Help! Bike storage ideas needed...

[Eric The Viking]

I came back from holiday with three bound volumes of The Woodworker (1935, 6 & 7). I was amused to see two separate sets of plans for bike sheds, but that's not what I need...

... I'm in a 5-bike household, and it's getting me down: they live in the garage, and that's a nuisance, as it's supposed to be a workshop! The roof is low, with a shallow single pitch (and an up-and-over door at the highest point :-( ), and I need to minimise the space they take up, whilst still leaving them reasonably accessible for the family. Right now they're probably wasting about 25% of the floor area, and that's way too much.

Has anyone got or has seen any good ideas/plans for storage systems, preferably something I can make out of wood or steel (can weld a bit)?

Thanks,

E.

PS: I know the hoary old joke about the murdered spouse and the pile of sand - that won't help either!

 

[dedee]

This is what I do with some mine. Any help?

Bikes seem to multiply all on their own in our house. There are 5 of us and at the last count we had 11 bikes !!

Andy

 

[Hudson Carpentry]

Can you not build a bike shed onto the outside?

 

[spg]

The most efficient I have seen was wall mounted bike hangers. Basically hooks screwed into the wall that you hook the wheel round.

By careful selection of the height of the hook then you can overlap the pedals and handlebars so 5 bikes do not take 5 bike widths of the wall.


HTH

 

[Jacob]

Hooks in the ceiling for the front wheels. Closer together than you'd think as they can pack closely, and staggered to and fro a bit so that same size bikes don't clash at same sticking out points

 

[myturn]

Bikes are going to take up room wherever you put them.
Floor and walls are all places much better occupied by tools.
If the ceiling is high enough you can hang the bikes as long as you don't need to work underneath as there will only be 4-5 feet beneath them, fine if you have wheeled machinery or storage units underneath though.

I bought a couple of those steel floor-standing 3-bike-racks from Halfords and they make accessing and parking the bikes easier but they take up a lot more floor-space.

We have 11 bikes between 2 of us and I've had to move 2 of them indoors to make room in the garage. I'm thinking of building a separate shed for the bikes which will also accomodate my ever growing collection of wood.

 

[Eric The Viking]

I've been thinking about racking for a while, but can't see an easy way to do it.

We don't have height (ceiling is less than 6'6"), nor space outside (and it's not safe round here anyway). It's a tiny garden, otherwise I'd have a shed.

Good ideas all, though. Keep 'em coming!

 

[dedee]

How about replacing the bikes for something a little easier to store?

http://www.brompton.co.uk/

I've had one for many years and would higher recommend it


Andy

 

[Jacob]

Hooks in the ceiling for the front wheels. Closer together than you'd think as they can pack closely, and staggered to and fro a bit so that same size bikes don't clash at same sticking out points

Or better still - on the ceiling but 2 parallel rails with butchers hooks (with lagging so they don't scratch the wheels). You'd be able to hang a bike by the front wheel and then slide it up close to the next one, like shirts in a wardrobe. 2 rails means you can stagger them to fit closer. Easy to extract any bike by sliding the others away.
Hmm brilliant good idea I might do it myself (only 4 bikes at the mo).

 

[petermillard]

I've fitted this type of thing for customers:-

Good use of space. There's a five-bike version too.

http://www.bikecare.co.uk/acc/cyclestands.html

HTH Pete

 

[clk230]

should be something here http://www.cyclestore.co.uk/Bike_Storage_Solutions

i use a similar one to the 3rd one along

 

[barkwindjammer]

 

[Blister]

You could use one of these
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.

.
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Only need to store them once :mrgreen:

And loads of extra room :wink:

 

[myturn]

You could use one of these
.

I think you're confusing the type of bike being discussed

 

[Eric The Viking]

There's way too much cheese

 

[Noel]

Was going to mention a tale about a guy who buried his wife in the garden in such a way that he had a place to park his bicycle.........

Anyway, personally would never hang a bike by one of it's wheels (at least for any length of time) unless you want a nice bumpy ride due to an oblong wheel.

 

[myturn]

Anyway, personally would never hang a bike by one of it's wheels (at least for any length of time) unless you want a nice bumpy ride due to an oblong wheel.

A wheel is no more likely to go out of round in suspension (hanging) than it is in compression (standing).

Wheels go out of round because the spokes are not correctly tensioned, or due to impact.

I hang mine from the ceiling, some of them are stored that way for a year as they are only used for specific holidays, and the wheels never need truing up as a result.

 

[Noel]

Anyway, personally would never hang a bike by one of it's wheels (at least for any length of time) unless you want a nice bumpy ride due to an oblong wheel.

A wheel is no more likely to go out of round in suspension (hanging) than it is in compression (standing).

Wheels go out of round because the spokes are not correctly tensioned, or due to impact.

I hang mine from the ceiling, some of them are stored that way for a year as they are only used for specific holidays, and the wheels never need truing up as a result.

I disagree. Erm... a "standing" bike is supported by two rims and two tyres over a relatively large area whereas a hanging bike is supported by a very small area on the inside of one rim. Not good for the headset either. There are also issues with hydraulic components, suspension and headsets when hanging MTBs by a single wheel. Personally I would only every hang a bike by it's frame. Just because you haven't noticed or experienced any problems with your particular bikes does not mean my opinion is incorrect, if indeed opinions can be right or wrong.

 

[Eric The Viking]

There are also issues with hydraulic components, suspension and headsets when hanging MTBs by a single wheel. Personally I would only every hang a bike by it's frame. Just because you haven't noticed or experienced any problems with your particular bikes does not mean my opinion is incorrect, if indeed opinions can be right or wrong.

Ah, well I see your point, but that doesn't apply in this case, happily.

It's the big wheel, the one with the pedals fixed to it, that mainly gets in the way round here.
It's a good job none of us are over 6ft, otherwise there'd be one of those steps at the back ;-)

Seriously, we've not a mountain bike in the house, or garage (I often smile, whilst
overtaking them on Bristol roads).

I like the wall hooks idea, and it ought to be practical to do something like that in wood, I'd hope.

E.
Failing that, out with the MIG set...

 

[Noel]

I meant any bike Eric. Can't comment on the big wheeler.......