CNY James

my wife is breaking my balls about my bikes in the house, i have one in the dining room and one in the living room. We Have a big house but no garage so those are the easiest/safest places for my bikes. I have a shed but between my lawn tracter, push mower, and snowblower, there isnt room for so much as a bike tire, much less 2 bikes.

what alternatives have you used/seen for storing outside that are acceptable? my back yard is fully fenced with no neighbors close by so I'm not as worried about theft as I am about damage from weather & other annoyances from being outside.

wahoonc

Build a garage for the bikes? Buy another ready to go shed for the bikes? Divorce?

I have all my "good" bikes stored in a shipping container that is in my back yard, the not so good bikes and the ones headed for the scrap yard are down in the small barn...then again my "back yard" is about 40 acres.

As a general rule storing bikes outside will lead to rust, even if they are covered due to condensation and moisture coming up from the ground.

Aaron

CNY James

ugh, the dining room is safe AND dry.


her bike has been in the shed since we moved here 2.5 years ago, i noticed last year it was already getting some pitting and rust on some parts and that's a dry storage area with a floor...

cyclist2000

hang them on the wall, its called pop art

CNY James

found this Rubbermaid Slide-Lid Storage Shed, the product description includes the term "bike storage" so maybe it's worth a look. anybody have any experience with this or similar products?





1300lb capacity with lockable doors (with padlock, etc) Home-Depot has it for $350, seems like the best price I can find...

RonH

Do you have space in the laundry room or other utility type room? I now keep mine in the laundry room. That's better than where they were -- in the shed next to the lawnmower.

bike holder..jpg

bkaapcke

Look into a "Tuff Shed". They have sizes that are large enough for bikes and a small bike work area in them. bk

mystolenbikes

I'd tell her to shut it.
My fiance was complaining about the same thing and I told her that my bike is not going outside end of discussion. She moves what ever she wants where ever she want and I don't say a ting but when I brought my bike in the house she tried pull that bikes don't belongs to inside crap with me lets just say it didn't go well for her, and now my bike stays inside with mud and all.

wahoonc

Due mainly to condensation because the storage area doesn't have HVAC on it. Not much to be done about it, I have the same problem here in the deep South.

Aaron

Retro Grouch 

The trick is ventillation. It doesn't have to be heated or cooled, but you have to have air flow to vent the moisture out.

tsl

As I recall, both DG and Beverly use those--or something like them. If they don't chime in here, send them a PM.

Here's how I store two of my bikes inside. A third rack is presently on order for the opposite wall. The fourth bike will get locked to the radiator.

Show it to your wife as either a suggestion or "Well, it could be worse".

You know, you could do something similar outside under an awning of some sort. These particular racks have a loop to lock the bikes.

wahoonc

Down here even that isn't enough, it goes from low 40's to low 80's with no apparent change in humidity some days. Those days the steel on the bikes can't warm up fast enough to stop the condensation. It doesn't really bother me too much, most of my bikes are of decent enough quality to have heavily chromed parts or in many cases alloy or stainless steel. Riding them and keeping them well lubricated doesn't hurt either.

Aaron

crackerdog

If you have room to build a shed, build it with lots of insulation and then just put a 40 watt old style lightbulb in there. It will keep it warm enough to not rust and will cost very, very little to keep warm and your bikes can read when you are not there.

Slee_Stack

Currently, two reside in the living room and two in the dining area.

But half of them are hers!

A garage has been a slow time in the making.

CNY James

I have room for a shed, in theory but I already have a big shed on my property... one side is lawn equipment & the other is firewood & snowblower (snowblower comes out, lawn tractor goes in during winter months) having another shed or shed addition isnt really an option I want to explore, for the money I can get the rubbermaid thing & another bike and not have to give up more real estate in the process. Still holding onto hope that we will build a garage sometime in the next 5 years.

dscheidt

Why in the world do you store firewood in a shed? A covered, elevated wood pile works just fine.

CNY James

because by storing it in the shed it is both covered and elevated and doesnt look like **** in my yard?

DX-MAN

The ONLY reason my bike is in the garage and not the house is because there are too many of us in the house -- extended family, multiple kids. There's just physically NO ROOM; heck, the dining room has become another bedroom! The day WILL come, though, when I have the house to myself again, and the bike will 'come home'.

Freewheeling Sp

I have 2 of these Rubbermaid sheds. They hold about 3 bikes and some parts. Unfortunately, there has been leakage and I'm seeing rust on my bikes.

One suggestion I recently received was to try dessicant packs in there to soak up the moisture. However, I'm also looking into an extra wide shed... Lifetime has one that's 15" wide and 8" feet deep. That seems like the perfect dimensions to hold 5 or 6 bikes.

martianone

If you have a large house, why not designate a room or area for bike storage. Your house probably has a large basement, put up some hooks or make a bike section. Seems like you have the space resource - just use what you have more effectively.

Guppeh

Perhaps installing a solar-powered ventilation fan or turbine ventilator might do the trick?

CNY James

she would be fine with them in the basement, she just doenst want them in the general living space. I don't mind keeping them in the basement but it's a pain in the ass to bring them up and down the stairs every day to ride. It can be done, but narrow area in front of the basement door & baby gates make it toughish. Odds are, if it comes to that, I'll leave one bike down there and one upstairs and either rotate or just never ride the downstairs bike. We'll probably get the rubbermaid thing with the sliding top eventually...

aceswild

This YardStash product looks like it will work for you. Much cheaper than the rubbermaid shed. www.yardstash.com

slorollin

Anything outside is going to allow your bikes to rust. Even aluminum will corrode. If you want to keep them nice, they have to stay indoors. A garage qualifies as indoors. Those Rubbermade things are better than nothing but still not adequate to fully protect your bikes. It would be an oven in the summer and an icebox in winter.

safariofthemind

Yep. If you can put the shed on a small wood platform with air underneath it helps a lot.