Monday, November 07, 2005

Tricking out the Bike IV: Camera Mount

Me and my bike camLast Tuesday, Make: Blog featured a link to a set of simple instructions (that appear to be written by Chieh Cheng) to make a camera mount for a bicycle.

I've got to have one, I said to myself.

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Why do I have a feeling I'm going to get a crack about either 'wingnuts' or 'thumbscrews'? I bought the things I needed at Home Hardware Thursday afternoon (before going to the Buck or Two) and made one Thursday night.

The camera mount is the gizmo with the wingnuts (aka thumbscrews).

[Oh, notice the headlight? For some reason they designed it so that a cyclist will see the top of the light when it is on. I made a cowl with foil tape on the top to keep it from distracting me and wrecking my night vision. ]

Back to the camera mount, one of the best parts of the instructions is that they require going to a dollar store for a light from which you take the mounting clamp. (He went to a 99 cent store, but if you want me to be technical about it, we'd also have to go into currency conversions.) I didn't have to go to a dollar store for the clamp because I've got a bunch of them already kicking around. (I keep losing lights and not losing the clamps that go with them.)

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Gladstone AveHere's my first real bike cam shot. Gladstone Avenue, Friday morning.

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Car stopped in bikelaneOn my way to Elgin Street Friday afternoon I took my first vigilante shot. This guy has stopped in a no-stopping zone, which is a bike lane, on a busy bridge. My bike lane! But, you ask, does that inexpensive Kodak of yours have the resolution to get the plate number?

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Licence plateYes, it does.

Car going through red lightMy second vigilante shot is a car going through a very red light. For this one the plate was pretty blurry. You'd need one of those CSI guys to bring it out.

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traffic at nightBut I didn't put the camera mount on the bike to enforce the traffic code. I got it to make art.


4 comments:

accidental altruist said...

hey bike unvigilante

so weird, the taxi that nearly schmucked me had a license that started with ATAP! coo ink eee dink? maybe...

driver of said taxi had ridiculed and laughed in my face when i took down the plate and taxi number. i still fantasize about finding that particular taxi again.

Anonymous said...

I can't wait to make one of my own. I think i'll use something with a wider base than a larger washer to hopfully increase stability. On a sidenote, I found your site through the original tutorial and just realized you were from Ottawa. It's funny how despite the international reaches of the WWW, people still wind up talking to people from their own cities... even by accident!

Anonymous said...

Good Job! :)

Anonymous said...

Very creative....means you have a clear mind most of the time to invent,keep it up...good job.