Classic & Vintage - How Do You Store Your Bicycles?

Winter is approaching here in Pennsylvania, and I'm finding that I have 6-7 more bikes than I did last winter, and the additions are ones I actually care about keeping nice. I can fit them all in the shed (barely), which will keep them out of the elements, but there is no temperature control.

Not only am I interested in learning how best to store them, but I am interested in learning how others organize their bicycles. I don't have much space, and I don't have piles of money laying around, but I can still dream.

What have you found that works? Photos might be useful tools here.

No snide remarks from you guys who live where people would be wearing parkas when it gets down to 50 please. :p

I store my bikes in an unheated garage with fresh oil on
the chain, a spray of WD-40 on the chrome and derailers.
Next year I'll add hanging them to get the tires off the
ground.

When I get them out next spring they get a bath and new oil
on the chain along with WD-40 for the derailers.

Works for me.

No snide remarks from you guys who live where people would be wearing parkas when it gets down to 50 please. :p

Hey -- I resemble that remark... :p

Hey -- I resemble that remark... :p

I was thinking of you specifically when I made it. :rolleyes:

I'm trying to come up with both practical tips - like tightwad's - and a long-term strategy for storing the 6-10 bicycles I imagine myself having for years to come. There are also some specific questions I have that I was hoping would get answered.

What is best tire inflation for prolonged storage?

Is it better to keep the tires off the ground?

What do people do to reduce the amount of floorspace their bicycles take up?

How does otherguy store his hundreds of bicycles?

If I can beg, borrow or steal a couple more useful ideas, I think I can save money and headaches through the coming years.

What do people do to reduce the amount of floorspace their bicycles take up?

Hang em from the ceiling.Start in garage,then fill basement,then go to work on living space. Attic, and crawl spaces are tough to get em in and out of.

Winter is approaching here in Pennsylvania, and I'm finding that I have 6-7 more bikes than I did last winter, and the additions are ones I actually care about keeping nice. I can fit them all in the shed (barely), which will keep them out of the elements, but there is no temperature control.

Not only am I interested in learning how best to store them, but I am interested in learning how others organize their bicycles. I don't have much space, and I don't have piles of money laying around, but I can still dream.

What have you found that works? Photos might be useful tools here.

No snide remarks from you guys who live where people would be wearing parkas when it gets down to 50 please. :p

Some observations. . .

I have noticed Bicycles stored for decades in a "dry" Basement to survive well(no rust). The Basement is underground therefore the tempetature is constant.

I have also noticed the tires dry-rotting and the bearing grease drying to a paste.

Maybe a light oil would be better than grease if the Bicycle is to be stored for a long time? The grease drying has ocurred with White and Brown colored greases; although the exact type of grease is unknown.

Stuck Stems, Seatposts and Bottom Brackets are a problem. I am currently using Never Seize on all my Stems, Seatposts and Bottom Brackets; any thoughts?

Hang them from a ceiling beam on those big, vinyl-covered bike hooks. Alternate between handlebars up and handlebars down, and you save some space between the bikes. Make sure they are clean when you put them away, and clean and lube and all that when you take them out for the spring.

Alternately, you can take the wheels off and hang them separately from the frames. Kind of a pain, though.

I truly appreciate your suggestions. Please keep 'em coming.

Sorry if I'm sounding dense here, but it occurs to me that there are several possible ways to hang bicycles. Is one way any better than the others? Hang by single wheel? (this would seem to be potentially unstable) Hang by two wheels? Hang by top bar of frame? (Sorry to be gender non-neutral, but I only have mens' models)

I'm still hoping that someone with a slick arrangement will post pictures.

<cockamamy theory>Put `em anywhere heated and populated with beings that can love them like the amazing creatures that they are. Living room, family room, hallway to the rear porch, upstairs bathroom, kids' closet, guest room (who visits but the in-laws anyway?). When you run outta room, hook `em on the wall over the plasma screen so you can peer at their mechanical loveliness while watching American Chopper.

And when the house is full up, then and only then should they be stored in the garage. Such a lonely place out there, amongst the greezy wrenches and clapped out `87 Toyota Corolla....</cockamamy theory>

What have you found that works? Photos might be useful tools here.

A full photo gallery of how we suspend 3 tandems and four 1/2 bikes from the garage ceiling are here:
http://home.att.net/~mark.livingood/garage.html

I've also used the free-standing racks that press against the ceiling for support for in-door storage when I lived in an apartment many moons ago.

Sorry if I'm sounding dense here, but it occurs to me that there are several possible ways to hang bicycles. Is one way any better than the others? Hang by single wheel? (this would seem to be potentially unstable) Hang by two wheels? Both work.

I hang each bike unsidedown in the garage, with a rafter-mounted vinyl-coated bicycle hook on each wheel.

My bicycles are stored like Velogirl suggests. They hang by a wheel, from vinyl vovered bicycle hooks in joists of the basement ceiling. I alternate hanging by the front and rear wheels make more efficient use of space.

Some people do not like hanging from the front wheel as they feel this causes stress on the headset, While this is true, the stress has not been great enough to cause any problems with the headsets. Also, I have yet to have a front wheel disengage from the fork, causing the bicycle to fall to the floor. Potential for this problem is eliminated by hanging from the rear wheel, if it has horizontal dropouts, but if you use handlebars which are wider than the typical 16" (45cm) joist spacing, then you cannot hang one bicycle per joist.

If my bike couldn't tolerate 20 or 30 pounds of stress on the headset, I think I'd be afraid to ride it.

I'm trying to visualize what would happen to the ones hung by the rear wheels. Would you strap the front rim to the downtube to prevent the wheel from flopping over and causing havoc with the neighboring bicycles?

I hang them by hooking the front of the saddle over a pipe. The pipe hangs about 1' below the ceiling in my shed.
They hang with the front down about 20 degrees. I put them on alternating left & right, and then they pack in really tight, about 9" of pipe per bike. You can still get any one down without disturbing its neighbours.
I've got another pipe parallel with spare wheels hanging on S hooks. People seem to give me old wheels rather than dump them. Some are wonderful vintage racing wheels, deserving preservation.

Make sure the pipe is hung on strong chain up over roof beams........ 'cos the weight adds up.

Bobthe....

I just put it in my living room when im not riding it or its not on the trainer.

I have an unheated shed attached to my garage where I store 7 bicycles, 4 directly on the (wooden decking) floor, the other 3 by their top tubes via 2 vinyl covered brackets apiece. Where I live in Colorado it often gets below 0 degrees (Fahrenheit) and I haven't yet (in 8 years) had any problems with tires or anything else. I also use synthetic grease as it does not harden over time.

You can also screw a rubber bike hook up high into a wall stud, then hook the bike's rear or front wheel over the hook so the bike "stands out" from the wall. Per the attached picture, notice the red hook at the top holding the back wheel.

I'm not looking to close down the thread, but the forum's been so slow today, I figured I'd post my thanks to everyone who has contributed to my ongoing education, and turn the light bulb back on at the same time.

Thanksgiving isn't until Thursday, and here we all are in a tryptophan-like coma. ;) It isn't like this is the over-50 board. :D

All the boards will be over-50 for me soon enough... :cry:

If my bike couldn't tolerate 20 or 30 pounds of stress on the headset, I think I'd be afraid to ride it.

I agree with you. However, the dissenters argue that a headset is designed for for loading along the axis of the steering column, not 72-73 off this axis (i.e. horizontal). In truth, the bearings are loaded at a diagonal to the steering axis (not sure what angle) so there is both horizontal and vertical loading. Also, the horizontal loading of the headset during braking would exceed any you get from hanging by the front wheel.

However, if you want you want to be purist in terms of tire and bearing preservation, I guess the best solution is to hang the bicycle by the top tube, or stem and saddle.

...and remove the headset bearings and seal them in a jar of grease. :D

My favorite bke is on my trainer in the basement with my winter project. My winter bike is in the hall waiting for me. The other 4 are in the kids club house sprayed down with w-40 leaning against each other keepin worm.

Hanging them from the wheels with the big rubber coated hooks work great... unless you have hydraulic brakes... you get airlocks which are no fun... so i sleep with my bikes... i ride mine every day, so i dont have to worry about the tires getting ****ed up.

After reading this thread, I hung 6 of my bikes this afternoon in two rows of three in my small garage using the vinyl covered bike hooks from cross bars I constructed between two of the joists. I took the supposed stress on the headsets seriously, though I don't think that I believe it, and hung them all by the back wheels, alternating the direction of the seats left-right to keep the handle bars apart. This worked just as good as alternating the front wheel up and down, which others suggested and which I also first tried. It prevented furthermore the two front suspensions from having stress on them, for whatever it is worth. My full suspension bike, which I use for my long distant trips, I put in my basement where I can work it up for my next trip. (I think that I may have been the last rider on the rails to trails from Minneapolis to Madison, a week ago--amidst heavy frost, the sound of rifle fire and, in Minnesota, many farm dogs whose bark was worse than their bite--until the spring. Which might cause me to ask what people wear on their feet when it goes below freezing: it took hours to warm my feet in the mornings.)

Will it hurt bikes in any way to leave them in an unheated garage just parked on the cement floor? The bikes are still out of the sunlight, rain and other elements. This is what I'm doing with my bikes that have kickstands.

Here's how to store bikes, cogs, and chainrings:

I don't like WD-40 on things I want to keep nice. On chrome I guess it may be ok, but on many metals you can see it expedite rust. I used to know a kid who swore by it on his guns....within a year they were all pitted with rust flecks. One reason I was told was this, "The water gets into the WD40 as the aerosol propellant expands the cooling causes water in the air to condense. If you are going to use it, spray it on a rag and let stay a few minutes to allow the moisture to evaporate before using."

Who knows LOL.

I don't like WD-40 on things I want to keep nice. On chrome I guess it may be ok, but on many metals you can see it expedite rust. I used to know a kid who swore by it on his guns....within a year they were all pitted with rust flecks. One reason I was told was this, "The water gets into the WD40 as the aerosol propellant expands the cooling causes water in the air to condense. If you are going to use it, spray it on a rag and let stay a few minutes to allow the moisture to evaporate before using."

Who knows LOL.

RE: WD-40
I've used WD-40 for years on my guns and bikes, and have never ever seen it expedite rust. Turn into a gummy mess if left for a long time - yes. But no rust problems. Sprayed onto surface rust, it is an excellent lubricant for steel or brass wool without harming blueing or chrome.

In all the years I hunted ducks, it was standard procedure to hose down the trusty old double after it got wet in the rain and fog, followed by a real cleaning a few days later when I got home from the trip. That was way back in the 70's-80's. Still have the gun - no rust. Used properly, WD-40 is effective and inexpensive.

RE: Storing bikes:
Depends on the bike. Three are parked in the living room, one hangs on the wall in my office, five are on hooks in the garage, and the transient rest of the mob are stored standing or leaning against each other in the garage, awaiting their final disposition.

I have a 1000 sq ft shop out back. My bikes are parked in it - not stored. They get ridden too often to ever be in storage. :)

wow.. this is the defenition of a forum kick ;) (2004>2006)
I store my bike in the garage which ain't a very nice place (wet, cold, etc). I just don't have enough rooms..

And you guys also forget another important factor. 'The goverment' doens't allow storing my bikes in the house! ;)

RE: WD-40
I've used WD-40 for years on my guns and bikes, and have never ever seen it expedite rust. Turn into a gummy mess if left for a long time - yes. But no rust problems. Sprayed onto surface rust, it is an excellent lubricant for steel or brass wool without harming blueing or chrome.

In all the years I hunted ducks, it was standard procedure to hose down the trusty old double after it got wet in the rain and fog, followed by a real cleaning a few days later when I got home from the trip. That was way back in the 70's-80's. Still have the gun - no rust. Used properly, WD-40 is effective and inexpensive.

When I was in school for Conservation Law Enforcement at Unity, the rule was keep the WD-40 away from the guns LOL. In addition to the rusting we saw there were rumors that it removed bluing...I can back up that the only rust I was the cause of was on my cheap 12guage single...I used WD-40 as a kid (this is back in '85-ish). Only thing I can put together is that maybe the poor quality of the bluing from the get go was the reason WD caused (or maybe allowed?) rust?

RJ

Dont' have much space. I usually just put them in a dry area of the garage that is out of the way. I clean them up, soften the tires a bit and put a cover on them. I've found that the biggest rust factor is a combo of dust and moisture. If you can minimize both it helps a lot, I've found. This is specially for old steel bikes that are often too heavy to hang up (heavy Schwinn ballooners, middleweights and large English roadsters).

When I was in school for Conservation Law Enforcement at Unity, the rule was keep the WD-40 away from the guns LOL. In addition to the rusting we saw there were rumors that it removed bluing...I can back up that the only rust I was the cause of was on my cheap 12guage single...I used WD-40 as a kid (this is back in '85-ish). Only thing I can put together is that maybe the poor quality of the bluing from the get go was the reason WD caused (or maybe allowed?) rust?RJ

ConLaw at Unity, eh?
Larry Farnsworth taught you the wrong reason to avoid WD-40 on firearms. In fact, even trace amounts left in the chamber area can penetrate and deaden a primer. Bad on a hunt, VERY bad for those of us who use these tools daily.
Good stuff for losening bolts and polishing, though.
To get back on topic, I hang 'em up from the rafters of the barn by the top tube, and then throw a couple of plastic garbage bags over them. No special prep.
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