#HTE

Brilliant Uses For Totally Useless Bike Parts

While we design wonks are out here trying to make wheels without spokes happen, real bike nerds are busy doing their own heavy-hitting BS engineering, from the labs at SRAM to the humble local bike shop. 

If you aren’t crouching on the vanguard of the bike industry you may not have heard that the end is nigh for front derailleurs, (and you may not have heard of them at all if that new Ikea bike appealed to you,) but there’s blood in the water around the clunky half of bike shifting. Anticipating the inevitable rush to toss our filthy old derailleurs, Fairdale Bikes has announced their Front Derailleur Repurposing Division in hopes of giving these noble components another chance:

Highlights include pinball flippers, a cat brusher (great for folks with allergies) and a skateboard that walks. Truly innovative! 

These creative solutions were designed by Taj Mihelich, owner of both Fairdale Bikes and a considerable record as a pro BMX rider… with some time spent at the design team for Odyssey BMX. While his design chops might pale in comparison to our own (I didn’t see a single Coroflot link or Bianchi Pista in this video), we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt since he’s clearly enthusiastic about bikes and has probably met a few proper designers along the way. Check out their other R+D reel and other videos for more fun.

Via PinkBike.