At the top of the pile of “best things I found on the Internet” is this: a set of DIY instructions for building a bicycle sidecar for your furry best friend. Courtesy of traverdose on Instructables, the retro-looking pooch-mobile can be yours for only a few sheets of metal and plywood, some nuts and bolts and odds and ends, and the rest of this afternoon and maybe a bit of tomorrow morning depending on how well you know your way around a toolbox.
Traverdose writes that he was inspired by a similar project where another Instructables user had built a sidecar for his children. “I immediately became intrigued and knew I had to build one for myself. There was only one problem: I don’t have a child to ride in my sidecar. I do, however, have a dog named Dewey who would love to go on bike rides to the dog park. So with this solution, I began building my sidecar!”
Since the sidecar only has to accommodate his 15lb pup rather than a considerably heavier small human, he was able to simplify the design and reduce the weight. The sidecar is adjustable and pivots while moving, can be attached and detached without the use of a wrench, and doesn’t require welding to build.
While I won’t go over the 17 steps to build the sidecar in detail – as it would be much more effective for you to simply read the instructions already laid out – it doesn’t look like too intimidating of an undertaking even for those with relatively minimal construction experience. You’ll have to be comfortable with a jigsaw, a hacksaw, and a nail gun, but other than that it’s a very straight-forward (and well-visualized) plan.
So call your boss and tell them something came up and you need the day off, then forward them a picture of this dog in aviator goggles cruising down the street, they’ll understand.
For other great cycling with your dog options, read this.