My Pedal Pony: a Costume for Your Bike

I built this horse to dress up my bike for cruiser rides, parades, special events. I made it so it easily attaches with zip ties and doesn't permanently stay on the bike. I like to put it on the bike once I take it off my car rack and I'm at the event, then I snip the zip ties and take it off before loading it up to go home. I found the old rocking horse in the dumpster and it was just waiting for a project!

Parts

• Your bike
• A plastic rocking horse
• Fur for the mane
• Pumpkin Eyes battery powered lights
• Reflective ribbon for the bridle
• Decorative pin or paper
• Headlamp

Tools

• Dremel rotary tool
• Dremel cutting bit
• Jig saw
• E-6000 glue or hot glue gun
• Zip ties
• Safety glasses

1. I started out by cutting the rocking horse into three sections with the skill saw. I had never used a jig saw and this was quite easy, but it did make a mess. It could be done with the dremel but would have taken alot longer.
2. The first section is the head and front legs.The body is the middle section. Hind legs and tail are the third section.
3. I placed the head in front of the handlebars to measure where I needed to make the cutouts.
4. I then cut out half circles with the dremel so that it fit around the bars and was more stable.
5. I drilled two holes on either side of the half circle cut outs (with the dremel) for the zip ties to attach around the handlebars and hold the pony in place. The tighter and better fitting the zip ties, the better. You don't want the pony bouncing around when you hit a bump.
6. The tail section happened to fit on my bikerack quite snug, so all I did was drill 2 holes on either side to secure it with zip ties.
7. I cut the body into two flat panels and secured it over the bike's center bar with zip ties. I cut them down so much because I didn't want that section to be wide and get it the way of pedaling.

1. I had some battery powered lights that I got on clearance after Halloween that were supposed to light up a Jack O Lantern. I used the dremel and carved out the eye holes until the lights fit snugly into the the horse head.

2. Reaching up into the head, I glued the eyes into place, making sure the on/off switch was still accessible.

1. Cut a long strip of fake fur the width and length of the head and neck. Make sure you check the "nap" to see how the fur will lie. I chose to have the hair sticking up, rather than lying smooth. It's a wild horse.

2. Hot glue or E6000 the hair into place to really enhance the look of the plastic pony.

1. I used ribbon to make a bridle across the horse's nose.

2. I made ribbons for it's mane out of the ribbon, some decorative paper and a pin. I added a second paper "ribbon" to the other side, gluing it over the plastic bridle that was already there.

3. Any adornment you choose will add interest and personality. Be creative!

Place a headlamp around your pony's neck for use as a bike headlight. Safety is still important!

This was a super fun way to enhance the Cowgirl theme of our Cruiser Ride. Everyone loved My Pedal Pony!