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We want to do a ride through our city to show the presence of cycling and want that people do not only see bikes, but also a message.

We thought of using some posters that we mount on our bikes, but we are not sure how to do this. We thought about glueing the posters on card board and maybe even reinforcing the card board with wood. We are thinking about A3 sized posters, or even larger. If there was somebody with experience on how to build posters so one can mount them easily on a bicycle, tips would be appreciated.

Other tips on how to convey a message as a group on bicycles would also be nice!

I wanted to keep the problem pretty open, so it can be of use to other people facing a similar problem, but since they have been requested:

Specifics are as follows: We want to make a bike ride in suits to show that cycling is possible in any attire, and I opted in to find a solution how to make posters so people see our message and do not just wonder about a group of cyclists in suits. We might need a big poster in front and in the back, and the individual cyclist should also be able to mount a message on their bikes easily (want to make around 5 smaller posters). There should be some trailers available.

It would be nice if the posters are reuseable, maybe even for different purposes, but the ride I want to use them for will only last around 2 to 3 hours.

Budget is pretty tight, I would guess around 50 $.

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  • This question is just shy of asking for a list of tips, something Stack Exchange sites don't allow. This could easily turn into a discussion thread without some care, but narrowing doen the question will help enormously. Paul, what's the message you're posting? Your budget? Do you have trailers available, or is purchasing/building them yourself an option?
    – Goodbye Stack Exchange
    Jul 9, 2012 at 14:16
  • I wanted to keep the problem pretty open, so it can be of use to other people facing a similar problem, but I added specifics now.
    – Paul Weber
    Jul 10, 2012 at 7:15

4 Answers 4

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The most practical approach we found for larger posters was trailers. Like this They're somewhat inclined to fall over in the wind so you have to be a little cautious, but the group who were using them lent them out to a range of people without any problems (other than getting the trailers back afterwards). You can attach the same A frames to a loadbike if you have one.

Up to about A3 you can strap to your back, ideally to a backpack, or to the sides of a rear rack. I've either laminated posters or printed on coreflute, then stapled them to a wooden frame and cable tied them to the bike. The problem is that you have to print large for people to be able to read it, and that means "BIKES GOOD" rather than a paragraph. The graphic below I stole from a guy in Sydney because it's IMO good - simple, easy to grasp and direct. You could leave the "critical mass" off if you wanted to, obviously.

more {bike symbol} lanes

If you want to attach slogans to cyclists it's easier to do it on a T shirt. Critical Mass have a huge range of advocacy shirt designs and places like the Chicago Flyer Exchange have a range of artwork ready for you to use. People will generally pay you for the shirts, so you can use them to fundraise a little as well (cost of a printed shirt is usually a lot less than people expect, so just rounding up to the nearest convenient price usually results in a cheap shirt and a small surplus).

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  • Thanks for the helpful Ideas! I think t-shirts will not be an option for this ride, since we are gonna be riding in suits, but we might be able to adapt this for other rides.
    – Paul Weber
    Jul 5, 2012 at 7:22
  • It's easy to attach a flyer or business card holder to your bike(s) and fill those when you're leaving it parked in public. If you do have a sign attached that's one way to allow people to get more info (as well as a URL and 2D barcode because while not every cyclist carries a smartphone many of them do).
    – Kohi
    Jul 9, 2012 at 3:27
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I would think the best would be to attach to a rear rack. The posters could stick up above the top of the rack, occupying maybe 3 vertical feet. Width would be limited by heel clearance issues -- probably about 18 inches.

You could also put small posters on the front wheel, mounted to a front rack.

And there can be a poster in the triangle between the tubes. This would be easiest to mount -- just secure with nylon cable ties around the tubes.

Depending on the durability desired, foam-core posterboard would be a good starting point. From there I'd go to "Masonite" (tempered hardboard) if you can find it, for more durability.

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  • I find it easier to tape two posters together at the top, drop them over the top tube then tape them to the down tube and seat tube. But that will lift paint if you use tape strong enough to be useful. But it's IME not a very visible location if there's someone on the bike.
    – Kohi
    Jul 10, 2012 at 0:58
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I have seen quite a few bikes with a piece of plastic in the front triangle attached with wire or zip-ties. It was a thicker kind of plastic, kind of like they make binders out of. I couldn't find a picture of one so I MSPainted what it might look like: enter image description here

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  • But your legs would conceal the message quite oftenn :-(
    – Eyal
    Jul 9, 2012 at 6:52
  • @Eyal : In some cases (no mine) they may draw the observes eye to the message.. If the bike has a rear carrier - in the triangle behind the rider also works well.
    – mattnz
    Jul 9, 2012 at 8:11
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You can have your message printed on either a) a tarp like material, put eyelets on the edges and use cable ties to attach it to your frame b) a plastic laminate billboard with a hollow core like this http://www.pp-sheet.com/PP-Billboard-c65.html

Another idea would be to carry a flag on a pole attached to the bike.

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  • Nice idea with the flag, did not think about this obvious solution.
    – Paul Weber
    Jul 10, 2012 at 7:11

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