I’ve got myself a custom OS map centred on my house ( I’m near the edge of the actual local one) and I’m now after getting it framed. The thinking behind this is obviously easy route planning but also so that I can mark out the route I’m about to do (with a whiteboard pen/highlighter) so the wife knows roughly where I am in case of a problem. (This occurred quite recently when I fell off and broke my wrist only about 15 minutes into my ride). I’m not after anything fancy, it will go in the rarely-used back room, but I need it to be behind a wipe-clean surface (glass or perspex).

So before I go off to my local picture framer (not cheap) has anybody had this done themselves and can recommend something or someone. Cheap clip frames seem to come in standard sizes, none of them being OS map size.

OS Maps sizes are big – as in wide in both x and y which makes most frames tricky. You could chop your nice new map…
I recycled some old frames I had for some large nautical charts I had done years ago. The framer reset the frame and re-cut the glass.

I managed to fit all but an inch or so in one direction inside the frame and surround.

I have a 1:50k and 1:25k site centred map.

clip frames, chopping your map and cutting the glass to fit might be your cheapest option.

EDIT: PS obviously you need to keep the perimeter of the map on at least one horizontal and vertical edge to be able to read grid refs.

My mate has one by the door which is handy for a quick check of something before you pop out – it’s faded almost to nothing in three or four years though.

Mark your route on a map?

Tsk, why not carry a homing pigeon like the rest of us?

It might also be worth checking out any local auctions for stuff from companies going bust etc – the size you want is similar to those you might get in office receptions etc isn’t it? Or maybe army surplus places?

so the wife knows roughly where I am in case of a problem.

Can I suggest an alternative technological solution?

If you have a smartphone with GPS then there are quite a few apps that can transmit your route + current position to let your wife check up on you as you ride.

Might be a bit more useful than “Well officer, I know he is somewhere on this 30 mile route. Unless he decided to take a detour..”

But a framed map is a nice thing to have anyway 😀

technological solution

and the wife do not go hand in hand

Fair enough.

Perhaps a hybrid? Use your phone to text your grid ref so she can look it up on the paper map 😀

you get an app that can follow phones and when you put the details into the tracker site, it shows position of phone on a map.
it’s dead easy.

Do you need a frame around it? Just some ply for the backing and a perspex sheet screwed to the front using mirror screws does a decent job. Chinagraph on a bit of string to write on it and you are sorted.

If you have a smartphone with GPS then there are quite a few apps that can transmit your route + current position to let your wife check up on you as you ride.

This isn’t much use if you’re really just off to the pub, but want your wife to think you’re exercising….

Graham, colin – yeah I’ve got GPS on my phone, but that doesn’t solve the problem of getting my map framed!

Stoner: is the one of the left South Pennines Explorer (1:25k)? I’m just off that, so mine is 1:50k and includes most of that.

I don’t trust myself with any DIY solutions…

zokes: nail + head!!!

Framers cost me around £70 the last couple of times, but to be honest I think it’s worth it for something to hang on the wall. I had a cut down one in an Ikea mount and it all fell apart within a year.

Yeah, a £70 frame for a map that cost me £16 seems arse about tit, but you’re right it’s the best solution in the long-run.

Depending on how big it is, laminating might be another option.. a local printers may be able to help…

Take a look at Ikea. Lots of cheap frames in some odd sizes.

Have a word with these people.

They may be able to help; possibly printed onto a wipe clean board? Never used them and they may be prohibitively expensive. Worth asking the question though?

i have too a map centered on my house! as a good solution to frame inexpensively…….buy a 70×100 frame from IKEA and chop down your map cutting off those less interesting bits or maybe the key so it fits

it works!

neil

headfirst
Stoner: is the one of the left South Pennines Explorer (1:25k)? I’m just off that, so mine is 1:50k and includes most of that.

No, I reckon it’s the Malverns

Phew! Quite relieved that I am not the only person to have a framed map on the wall. 🙄

Mine is from 1906 and I need a magnifying glass to plot my routes. 😳

it’s faded almost to nothing in three or four years though.

Can you get UV-blocking glass/perspex?

Just rub it down with sun tan lotion?

No, I reckon it’s the Malverns

tiz indeed. You can see the M50 running through from west to east and the hills north to south.

Thats the 1:25k n the left, and 1:50k on the right.

Mine were never printed brilliantly, I think the blue was running out of the printer they used, but I didnt really make a fuss.

Here’s mine:

Close up, maybe:

Anyone recognise the singletrack: