Made Us Look: A Tree House Elevator Made From a Bike
Raise your hand if you wanted a tree house when you were little? Now get ready to rekindle that dream, once you see this awesome hack. It will have you channeling either Elliott from E.T. or Miss Gulch from The Wizard of Oz—either way, you’ll be biking through the sky.
By using the back bike wheel as a gigantic pulley, and balancing the bike with a large counterweight on the other side of the tree house, this “elevator” easily floats up to the top of the tree house with just a little bit of pedal-power from the rider. Once at the top, the counterweight keeps the bike hovering at the top until you’re ready to ride down.
Oh, hello!
To get down from the tree house, hop on the bike and float down. No need to pedal on the way down, the counterweight will keep the rider from falling too quickly, but we might recommend a work glove to grab on to the cable. You can use it as a brake to lower safely to the ground.
The bike stops just before the ground (based on the length of the cable), so it’s easy to just hop off.
When not in use, the bike is anchored with a chain to prevent it from flying back up to the top. (We spy a photo-bombing cat in this pic!)
Ready to see the elevator in action? Check out the video:
Would you ride the bike elevator? Tell us what you think in the comments, or share any other great discoveries in the form below.
