How to Store Your Bike Properly in Your Residence
Whether you live in a caravan or a mansion, you’ll still have to use what space you’ve got effectively. Your bike storage needs to be convenient, secure and weatherproof. It also needs to be relatively innocuous. Your spouse or landlord may take exception to scraping their shins on pedals or mopping oily drips off the carpet.
In a one-room flat
Studio flats are often much smaller than the estate agent’s patter suggests, but some are truly tiny, if you’re renting it may be forbidden to start drilling holes in the walls, while fire regulations generally prevent you from using the corridor outside. You’ll struggle to store more than a couple of conventional bikes in your room, however you do it.
Bike choice: Folding bike. The Brompton can be rolled under desks or into tight corners thanks to its little casters. If you want to be riding further afield, the Birdy packs down well.
How to store: Folders can go under the desk, at the end of the bed, in the wardrobe, by the door… Keep grime at bay by sitting them on strips of old carpet or cardboard. Two conventional solo bikes can be stored, without any drilling, using a stand or tower. Access: Getting the bike outside or in again will be a grind, especially if you have to negotiate self-closing doors. If you have to climb stairs, it’s easiest with a light bike carried cyclo-cross style on one shoulder. Keeping the bike clean will minimize grime on your hands/clothes.
Security: A bike stored behind a locked door will be covered by most household contents insurance policies (subject to the insurer’s maximum bike pay-out which can be as low as Ã?£300). If you’re not allowed to drill holes, lock the bike through the frame to something that won’t easily go out of the door – such as the bed frame.
In a house
It’s tempting simply to leave bikes in the hall, just inside the front door. While this is great for bike access, it can be awkward to get past the bikes if you’re going out without one. This can be frustrating even for the cyclist, let alone anyone else.
Going up: Hallways often contain dead space above head height and this can be used for bike storage. All you need is a pulley-system, which you can either buy ready-made or create yourself using a couple of pulleys screwed into the ceiling (note that you’ll need one double pulley as well as a single pulley, a couple of lengths of rope and a cleat in the wall to tie off the ropes). As well as using dead space, a hoist frees up space underneath in which you may be able to store another bike. You can also use two wall mounted hooks to store one bike above another in a hallway. It may seem odd to hook a bike just above floor level, but it won’t move or fall over then, it’ll keep the floor cleaner, and you may gain an anchor point for a lock. The spare room: Any spare room can readily be used as a bike store, giving you as much room indoors – with heat as well as light – as a single garage. Obviously, ground floor rooms are best. However, a cellar makes a pretty good bike store/workshop. Use any combination of pulleys, wall hooks, free standing supports, etc. Even a small room such as an under-stair cupboard will probably fit a couple of bikes.
Security: Your bike should be fairly safe, as well as covered by your insurance, when it’s in the house. But since you’ll have a bike lock, you may as well use it. Fit a dedicated wall anchor or get a large ring-ended expander bolt from a hardware store. Do take your D-lock with you to the shop to make sure it fits through the ring.
Note: Don’t fit carpet in any room used to store bikes. Linoleum or tiles are much easier to clean.
