Bikes, we all have at least one. Yet, bikes are one of the stranger shaped items one can have in their home. They are tricky because they are long like skis. However, they can’t just lean against a wall because of their tenancy to roll away. They pivot endlessly but always seem to take up the same amount of space. Unfortunately nothing looks worse than a house with a bunch of bikes strewn in the front yard, or preventing you from parking in your own garage. While it would seem that we are at peak technology in a lot of other areas, bike storage techniques still leave a lot to be desired however we have compiled a list of a few of the best methods for storing bikes at your home.
Bike Storage Solutions: Clug
My personal favorite, they come in a variety of colors, a number of sizes to match up to your bikes tire size and they can be anchored into drywall. These work really well for interior storage of bikes perfect for apartment dwellers or condo owners who don’t want to gamble their bikes safety on the communal outdoor bike rack. With a minimalist design you might be hard pressed to notice them in the wall if your bike isn’t hanging inside of it. Installation is easy.
The box the Clug arrives in doubles as a template for drilling mounting holes. Simply tape the flattened box to the wall, drill where it says drill, install the drywall anchors, screw in the screws and snap the clug into place. The downside with these seems to be the need to keep your bike’s tire pressure up. Super long term storage of bikes is probably not ideal with the Clug. I can speak from personal experience as one of our lesser utilized bikes lost enough tire pressure over 10 plus months that it fell out of the Clug and damaged one of our blinds. The solution is simple enough, ride your bike, keep the tire pressures up, and pump up the tires every so often on the bikes you don’t ride as much. These can be purchased here.
Hardware Hooks
Otherwise known as ole reliable, this is the cheapest and probably easiest of the bike storage solutions. This storage technique is one that works well if you have a garage or a basement and some unused vertical space. Tire size also plays a large role here as road bikes, multi use bikes and cruisers will all likely fit. However, when you push the dimensions of the tire into plus size territory hooks may not be large enough to accommodate this added tire plushness. Here is how you do it. Pick up 2 utility hooks from your local hardware store for each bike you want to store. They look like this:
Then measure the distance from the center of your front and back tires (The area where the tire would be in contact with the road) and mark it on the exposed wood beams in your garage or basement. Take your trusty drill and a wood drill bit in a diameter slightly smaller than the threads on the hook and drill to a depth the same as the length of the threaded portion of the hook. A piece of painters tape on the drill bit can help you to ensure proper depth. Thread in the hooks into the wood, then hang your bikes upside down and revel in your handy capabilities.
Bike Hand
These are newer to the market at least to my knowledge. They seem like they might very well be the Goldilocks zone of bike storage techniques. Not as invasive or tacky looking as the hardware hook. Yet more robust than the Clug. This added level of robustness comes from the fact that they are larger heavier and mount with three bolts. They may do more damage to an interior wall when removed. This is something to keep in mind, and may relegate their usefulness to the garage. That being said the design works with a wide number of tire sizes. Your bike will likely fit unless you are wandering into fat bike territory.
You can also alternate the orientation of your bikes. Use the Bike Hand hanging them front tire up or back tire up. With the Clug you are limited to the front tire only. John Watson posted a write up of his experience and some tips on his website. This was where I originally found out about the Bike Hand. Should you choose this method, Bike Hand can be purchased from Amazon here.
Hopefully this helps make your quest for bike storage solutions a little bit clearer. Time to get those bikes up off the floor and hanging proudly from your ceiling or wall. You’ll be glad that you did. Contact us for any bike storage or other home related questions.