I'm trying to figure out a way to store my two bikes in my dorm room and take up the least amount of space in the process, anyone have any reccomendations (I'm not leaving them outside because of constant theft issues)? My friend hung his last year and ended up with a warped wheel...

I don't see how hanging a bike would warp a wheel. I'm
guessing he had a rack or something that had a hook on it
and the wheel hung from that?

As to the dorm question, I'd get a standing rack that
will hold 2 bikes. they are not terribly expensive and work
well, you lose wall space but little else.

Marty

how the hell did the wheel warp? does his bike weigh 50lbs? my bike is hung from a hook on the front tire and it sits like that all winter. take the pedals and bars off an stuff it under your bed. we had two bikes just stood up on the rear tire on the back of a bunk which seemed to keep them out of the way

I know it isnt still the best solution, but many dorms offer bike rooms for residents to lock their bikes. I am a student at Ohio State and to access the room you needed to get a key from the front desk. I didnt have a bike while I was in the dorm, so I didnt use it. If you are really limited on space it might be something to look into.

luckily i have had two HUGE dorm rooms the past two years so i could keep both bikes in my room without a problem. i think your best bet would be the rack that people are suggesting. i probably need to get one for this year though. another thing you could look into to optimize space is lofting your bed in your dorm. they let us do that at my school. you could then push dressers and your desk under there to get crap out of the way or just park your bikes under the bed. you might be able to devise something that would hold your bike on the lofted bed too on the end. getting some hooks or something that hold onto the frame.

Pinky, usually if you ask someone there are rooms in the basement that only "special" people have keys for. I stored my bike in one such room, and got myself a key. you might want to try that.

thanks for the replies folks, i think I'm gonna steal a lofted bed and figure some way to hold them vertically at one end, sounds like the wheel-warpage wasnt due to hanging the bike

well, back in college i had a tiny room so there was no wall space at all so the rack would not have worked.

i attached 2 hooks to the ceiling directly over my bed and hung both wheels... it worked out great as my bike was locked in my room.

i guess the only 3 problems:
1) you have to get the hooks securely in the ceiling. we had plaster and it worked out ok
2) patching the holes when you move out --- as a dorm resident you should learn all kinds of tricks with toothpaste or plaster or whatever - so should be no problem
3) sometimes people were freaked out sitting/lying on the bed with a bike hanging directly over the bed... but no big deal and it didn't reduce the few number of women who did hang out on my dorm bed...

there should be absolutely no reason a bike hanging from hooks should be damaged - unless it falls or something. you can even hang it by one wheel, but then it hangs down further and takes up more "room" space.

I have a drop ceiling, how tall are those racks and do they have to be bolted into the celing or are they freestanding (again drop ceiling...tiles wont hold weight)


Chado

Here's what I did at the University of Arizona (8 years ago).

Lift your bed up on cinder blocks. That will give you about two feet underneith your bed. Take off the front wheel and store it under your bed. If you put it on an old towell you can slide the bike under the bed without damage or too much trouble.

My dorm has a bike room, but they racks are something you could probably set up yourself in your room. Ours are steel, but a couple of six foot 2*4's with rubber coated hanging hooks (hardware stores have them) should do fine. Set them up vertically (a little bit more lumber) about a foot apart with one hook 6-12" higher than other. Hang the bike on the high hook by the front wheel and the other by the rear. Takes up no more than 6 sq ft. Just be careful of spokes when pulling one out.

Of course, I don't see how a dorm could not have some sort of miscellaneous storage room you could arrange to lock your bike in.

Or be creative. The guy who designed our racks got a patent for them!

Man i had the worse time putting my bike in the storage room over here (University of Waterloo). People would just PILE the bikes EVERYWHERE on top of each other. Each bike was literally on top of each other and pedals were stuck in the bike wheels, bending the spokes...handlebars were bent, frames were bent, tires were torn off. It was crazy lol. If you put your bike there at the beginning of winter, u won't be able to get it out again. But if u were the last one, u would just toss it on top of each other. Ah...

Chad,

There is a freestanding model also,
the one above is spring loaded so would interfere with
drop ceiling.
This is the freestanding model, I have a similiar
one and it is very stable.

Marty

When I was in college and staying in the dorms, our room came with bunkable beds. As a result at least one bed had high posts. Luckily our beds were flippable. You could flip them either way and put the taller part of the post facing down to give you more ground clearance. It was enough clearance to lean the bike in against the wall without removing anything. Even with the "short post" there was more than enough clearance to hang my MTB sideways under my bed. I just took a U-luck and strategically looped it around some of the springs. Then to store my bike, I would just slide it in there and suspend it by the seat-tube. The front end was nicely supported by the end of the handlebar. I didn't have to remove wheels or anything.

Another trick we learned was to cram a bookshelf against a corner wall, strategically place the desk a bedlength's away and put the bedposts on the bookshelf and desk. With the tall-posts of bunkbeds down this created a very high bed and a lot of room underneath. Although I had heard that some people's beds fell down, I think it was rare if "constructed" properly. Some people also used brackets and straps into the walls to keep things from shifting. The only issue is that if you sat up abruptly and had a long torso, you might bang your head on the ceiling. Climbing into and out of bed also required a high stepstool or coming up the desk. And keep those sheets tucked tight so you don't roll over and drop six feet onto the hard dormroom floor (ours was concrete with a light high-traffic carpet cover).