DIY bicycle skirt guard!

While watching the Olympics, I've been working out how to make a skirt guard for my bike. I like to ride around in normal clothes including skirts and dresses, and as with many before me, the hem would get caught in the spokes or the brakes or between the tires and fenders. So, I started poking around the internet and there are apparently many versions of these! There was even one on Etsy I really liked, but I didn't want to pay that much for it (I'm sure it's well made and worth it, but still...).

So, after carefully examining the ones online that I liked best (as carefully as you can with tiny pictures anyway), I figured I would try to make one myself. It took some trial and error to get the proportions right, but the end result:

 

Right side: skirt guard has to go above chain

 Left side: skirt guard has to go around lock bracket

Here are the components of the skirt guard (per side):

• Mason line - also know as Seine twine? It's really hard to search Mason line on the internet without coming up with a lot of sites on the Mason-Dixon line, but mason line is readily available at Home Depot and comes in bright colors; the main advantage of this material is that it's supposed to be weather resistant: the brand I got claims to be "rot proof" and to resist oil, gas, and most chemicals; another brand I considered claims to be resistant to mildew, moisture, and dryness
  
• 1 split ring - I know it as a keyring, D gave me the technical name
• 1 Velcro wrap - D's idea, it's perfect!
• 15 micro binder clips - if you're like me and you don't want to drill holes in your fenders, this works, though you might need a lip on your fender so that the clip stays in place
• Super glue - to secure the knots

So I might do a more detailed write-up later, but having gone through this once, I think I could do better next time. Not that I'm unhappy with the result, but perhaps I would want to try different techniques (different knots? crocheted?) and different materials (reflective cord?). For now, it serves its function of protecting my skirt, and I think it looks pretty cute in DIY kind of way.

Orange is a readily available DIY color