Design should definitely not be all sitting at a desk behind a computer. This was a 3 hour design project that was the result of having to come up with a Christmas gift for a friend who has everything.

I had just finished rebuilding an old Schwinn Varsity bicycle to a single speed and was faced with a pile of parts.

I looked at the old stem shifters and a bottle opener popped into my head. I must have been thirsty.

I had just sold a bunch of my good tools so I was faced with doing the modification with a cheap drill press, a hack saw, a file and some steel wool.

I completely eyeballed the whole job and finished pretty quickly. I was so pleased with the result that I went and built the other one too.

The stem shifters had that nice old partially corroded chrome look with the spots of corrosion on them. Added character.

 

Cheers!