The Best Mountain Bike Storage Options for Safe and Secure Storage
Everybody seems to want more bikes, and even though we don’t think we have enough, we always struggle with storage options for the ones we do have. When it comes to mountain bike storage options, you want to avoid the hassle of storage chaos by planning your bike storage in a way that will allow you to quickly, safely and securely store your prized possession.
So let’s discuss some of the best mountain bike storage options available to you.
Wall Hung
Everybody seems to be living in even more confined spaces these days, so storage may be at a premium. If this is your case, hanging your bikes from the wall could be a good option. There are a number of great products that allow you to hang bikes by the top tube or by the wheels. Don’t worry, most of these wall hung solutions won’t damage your bike either.
Hanging your bikes by their wheels is the preferred option if you have multiple bikes as you can alternate them by front wheel / back wheel / front wheel so the bars won’t touch each other. Using the wall hung option, you can literally store 4 or 5 mountain bikes in the space you would normally lean your single bike. If you are concerned about security, you can fasten the wall hung product into the wall with a huge eye-bolt, and then further secure them with a long heavy-duty chain covbered in an old bike tube to avoid scratching the bikes.
Bike Racks
If you’re not comfortable with the wall hung option, you could also try floor based bike racks. Put one of these mountain bike floor racks into your garage so you can slot one of the wheels into each rack. This allows you to store several of your mountain bikes side-by-side and you don’t need to perform and drilling as you would with the wall hung option.
And don’t worry about damaging your tires, they go through a heck load more actually riding the trails.
DIY Bike Rack using the towbar trick
Another option if you’re quite the handyman is to buy a spare tow bar and bolt it to the wall at roughly the height it hangs out the back of your car. Now you have a place to store the bike rack when not transporting your bikes and they will be stored all neat and tidy off the floor. If you have the type of bike rack where bikes hang by the top tube, rather than a platform one, this will double as a workstand as well.
Security considerations
Always remember, thieves will look for the easiest entry points, so if storing your bikes in the garage, make sure all entry points are as secure as possible. Each entry point should have a quality door lock, especially the door to enter the house. This is often the weak point, even though storing bikes in the garage would seem to be the safest option.
If you are forced to store your bikes outdoors, you need to be able to lock one or ideally both of the wheels and the frame. If bikes are locked solely by the wheels, chance of your bike being stolen increase exponentially. You may have passed a solitary tire still locked up, with the rest of the frame gone-a-walking. Professional thieves have the ability and the tools to simply undo wheel bolts, so if you want to be doubly sure, secure it in a rack with a shelter and gates that are lockable. Obviously this is not feasible for home storage, so make sure you have mountain bike insurance just in case a thief does manage to steal your bike.
