Here's the problem...

My girlfriend is tired of my two bikes being in the kitchen. We live in a small, one story rental house with two dogs and a cat, so there is no extra room. The bikes are kept inside because of the lack of outside storage. So, other than building a shed, the only other place to keep them is in the spare bedroom. But, that room is used to house a free-flight bird, so it would be difficult to bring the bikes in through the door without the bird getting out or the cat getting in. There is not an inch of empty wall space, so hanging bikes is out of the question. And, if they were to be kept outside, it would have to been in a secure structure. Looks like I will be building a shed. Any other ideas?

Is there anywhere you could install bicycle storage hooks in the ceiling, to hang each bike vertically from its rear rim? I used to keep my best bike in a small closet, by removing the quick-release wheels and hanging the frame from the left rear dropout.

So, yer probably gonna miss yer girl friend?!?!? (After she moves out).

Why is the "free flight bird" more important than the bikes? If "free flight" is important, then the free-ist flight is not to be caged by humans. (But I'm sure you've had this conversation hundreds of times, so never mind me.)

Having said that, I would submit that you are probably stuck with constructing a shed for the bikes (constructing a shed for the bird will not, dare I say, fly). While you are building the shed, assuming you are using one of the ready-made versions available at the equivalent of Home Depot, etc., I would place an eye-bolt in a concrete anchor inside the shed so you can chain your goodies up.

sell the sofa

How about a "lean-to". You only need 4' wide and no more than 5" tall. If you just put a small 1/2 roof off an exterior wall and framed it in, you would have ample storage.

How about some kind of pair of dangling hooks connected to pulleys with a cleat on the wall ? Just attach the hooks to the top tube, pull it up to the ceiling and wind the ropes around the cleat on the wall .

Let the cat eat the bird, shoot the cat, girlfriend leaves you
- so now you actually live in a one story multi-roomed bike shed and workshop!


:thumbup:

Sorry to hear about your predicament Steele. I take it your GF is not a cyclist.

We have no extra space in our "spare" bedroom and no garage. So my wife, being the wonderful person that she is, lets me keep my 2 bikes in the living room.

Also have the trainer in the LR during the winter months.

Makes for great conversation when we have company.


When my son moves out (he's 22) I'll rent his room to you.

hmmm...I'm going to go back to the "free flight bird room" idea. I *thought* you were going to say that you couldn't keep your bike in there because the bird would take it apart(I've know some pretty destructive Cockatoos in my time; although if you have an African Grey you could probably teach him to do a complete overhaul ). Bird poop would also be a problem.

Have you considered building or buying an aviary instead?

There are some pre-built cages that are the size of a walk-in closet. I'm not sure if they would be suitable for your pet. The cool thing about the ones I've seen is that they are usually on wheels/casters and can be rolled outside (without having to worry about the cat!) on nice days.

A good friend in HS had several parrots. She built an aviary that took up ~1/2 of her room. If you did this both the bikes AND the bird could live inside.

Thanks for all the ideas. Here is what me and the GF have come up with. We are going to move the bed into the spare (bird) room and I will move my desk and clothes out of that room and into the old bedroom. Then, there will be enough room for the bikes in the old bedroom. The bird is a parakeet, and we and his several deceased friends have shared many a room over the years, going back to my days living in boarding houses, so this should not be a problem. I would love to hang the bikes, but our house has this odd tiled ceiling thing, that just doesn't seem to have studs. I think this house might be made out of cardboard, but I am not sure. This set-up should work out well. If not, I'll be building a shed.

That's a cool one

Not exactly. I moved in to her house. It would be me and the bikes wandering the cold, desolate streets of Iowa.

You could always get a bigger place.

See if the lanlord will go halves on the shed with you. I take it you're not going to take the shed when you move out. Depending on the lanlord, they may even pay for the whole thing, especially if you're a good tenant and they don't want to lose your loyalty. This isn't a common trait of lanlords, but it can happen.

Good luck.

That does reduce your options quite a bit...