Originally Posted by
rseeker
Cool concept. How did you get the PVC to open up and straddle the stem? Did you soften it with something like a blowtorch? (I'm assuming the whole piece began life as a typical PVC pipe...)
Yep! - Pretty much so! It was a section of 1 1/2 " schedule 40.
I used a hole saw for the curved gap for the handlebars and cut a seam from the edge to the gap. I used a heat gun to soften the PVC then molded it flat one side at a time. It worked, but scorched the PVC a bit due to a lack of me being patient. I was a bit sloppy on my edges. I finished up a crude model and mounted it to see if it was worth doing a nicer job.
I decided it was worth doing a better job so I used my outdoor tank top propane heater for the second version and was able to heat the PVC more gradually and evenly. I also used a flat piece of metal and a flat table top to get the edges more flat and even.