Here are some bike makeovers from the past 1.5 years.
For my sons:
And a complete overhaul and vinyl wrapping of my trusty cargo bike:
And of course I use it to carry art supplies
I love all the pops of colour! The cargo bike refresh is especially cool.
Cool way to use your crafty skills! Am I looking at two bikes (first 3 pics) or after and before images?
These are two bikes but it’s the same frame type in different sizes.
Here’s a picture of the first bike when I set it up for my older son:
With bikes it’s red for DS1 and green for DS2
Those are really cool customizations on both bikes and I love the cargo bike!
When the cargo bike was finished a friend asked me if I bought a new one in a different color 
Nice customizations!!! I always love to see how people make their bikes truly theirs.
And that cargo bike looks pretty burly. I have always wondered how well the front carry cargo bikes steer compared to regular bikes. Right now I use a Bob trailer on the back of my bike, but I am wanting my next bike to have better cargo carrying features so I am looking at the pros and cons of different styles.
I originally wanted to buy a long tail cargo bike but they were hard to get in Europe. So I was looking into lightweight long john type bikes and found this one. I didn’t want to add a motor, so with full cargo and everything I still wanted it to be somewhat easily muscle powered.
It runs extremely stable because it’s so long and it steals pretty well. It has a large turning radius but that’s something you adjust to pretty quickly. Similar to the difference between driving a compact car vs a van.
The best thing about the cargo bike is that my oldest son started riding it when he was 12. From that day on he could go on his own wherever he wanted no matter how much he had to bring with him.
He’s almost 16 now and a true bike enthusiast. Unfortunately not on the engineering side of things. I mean he takes good care of his bikes and knows how to change a tire but other than that he’s just interested in riding it.
That’s such a great way for him to be independent and outside getting fresh air and exercise. And I think most bike enthusiasts still have limited bike mechanic skills.
How easy/difficult is using the car wrap vinyl? I have an old car that is starting to show a bit of rust and I keep looking at sparkly pink/purple vinyl. I mean starting in on a whole car would be daft, right?
Car wrapping vinyl is amazing to work with. Just make sure that you have a heat gun with good temperature settings and a decently clean area to work.
My son’s old bike was the first vinyl wrap I did.
I watched tons of car wrapping videos and thought how hard can it be to wrap a bike frame if people do it to cars all the time. I was definitely proven wrong.
A car would be a great first project. It has large mostly flat surfaces and most of all it doesn’t move when you push the vinyl against it and stretch it to follow the shape.
The more curves and roundings there are the more difficult it gets. And aside from boxes on cargo bikes there is nothing that’s not rounded on a bike.
Here’s some pictures of my most favorite wrap:
That was my daughter’s last bike. When she grew out of it I used the rest of the vinyl to wrap the current one and it was a lot more difficult to work with vinyl that has been sitting on the shelf for 2 years.
Wow, good job!! I think the large area and bubbles are the thing that puts me off trying the car. Plus taking off mirrors etc. But I guess I could get a roll and just try the bonnet. See if I can do it.
I completely forgot to mention the most amazing thing about car wrapping vinyl. If you get a quality brand type it should have air release channels on the adhesive side. So if a bubble forms you can push it all the way to the edge.
I have never heard of such a thing, that sounds most excellent
