A pretty and practical bicycle on a budget

Imagine losing a beautiful £600 bike while buying bread and milk. Since bikes and their accessories are a target for theft, I try to keep them as cheap as possible, which is also convenient when you're on a tight budget. So how do you create a pretty bike that's not worth stealing?

First let's look at what (imho) makes a cute bike. I'm talking now about classic/Dutch/sit-up-and-beg style bikes which particularly appeal to me, not those super-slick fixies which are just as popular. Let's examine three beautiful bikes. Take a look at them and try to see what they have in common:

Birdie by Bobbin Bicycles, Granturismo by Abici

Poppy by Pashley

Well? To me it looks like they have a solid colour which runs throughout: everything is colour matched from the mud-guards to the chain guard. The lines are clean and simple and uncluttered, and not broken up by branding and gadgets like lights or lock attachments.

Now I'll show you how I tried to make my really cheap bike, which was a fraction of the cost of these beauties, look sleek but still be practical, on a budget. I introduced my bike, the Swan, in a previous post, as well as my motivations for cycling. My bike has a pretty classic shape and minimal branding and clutter so it was a good starting point.

The Swan, my Raleigh Caprice

I like my bike storage plentiful so I can go on shopping sprees like I used to in my car, so I fitted my bike with a classic wicker basket in the front, and a wire basket in the back. To fit a back basket, you need a pannier rack which is the thing that attaches to the back axle and supports a rear basket. If you're about to buy a bike it's important to look at whether these kind of accessories are included as this impacts the price. A back basket on a pannier rack can support a lot more weight than a little hanging wicker basket on the front, and if you load your front basket too much it can throw you off balance when you turn.

I bought a cheap pannier rack and spray-painted it white to match my bike frame. I also painted the chain-guard which was an ugly beige colour.

Rear wire basket from Ikea

I would have liked to have a wicker back basket too, but I couldn't find any cheap ones in a shape/size I liked, so I searched for a white basket that would blend in. I eventually used an off-white Ikea wardrobe basket which cost only £4! I could have also used the kind of white wire baskets that are found in some fridges and freezers. Buying something in the desired colour is preferable to painting it, because the paint job will be more professional. I simply attached the wire wardrobe basket to the pannier rack using white cable ties, which are almost invisible and add no bulk:

When you buy a D-lock (the kind of lock recommended by police) they tend to come with a bracket, which would add bulk to your frame and look really ugly. That's why I just throw my lock in my back basket.

On my front basket I have added another feature using a cable-tie which is practical rather than aesthetic: a cluster of cat bells which jingle when I ride. This is not a joke, I do it to make myself audible to pedestrians who are just about as dangerous as cars. The problem is that pedestrians don't hear you coming and can suddenly step in your path; they have less momentum than cars and are much more unpredictable. Also they may be hogging the cycle path without realising it, and many (especially tourists) get offended/confused when you ring your bike bell. So a slight jingle lessens these problems.

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For a additional noise I tried putting a cable tie on my frame near the wheel so that it was jutting out into the spokes. It had a similar effect to putting playing cards in your wheels, which is what the cool kids would do to seem tough. The effect was brilliant and I sounded like a scooter. Pedestrians were also so surprised they would generally step aside in order to figure out where the noise was coming from. Unfortunately the stress on the cable-tie was too much and it snapped off after a week, so the solution was not sustainable.

My wicker basket is held on by some straps and a buckle, but I was worried somebody would steal it. Cable ties are by no means hard to remove, but at least the thief needs a pair of scissors to do so, which rules out theft from opportunistic criminals.

I've also looped two cable ties through my front basket as a place to clip on a front light. They are far more discrete than a black bracket which I'd otherwise have to mount on my bike. It's important to have removable lights unless you want them stolen.

My bike bell not only looks cute but is very loud, which is really important for shooing pedestrians out of the cycle lane.

Bike bell: Tiger
Handlebar grips: Amazon

I also replaced the ugly, sporty handlebar grips with some cheap, plastic white ones, to give my bike a coordinated look.

When it comes to visibility at night you should strive to be a veritable Christmas tree on wheels. Motorists don't want to injure cyclists, it's just that they don't see them which causes accidents. I replaced my standard, ugly rear reflector with a cute vintage one from Ebay in you guessed it: white. I also added spoke reflectors. They are hardly noticeable by day but at night they light up my bike and let motorists see me from the side, where my bike lights aren't facing.

Vintage rear reflector: Ebay
Spoke reflectors and beads: Amazon

I've also added "clacker" spoke beads to my wheels to help increase the noise. They make a nice rhythmic sounds at a walking pace but any faster and the centrifugal force takes over and they get stuck at the rim.

So that's how I've done-up my bike on a budget, and I don't think it looks too bad. I'd like to follow this post with a bike-buying guide, and maybe between now and then, an overview of accessories you might want to buy, and then what to wear for cycling, so stay tuned!