Some time ago I went through all the dusted old stuff that I once put into the attic, because it was to good to be thrown away … you know what I’m talking about, right? It’s like a huge flea market, just with your own stuff.

This time I rediscovered two boxes filled to the top with … LEGO bricks!

Two boxes with single stones and plates of every color and size. I knew one thing right away … I needed to build something.

At that time, I’ve been awaiting spare parts for the Viny Solo singlespeed conversion I was writing about some time ago (read the blogpost right here). The weather was bad and I had some spare time, so I decided to empty out the content of the two boxes right down on the floor and started looking through tons of LEGO bricks.

Some people might not understand this, but when there’s only cycling related topics inside of your head, there’s just one thing that I had to find out: Is it possible to mount LEGO stones to a bicycle frame?

Well, the answer is … Yes, it is possible!

And before the day ended, I found myself looking at the prototype of my new bicycle bottle holder, complete build with LEGO stones. In case you might want to know more about it, here’s a short video about the prototype of my bicycle bottle holder:

The process of building something that only exists as a picture in your head, is tougher than it sounds. What you’re looking at right here, is probably the third or fourth version of the bicycle bottle holder, but the first one, that I thought was okay.

After hours of work inside of my private bicycle laboratory, it was about time for the first official test under real conditions. An empty parking lot on a sunday morning was the best location I could possibly find for this purpose.

I mounted the bottle holder to the frame and the test started. A few laps around the parking lot proved, that the bottle holder worked just fine at average speed and without hitting huge bumps and potholes. The bottle seemed a bit loose and moved around quite a lot inside of the holder, but as long as everything stayed where it was supposed to be, I was okay with that.

Then it was time for the ultimate test : Will the bicycle bottle holder survive a ride over potholes at average speed?

Well, the answer was NO …

Right at the second pothole, the bottom plate of the bottle holder broke and the holder itself slipped down the frame to get stuck between the frame and the big chain ring. However, it still hold on to the bottle and prevented it from falling to the ground. That counts as a success, right?

Of course I’m just joking around. The test was a failure. The bicycle bottle holder could not live up to its purpose, though it didn’t went as bad as I imagined. Before the test, I imagined dozens of tiny LEGO bricks flying through the air, spreading all around the parking lot, the water bottle smashing on the ground and my bicycle slipping out on the wet surface, resulting in a huge crash for me.

Luckily, that didn’t happen. One single LEGO brick broke of the bottom plate and landed on the ground, the rest of the prototype got stuck between the frame and didn’t touch the ground at all.

So, after all, what’s the result of the first test?

I think, the prototype of the bicycle bottle holder ain’t as bad as I thought it might be. It’s able to hold a filled water bottle on a road without potholes. That’s a good result, I think.

However, the test proved that the bottom plate is too weak to survive big hits like potholes or curbs. That’s something I have to work on for the next prototype.

Yes, you heard right … I’m not done yet, I will be back with a second prototype and it will be awesome …

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If you’d like to find out more about the first test of the bicycle bottle holder, here’s the full video about it:

Feel free to share your thoughts with me in the comments below. I appreciate every feedback and / or reply to my posts.

Thanks for reading, watching and replying!

-Dennis