Bike Storage Solutions for small condos/apartments?

[emily_in_nc]

Looking for some words of experience here...how are the floor to ceiling bike storage towers? Which ones work best? Any to avoid? Looking to store four bikes in a small space and still leave room for us to live and get around.

Thanks!

[pumpkinpony]

I was in a condo that had no storage. It did have a walk-in size utility room, so I had the bikes hanging above the washer/dryer. It did make it difficult to get stuff into the washer, constantly bumping into the back tire of one bike but it worked. the only place I had a wall big enough for bikes to fit on a rack like you are talking about would have been behind the couch or behind a bed, neither of which looked real appealing.

[ultraviolet]

I have a Delta Michelangelo Gravity Storage rack that I picked up from REI. (Here's a link: http://www.rei.com/product/751324) I keep my steel commuter/tourer on it as well as my racy road bike. It was easy to assemble and I've had no issues with it at all.

[shootingstar]

We don't have floor to ceiling bike storage towers.

There are caged bike storage lockers for locked, communal shared space. Plus we have storage lockers outside of our condo unit but within the building where we store more bikes. I put 3 of my bikes there locked up. I have to keep my folding bike, folded because personal storage space locker is tight. He has managed to cram all 3 .his bikes in 1 storage locker space, with his folding bike folded. Plus he has a bike trailer-- ah yes, more dumping space for more stuff. He is very neat and organized about this storage space, so that he has enough rm. to maneouvre the bikes in and out.

[Sylvia]

This is not exactly what you are asking about, but I use this Saris bike rack on my car. It also has it's own stand and can be used to store your bikes indoors as well. The larger size will take up to 3 bikes (30 lbs per bike). If you happen to also be in the market for a rack, this might work for you. I love mine because it is so light compared to other hitch mount racks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EG0WeNbOgk

[redrhodie]

I thought about the same thing when I moved from my house into an apartment. I considered hanging the bikes from pulleys from the ceiling. Then, we just put the bikes where they'd fit, 2 in the hall, 1 in the living room, 1 in the bedroom, while we figured it out, and that's where they still are, 3 years later. Now I just think of them as pieces of art. After all, they are the most beautiful things we own.

[Blueberry]

For the Fridays, there is a rack that holds bikes vertically by the front wheel. I can't find it in a quick google search, but I know the local shop can order it. We have this for the other bikes, and it works really well - very stable. The top tube creators for the Fridays are a pain to use, though - so we've been planning to order the other rack for them.

ETA: I think this was the one I was thinking of for the Fridays...

[sgtiger]

We have the Bikes Aloft (Supergo branded: Performance bought them out) storage rack that we purchased when we still lived in an apartment, and still use for our garage now. Each long arm can support up to two bikes with the purchase of extra cradles. Also a 5th bike can be stored on the back with a pair of short arms. FYI the extra arms and cradles are sold individually and not in pairs.

[Triskeliongirl]

My kids live in a small aparment in Cambridge. It does have a back hall where they found room to install two hooks that hang from the ceiling just inside the door that they can hang their bikes on, and still have room to climb the stairs up to their apartment.

I think it really depends on the layout of your space. In our house, we keep our bikes in the utility room inside the back door opposite the washer drayer. I have thought that if we really needed the floor space for something else, we could hang some hooks on the wall in that area, to get the bikes off the ground.

[gnat23]

+1 to the Michelangelo Gravity rack. No holes in the walls or ceiling, no damage to the apartment at all!



-- gnat!