Storage rack for three bikes? Help!

[inchpincher]

My brother has too many bikes and a baby on the way so to help free up some space in their london shoebox flat i said i'd fabricate up a rack which i feel would fill the dead space above their staircase and would be accesible from the landing. The bikes are all racers so fairly thin and light and i figure if you put them 'top to tail' (so the handlebars alternate sides) the depth required would be around 700mm from the wall.
Ive done a crude drawing (), is this the right approach, thick wall tube with a bottom support bracket to mirror the upper bend, notches cut and filled with some sheet then some soft foam stuck on the arms to protect paint?

Open to all suggestions and designs!

Many thanks,

ben

 

[cumbriasteve]

I would be looking at a totally different method, assuming I could fix into a joist I would be looking at hooks on a pulley system from the ceiling.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BICYCLE-C...K_SportGoods_CyclAcces_RL&hash=item1c1be030d2

 

[Rudi McAnichal]

This wheel hanger projects only 470mm from the wall, which is just enough for three bikes with handlebars turned through 90 degrees for long term storage. Made of steel tube 19mm OD, 1.6mm wall thickness (bends were already there, cut from frame of ancient sun lounger).

Plates where my rack is screwed to the wall are only 100mm wide. Horizontal forces on the ends of your 700mm racks could easily tear the fixings out of the wall unless the screw plates were much wider.

Probably better to weld your pair of hooks together into a one-piece rack, braced at corners so that the whole thing does not distort in the horizontal plane. This will minimise risk of tearing out the fixings, and also let you locate fixings to suit the wall construction.

 

[inchpincher]

Thanks guys.

Steve - I personally like the hoists, it's how my bike is hung in my workshop but I don't think it'll work in the space plus physically it can be a bit of a three handed job getting the bike on the hooks let alone doing it from the stairs with two other bikes above!

Rudi - thanks for the picture, similar idea but I would like to support the bikes by their top tube rather than the rims. Nice idea for making the two arms into one, I will have a redraw. Agree that anchoring to the wall will need to be substantial but the bikes are literally a few kilos and it's the outer brick wall of the house so I think with enough plugs and screws it'll be fine.

Ta muchly,

 

[Welderpaul]

The bigger the fixing plate, the better; like said; reduces the load on the fixings.

I'd be using a 200 x 200 x 10mm thick plate with a bit of 60.3 chs welded to it. Functional and ugly. Like me.

 

[Angusdog]

I picked up a friend's bike and it was like an optical illusion - looked like a bike but weighed next to nothing. Apparently too light for the Tour de France!

Anyway, it would seem to be a bit of a pain to remove two bikes to get to the one closest to the wall. What about three identical brackets from which the handlebar stem can hang? So the bikes are vertical and you can grab any one? We have those ones which hold the front wheel of the bike and the bike hangs against the wall, but it should be alright to hang from the stem.

 

[breezer]

Ben - you may get away with just one hook if you hang them by the saddle (in front of the seat post) the bike should not be far off balanced there.

Maybe with a wider piece of box (would also negate having to make the cutouts)

Jim

 

[breezer]

the front wheels would point down slightly - but you could arrange it so they pointed downstairs, meaning you wouldn't bump your head on it.

 

[breezer]

Here's a picture of mine hanging by the saddle from the garage door (couldn't get to any of the rafters I'd planned to use - but you should get the idea.

Easy to hook & unhook.

Jim

 

[welshpug]

not really in the spirit of making stuff with the welder, but I'd just stick a pair of hooks into a joist (or if there isn't one in the right place another piece of 2x2 or 3x3) in the ceiling.

that's how my brother's and my bikes are stored above our staircase, top and tail so they take less space.

 

[inchpincher]

cheers guys.

Paul - i'm like you, the thicker the better! Although scanning the workshop i only have 6mm plate and 42ish chs which i thought was a fair candidate, agree about large fixing plates.

Angusdog - i don't think the rotation of bikes will be too much of a problem, one is super carbon jobby only used once a week for long tours, the second is a custom built fixie (by ricky feather, great up and coming frame builder and a cool blogspot that's worth a look http://feathercycles.blogspot.com/which is again for special occasions and the other is his daily hack fixie.

The thing i like about having a 'rack' as opposed to a vertical hook job on the far wall is in the limited space to swing the bike around, he can just slide it on. There is a flat above so the chance of three joists perfectly spaced for ceiling hooks is a bit slim but i'll give it the tappy tappy test!

Jimbo- thanks for the flick mate, asked him but he doesn't want it hanging from the saddle which is fair enough, apparently that's how they store them at the tracks but with the front wheel grounded.

The other thing i need to think about is some clever velcro strapping to hold the frames in the notches?

 

[Justme]

I would go with the 3 big hooks into a beam.

Cheap & simple plus less mess if it has to come down when they move.

 

[FranV8]

I spent a lot of time thinking how we could stash 5 bikes in our garage without taking up loads of room on the floor/constantly being tangled/falling over etc.

I made the following brackets from wood, sized to fit each particular bike and mounted to suit frame top tube angle. Basically each bike has its rear wheel overlapping the front wheel of the next. You can still get each bike in/out independently.

Wood means it marks the frames less. Wife covets her road bike so much I have to leave a towel over the arms holding hers...

 

[Delgado]

I had a similar thing in my garage but they were hinged so that they folded back against the wall when not in use.

It used the same principle as THIS, but wasn't as flash. Obviously this isn't ideal for what you want, multiple bikes on the same hanger etc.. Although, I would have thought that you could knock up 2 seperate, hinged, hooked arms, paint them white and get a nice tidy job.

 

[inchpincher]

Progress - had to hire a tube bender due to issues with my mine, formed the shape in two symmetrical pieces so the welded joins wouldnt be under load, lots of measuring and spirit levelling!

Result was pretty close, only minor tweaking, a few kinks due to the 90deg bend but it's not the end of the world, it's more functional than aesthetic. The metal bandsaw came in useful for clean perpendicular cuts.

The brackets are 6mm plate which i plasma cut using a template, i want them sunk into the tube so scribed a 6mm line on the rear facing tubes and cut carefully with an angle grinder so the brackets will sit flush and giving a better contact area to fillet weld.

Welding them on tomorrow, then prime and paint, that baby better wait.

 

[breezer]

Good work mate ;-)

 

[inchpincher]

Cheers pal, ive been procrastinating so it's a bit of a rush finish

Finished the cut out in the tube, welded the brackets on, noticed it began to pull the 6mm plate up so had to go clamp crazy on the rest. Half stripped the scale for painting...

 

[inchpincher]

Painted and fitted. I had a little swing from it and the 16 bolts hold it well, he's got space back now for the baby's cot. What an uncle

 

[breezer]

All you need to do now is nail the 'pound out of the ear' trick and you're sorted Ben!

 

[inchpincher]

I'll also teach him to ride scooters and get his first tattoo, lol