£4 Map reader

[mmcnay]

I love a map in front of me as I cycle into the unknown. I balked at the price of the ones on the net, so made my own from an A4 clipboard. It's a clear plastic one so the rain won't attack it. Holes need to be drilled so that a boot lace can be threaded under the handlebars and the headset. Notice the bits of tape - I use them to tuck in where it touches the handlebars to stop it rattling.

You can see the holes and the lace in the third photo. The lace goes down and round the handlebars then up through the other hole just south of the ones they are hanging from. Then back along the clipboard in a kind of V shape and down through the holes near the bottom, where they are then tied under the stem and round the headset. I've found this method to be great at holding the clipboard steady for a whole day on the bike.
My maps are downloaded PDFs from Cycle Travel that I make into little books using plastic pockets. If you put the printed sheets into the pockets upside down they are rain proof. On a really wet day it's a good idea to put them right way up into one pocket, and then feed that pocket into another pocket. I use elastic bands to hold the maps in place as well as the clipboard. A nice thick one just up from the bottom keeps it firmly in place.
Anyway, thought I would share this and I hope that someone finds it useful.
Mark

[iandriver]

An old audax classic is a Poundland kitchen chopping board chopped to required dimensions. Dead handy for a pastie too....

Route sheet goes in a clear plastic bag.

[softlips]

How quaint.

Seriously, I remember going to a meeting and someone asking what route everyone had taken to get there. Almost all of us had no idea what road we’d driven on, we’d just followed the satnav.

I cycle a lot in London now and have bought a Brompton for this. I use an app named CycleMaps for navigation and it’s great. Keeps me off major routes and on cycle ways where possible - I’ve learned so much about London (and Edinburgh) using it.

[Brucey]

I've often thought that a really useful gizmo for paper maps would be a 'cassette' that had the maps (for that day) taped together on a roll between two spools. A bit like how the numbers and route on buses used to be displayed. All that would be needed is a box about 8" square with a clear top, deep enough for the spool diameter used. I'm imagining the spool diameter could be about 1/2" or so, with side handles to advance or retard the route. The maps could be taped together so that the route was always 'upwards' in the view or however you like.

cheers

[softlips]

I've often thought that a really useful gizmo for paper maps would be a 'cassette' that had the maps (for that day) taped together on a roll between two spools. A bit like how the numbers and route on buses used to be displayed. All that would be needed is a box about 8" square with a clear top, deep enough for the spool diameter used. I'm imagining the spool diameter could be about 1/2" or so, with side handles to advance or retard the route. The maps could be taped together so that the route was always 'upwards' in the view or however you like.

cheers

The old rally drivers used to do just this.

[Brucey]

IIRC SOP in rallying was to use 'tulip diagrams' or similar. These days one could print out the route the whole way much as mmcnay suggests, but strung together in whatever way was desired.

cheers

[andrew_s]

I've often thought that a really useful gizmo for paper maps would be a 'cassette' that had the maps (for that day) taped together on a roll between two spools.

Such things were available to buy at one point. IIRC, the spools had a double layer of film, which you'd put your map or route sheet between before rolling onto one of the spools.

I used to use an Ortlieb A5 document pouch with road atlas pages folded into quarters, and a bit of card for stiffening, attached to my STI "washing lines" with bulldog clips, with the other end just resting on the stem.

[iandriver]

I've often thought that a really useful gizmo for paper maps would be a 'cassette' that had the maps (for that day) taped together on a roll between two spools. A bit like how the numbers and route on buses used to be displayed. All that would be needed is a box about 8" square with a clear top, deep enough for the spool diameter used. I'm imagining the spool diameter could be about 1/2" or so, with side handles to advance or retard the route. The maps could be taped together so that the route was always 'upwards' in the view or however you like.

cheers

The rolling road books of the Paris Dakar do that. http://www.brake-magazine.com/how-to-re ... road-book/ Expect its not cheap. I've had the same thought myself. Even experimented with a kindle just pushing a button to page. Not so hot in practice though.

[LollyKat]

Back in the 1950s we once drove from our home near Inverness to visit my aunt in Plymouth. My father was a member of the AA and they provided a route on a rolling paper map. I remember as a small child being fascinated by it. I don't know if he had to pay extra for it of if it was just part of the service. My mother tended to get car sick looking down at a map on her lap but could easily glance at the rolling map mounted on the dashboard.

[whoof]

I made a similar one for holding Audax route sheets. Mine's a bit smaller, and made from an old piece of clear Perspex that I cut down on a band-saw. I mount it further forward to stop knee banging and hold it on to the bar/stem with cable ties. I laminate the route sheets and hold them in place with a couple of bulldog clips.
A couple of thing to note as the Perspex and laminated sheets are fairly slippery I've had to glue a piece of old inner tube onto the bulldog clip to make sure it doesn't move. Secondly during my last Audax cracks appears around the holes I'd drilled for the cable-tie. These eventually joined up and the front section fell off.
I may try again with a different material or put the sheet in my back pocket and follow the GPS I bought a few weeks ago.

[iandriver]

I may try again with a different material or put the sheet in my back pocket and follow the GPS I bought a few weeks ago.

The kitchen chopping boards are generally a super tough nylon. About as indistructable as you'll find.

[mmcnay]

I like the idea of using a chopping board. There's one in our kitchen that's coming to the end of its hygeinic life, so will comandeer it and see if I can knock something together with it. Perhaps cut to take a folded Landranger map. The outdoor ones are waterproof, so wouldn't need plastic pockets.

[Barks]

I've often thought that a really useful gizmo for paper maps would be a 'cassette' that had the maps (for that day) taped together on a roll between two spools. A bit like how the numbers and route on buses used to be displayed. All that would be needed is a box about 8" square with a clear top, deep enough for the spool diameter used. I'm imagining the spool diameter could be about 1/2" or so, with side handles to advance or retard the route. The maps could be taped together so that the route was always 'upwards' in the view or however you like.

cheers

The old rally drivers used to do just this.

So did the RAFs fast jets before electronic HUDs came in

[JakobW]

My high-tech map holder is a Poundland chopping board held on with removable cable ties, to which I bulldog clip a cheap map case. It is occasionally a bit floppy, especially if I'm using a book of maps, so I may at some point have to spring for the £4 upgrade...