How to Upgrade Your Bike Part 1

In this instructable I'll show you how I upgraded my bike. And if I can, you can too. 

The most important thing is to know your bike so you can take advantage of its features, for  example : the shape of the frame, the shape of the handlebars, can determine the type of modifications you will incorporate into your bike.

Note : in this instructable many instruction and notes are written onto the pictures.

Coming up...Safety first.
The first step is the easiest and most obvious.
To increase one's safety while riding a bike, one must make sure his bike's performance and visibility are as good as possible.

Coming up... Hidden stuff

Bikes are great because they carry us around, but they aren't that great when they break down in the middle of the trip and you injure yourself or when you lost the key to the cable.
So the best thing to do about it is to take some tools, a first aid kit and a spare key with you on your trips.
Just one problem, the stuff mentioned above is pretty uncomfortable to take in your pockets or bag, and also what if you forget your kit at home ? 
The answer to that problem is... well you'll have to scroll down to see it in action.

Coming up... Hiding the tool.

Now that you have a spare key on the bike in case you forget the other one at home, it's time to prepare for the next worse case scenario : your brakes get loosened.
To be prepared for this case you'll need an Allen key that fits the bolts in your brake system, some electrical tape and a neodymium magnet.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. You'll need to paint the Allen key to match the color of the suspension cylinder for camouflage.


PS. the instructions are in the pictures.

Coming up : Security.
Doesn't it ruin your day when someone steels your wheel or saddle ?
Well, not anymore.

PS. Please pay attention to the writing on the pictures.

First thing to do is tighten the lever as tight as you can.
Then wrap scotch tape around the lever and the frame tightly... This is your first line of defense.
Then bind it all with zip-ties... This is your second line of defense.
After that wrap electrical tape around that to camouflage the 2 layers beneath... This is the 3'rd and last line of defense.
By the time a bully/thief who is trying to steel your wheel or saddle will get to the second line of defense, enough time will have passed by for him to start to worry about being caught.

So in short this is a time buying and thief discouraging technique.

But what if you need to detach the wheel ?
Well you just need to have a small utility knife to cut the zip-ties.
So how exactly are you going to have a knife with you at all times when riding your bike ?
The answer is very simple : incorporate it onto your bike like I did with the hex key.

I found out that every bike has a hollow space under the fork. I decided to use the hole to keep the utility knife in case of an emergency.
The knife always fell out of that hole so I also had to make a stopper (cap) to hold it in.
After you make the stopper, you're done.