Chair Made From Bicycle Wheels

A few years ago, my mother saw some pictures online of a chair made out of bicycle tires and wanted wanted to create her own using some spare bicycle tires that we had lying around.

After removing the spokes out of three of the tires, and creating a weave of the elastic rope using the holes left from the spokes and zipties, she left it as she was not sure how to proceed. As time passed, it lay untouched in our garage.

Last year, we moved house, and it was resurfaced, wanting to be continued. One again though, it was left in the garage, untouched.

Finally, as a lockdown was imposed, and we were cleaning our garage. It was much easier looking at it again, and with two minds we were able to overcome the problems my mother had been facing and had been unsure how to tackle.

- 5x Large Bicycle Tires (3 of them with spokes, tire and inner-tube removed, 2 of them the same size).

- 1x 1-metre long, 10mm diameter threaded rod

- 8x 70mm-long, 8mm diameter bolts

- 6x 10mm Washer

- 4x 10mm Nut

- 10x 8mm Nut

- 6x 8mm Bolt Cap

- 4x Bolt Cap

- 5mm diameter Elastic Rope

- 1x 1-metre long, metal angle

- Zipties

- Tools: metal saw, drill with 10mm and 8mm metal drill-bits, wrenches, scissors

We start our project with:

- The spokes taken out of three of the tires.

- A weave of the elastic rope using the holes left from the spokes and zip-ties.

- Use the drill and 10mm drill-bit to expand two holes, opposite of each other on the third spoke-less bike tire.

- Insert the screw rod through the holes and centre it

- Use two of the bolts and one of the washers to attach the screw rod to the bicycle tire rim.

- Do this on both sides of the bicycle tire rim.

- Remove the middle of one of the unused bicycle tires.

- Do the same for the second tire.

- Put the bicycle tire onto the screw rod.

- Use two of the washers and one of the nuts to tighten and attach the bicycle tire to the screw rod.

- Do the same thing for the second tire.

- Use bolt caps to cover the sharp edges of the ends of the screw rod.

- Do the same for the other side.

(Optional: Cut the threaded rod until a centimetre from the nut and use a bolt cap to cover it)

- Cut the threaded rod on the inside to create a large hole for the chair to sit in.

- Use bolt caps to cover the sharp cut edges.

- Align the seat structure with the frame.

- Mark two holes that lone up between the two rims.

- Use the bolts through the marked holes to attach the seat and the frame.

- Do this twice: once on each side, slightly offset from the centre.

- Use two of the nuts to space the seat into the centre.

- Do this on both sides to centre the seat

- Use zipties to stoop the seat from rotating when it is sat on.

- Do this at least three times on both the front and back of the frame rim.

- Drill holes through the rims of the rotating wheels to stop them from rolling.

- Do the same for both wheels.

- Cut any extra length from the various bolts.

- Use the bolt caps to cover any sharp edges.

- Cut the metal angle to the height of the frame rim.

- Drill holes into the metal angle that align with holes in the rim.

- Put a bolt through both parts

- Cut the extra length from the bolt and cover it with a bolt cap.

- Cut any extra length from the zipties and/or elastic.