Who needs on-bike headphones when you've got... a gramophone horn? Behold this custom Airnimal Joey with a musical twist

If you're partial to listening to some tunes while riding your bike, there are now a multitude of options in the form of headphones with technology such as bone-conduction that promise a safer and more convenient alternative to conventional earbuds. What if you want to share those tunes with others, and share them via something a bit more eye-catching? One resourceful cyclist reckons he's come up with the answer, in the form of a rescued gramophone horn retrofitted to a folding bike. 

Ian Ashmeade, from Haddenham in Cambridgeshire, originally just wanted a way for his cycling club to listen to music together on their rides. The Haddenham Laz-E-riders International - the retiree wing of the Haddenham Easyriders International cycling club who Ian describes as "cyclists with a drinking problem, or drinkers with a cycling problem" - certainly have that now, and some impressive home engineering went into making the set-up work. 

Ian explains: "Alex from Witchford Recycling Centre found the gramophone horn. I bought it for £10, and gave him £5 for finding and keeping it for me.

"I had an old Bluetooth speaker which I disassembled and fitted into a wood plug that I turned down to fit into the end of the speaker. I chiselled out grooves to fit the circuit board and the battery.

"When I fitted it onto the horn I drilled out and filed the brass horn so I could switch the speaker on and off and charge it. The speaker could play for over three hours on a charge, I tested that but I could charge it as I cycled from a USB-C plug on the top of my cycle battery if need be.

"I cut up an old belt to make straps to fit my bike. I was not sure where to put it or how, but it felt the best place was the rear on top of the panniers. I thought I might not be able to hear it, but I can very well, and anybody cycling behind me gets the full loudness.

The bike in question is an Airnimal Joey, that Ian bought in 2017. Airnimal specialises in folders, with all bikes still designed and developed in Cambridge today. 

As well as the leopard-print paint job that he did himself, and adding the gramophone horn of course, Ian has made a number of other modifications to the bike. 

"I have changed the wheels, added a Pendix electric crank motor, changed the gears from derailleur to hub, changed the seat, and handlebars from drop to straight", he says.  

"The bike is actually a fold-up and fits inside a suitcase that turns into a trailer. But probably not with all the crap I have added.

"I added the windscreen because I bought it for £5 in an auction. It actually does work, since fitting it my Strava times have gone up!" 

Despite a recent crash in which Ian fractured a rib and his scapula due to a rogue branch that caused both him and wife Sally to fall off, he's still riding during his recovery, presumably with the musical accompaniment:

"She [Sally] hit a branch sticking out which pushed her into me, and we both fell off the path into the road landing on the curb.

"Luckily it was 6:30 at night and hardly any road traffic about. Bloody nuisance."

If you enjoyed this article, be sure to stop by our other Bikes at Bedtime before hitting the hay.