brockd15 

For the last several months I've been having a hard time finding a place to keep all my bikes. Right now there are 9 (nothing compared to some of you), and they have been splitting time between the garage and the living room. I wanted to hang them from the ceiling in the garage but didn't like the idea of having hooks in a fixed position, so I made this instead.

It allows the bikes to move front to back and side to side so I can make adjustments for wheelbase. I can sqeeze them in close together when just being stored or spread them out to make it easy to get a particular one down.

I need to make more hooks before I can get the other bikes up there, but so far it's much better than before.

stringbreaker

Nice job with readily available materials. I like the rollers so the bikes can be slid together or apart for easier removal

gbalke

That is so cool!!

I'm assuming that you used lengths of conduit to hang the bikes from. How did you attach the garage door wheels to the conduit? Did you insert a threaded plug into the conduit that would accept a bolt?

treebound 

Nice job. Looks like you'v e come up with a home version of the Easy Glider rack system (not sure if I've got the name right). Gives me more ideas for my garage situation.

Please share your build details, thanks.

j0ew00ds

That is totally awesome... Good work!

High Fist Shin

Very clever! Nice job!

Tigerprawn

That's awesome! Makes my small bike rack look like it was stolen out of a park... Which I'm starting to suspect...

chevy42083

VERY nice. I like the roller idea. At first, was thinking "Big deal, why share".... now I'm thinking, "THANKS, I now have a reason to buy more bikes "

brockd15 

I wish I could take credit for the idea, but my inspiration was the VeloGlide, which does the same thing but for a lot more money.

The rails are from a garage door removal that I got for free. They're the ones that go up the wall (as opposed to on the ceiling) and I had to drill out a couple of existing brackets to get them off. They were too far apart and hung the rails lower from the ceiling than I wanted. the goal is to be able to pull in the car and have the bikes hang high enough that there's enough clearance for them over the hood.

I used 3' sections of slotted angle iron to attach the rails to the rafters. They were about $7 each...probably could have done it cheaper but I gave up and just bought them at Lowe's.

The rollers are garage door rollers from ebay, which were $23 for 20 of them. They have a 4" stem that just slides into the bars. No attachement point necessary.

The bars are sections of .5" conduit. I bought 5 pieces of the 10' length for ~$1.75 each and cut them down to 50" each.

The hardest part were the hooks. I couldn't find S hooks big enough to save my life, online or anywhere else. Now that I spent some much time on them, I'm sure someone will tell me where I can get exactly what I need for super cheap. For them I bought a couple 7' pieces of .25" aluminum strap and a couple pieces of PVC to use as a guide. The aluminum was about $7 each piece and the PVC was less than a dollar for both.

I used some flat plastic tubing to go over the hooks. It fits perfectly and cost about $3.

All in all, it wasn't that expensive, it's very versatile, and it's a big improvement.

unworthy1

this deserves a "How-To" video or slide show. The next guy who copies it should document all the steps of fabrication...Bravo!

LRMike

excellent...i may steal this!

clancy98

fixed, so you don't wanna make the OP buy a new garage door lock

Noah Scape

This is pretty brilliant! I love it!

Mike Mills

You have to heft them up there.

I've been using the "block and tackle" type bike hoists and have been VERY happy with them. They are easy to attach and easier to hoist the bike. Lowered almost to the floor, they also make a decent, impromptu bike work stand.

brockd15 

True, you do have to actually lift the bike up there, but that's not a problem for me, especially since you can do one wheel at a time. I know back, neck, etc. problems could make it a pain (no pun intended), but I luckily don't have issues with anything like that.

I considered the bike hoists too, but they didn't accomplish what I was looking for. They were more expensive...not a lot, but still more expensive to get 10 of them (I've got 9 bars on it right now with one more not up there). The bigger issue was being able to compact the bikes into a small space. My rafters are 24" apart and I don't think I could have fit the bikes together as closely with the hoists.

cybertect

Very smart

Now where can I find the space to build a garage to put one in?

Mike Mills

You should close your discussion of the absence of back and neck problems with the word, "yet".

My garage also has 24" rafter spacing. The solution is to mount a board (or metal bar) which spans the bottoms of the rafters, not unlike the L-shaped bracket you have as your base. Hoist spacing is up to you. The hoists are more narrow than the bikes.

Nonetheless, I like your solution, too.

RobbieTunes

You'd think the bikes would get headaches hanging like that...

brockd15 

I made some more hooks last night and how have 8 hanging up there. Earlier I said I now have 9 bikes, but this morning I realized it's actually 11.

I'm not sure how those other two slipped by me.

PDXaero

How do you keep the bikes from colliding when you slide them around next to each other?

clancy98

it happens. bikes appear and disappear in my basement/garage/living room all the time!

brockd15 

They don't move uneless I make them move, so I can give one a little push to move the bar a little at a time and not have it go too far and hit the bike next to it.

I'm not sure that's a good explanation, but they just don't tend to run into each other.

RobbieTunes

Submit it to Popular Science home projects.

smorris 

Or make a modified version of Brock's roller rack with a hoist hanger attached to each one. Then they are easy to lift, and then slide out of the way.

I was thinking that this would be good in my garage. I could lift them in the open area, and then slide them out of where we walk over above the MG. Then I remembered that the garage door has to go up... The front of my garage has three sets of fluorescent lights, my cord reel, and an air hose reel hanging from the ceiling, as well as the swing down attic door. Not enough room to hang the four bikes.

Rabid Koala

I like it. Sort of like an upside down vertical file for bikes.