

You can make your own belt too. It is way cooler than buying one, and way cheaper. I used these instructions to make mine http://www.bmxonline.com/bmx/features/article/0,15737,519235,00.html A few things I learned when making these to help the process go a little more smoothly are...

1.If you cant cut the tire with scissors use a pair of tin snips, they seem to do the trick.

2.Use a half link to attatch your buckle, the can easily be removed to swap out buckles.

3.Buckles can be bought at most stores, or you can tear one off of a crappy belt you dont use. Make sure it is wide enough for your tire though. I also find that buckles with rollers like the one pictured above work best.

4.If the tire is too thick to push the half link through shave it down a little around where the link will go on the inside of the tire. These belts are strong and losing a little girth wont make it tear apart, and if you shave the inseide it won't be noticable.

5. I used a belt hole punch to make the holes, they are easy to use, and make nice clean holes. They look like this http://sportsandhome.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=29 I had one laying around in a box of random tools, but if you really want one you can get them as cheap as $5 online.

6. If you dont have a clamp to get the link together use a pair of vice grips, needle nose ones work best.

7. Experiment, You can make these out of any tires you find. Avoid rotten ones, but try making a belt out of a 25c' or find a colored tires from a kids bike. The possibilities are endless.

There you go, it's as easy as that. The total cost of this is like $2.50 and they will last a long time. Don't be fooled by companies making products like this. If you look at it and think "I could do that" chances are you probobly could, and it will be alot cheaper, and more rewarding in the long run.