Bike Storage Ideas

Bikes can be a pain to store. They’re large and cumbersome, sometimes heavy. It can be tricky to find a perfect solution, if there is one. But in this article we will touch on what we would say are the most common ways to store them, as well as their pros and cons.

Floor racks:

Floor racks are quick and easy to set up, as they do not require any drilling into walls or measuring. Just load your bikes into them and that's all. This is a great, low effort solution. However, it takes up quite a bit of usable space and is really only a good solution for those not on a space constraint. For folks trying to store their bikes in an apartment this would not be our recommendation. These are sold in all shapes and sizes, usually in 3-5 bike capacities. They aren’t the most stable solutions unfortunately as only one wheel is supported.

Free Standing Racks:

Similar to floor mounted racks, free standing racks can take up a decent amount of space and may not be well suited for tight apartment storage. However these can be a great alternative to floor mounted racks if you only need to store a couple bikes. Most free standing racks have a 2 bike capacity and hang the bikes from the toptube of the bike’s frame. These are pretty easy to set up as well, usually only needing assembly of the rack itself. No fabrication is required. Free standing racks are more stable than floor mounted racks, however they do not compare in bike capacity and are lacking in that department.

Wall Mounted Racks:

Wall mounted racks come in a couple different styles, most commonly the bikes will either be hanging horizontally or vertically. Let's dive into the details of both.

Horizontal:

Horizontal wall mounted racks are probably the more common of the two styles. These are commonly sold at home improvement stores and are pretty affordable as well. They are designed to be drilled into the wall either being placed specifically where a wall stud is located, or can be hung with some robust drywall anchors as well. This style hangs bikes horizontally by the top tube of the bike frame and is usually supported by two arms. While these racks are affordable, they do have to be spaced fairly far apart to ensure each bike has enough space to hang properly.

Vertical:

Of the two wall mounted solutions, this is usually our pick of the two. This style mounts to the wall very similarly to the horizontal racks, however the benefit to the bikes hanging vertically is that you can alternate the position of the bikes whether they face front or back to in most circumstances get quite a few more bikes on one wall in comparison to the horizontal racks. This style hangs the bikes either with a hook on the tire, or more elaborate racks strap the bike in place.  These racks can be set at a height where no lifting about waist height is required, and bikes can often be roller right up onto the racks. The downside to these is unless you are going with a pretty basic hook solution, this style of rack is going to run you a bit more than the horizontal options. But if you have a lot of bikes these can be a great solution.

These are the most common bike storage options we see on the market. As previously stated, not one is a perfect solution. Depending on your space constraints and living solution one is bound to work better than another. We hope this has been a helpful start on your journey to bike storage euphoria.