How to create a bicycle crate out of a vintage picnic basket

Remember when I got my bike way back at the start of the year? And I committed to cycling everywhere for 30 days despite being utterly terrified?

Well, I kept my commitment and guess what? Somewhere during those 30 days, I suddenly wasn’t scared anymore. Other cyclists and cars and pedestrians were no longer so terrifying. I started cycling on the road, my legs and lungs got stronger and I fell more and more in love with cycling.

One of the main reasons I bought my bike was to make grocery and market shopping that little bit easier. I don’t have a car, so my legs are my main mode of transport. As the little basket at the front of my bike doesn’t have a huge carrying capacity I needed an additional something on the back to load all my goodies.

I spent months searching for just the right rear rack. I wanted something with a lid, it had to be the right colour and it had to be stylish. Turns out, everyone else seemed to have a similar idea and I couldn’t find anything available that wasn’t in excess of $100. Pricey!

Then I stumbled across a DIY to make my own out of a picnic basket. Ding ding ding ding!

A quick scout around Etsy and I had hooked myself up with a vintage metal picnic basket for about $25 plus postage.

I lined up my ultra-handy girlfriend to teach me how to use her drill and together we attached the basket to my bike. Within minutes (yes, minutes!), I had my very own vintage bicycle crate.

I love this picnic basket. It fits loads of goodies inside and the lid means I can cycle as fast as I like without worrying that I’ll lose anything. Plus it is ultra-original. Nobody else has one like it and when people comment on it, I love to tell them I made it myself.

Turns out Mimi loves the picnic basket too…

If you’d like to make your own bicycle crate you can find all the details over at Elenor’s blog.

The winter weather and a recent back injury has stopped me from cycling as much as I wanted to over the last month and a bit but I’m so excited to get back out there now that spring is on its way.

I’d love to know… do you cycle?