10 Best Bike Storage Tips and Tricks

Owning a bike when you are renting an apartment can be a wonderful thing! First off, biking is one of the cheapest modes of transportation you can get. This can be a huge boon to your budget as you are saving a ton of money on a vehicle, gas, insurance, and repairs! Especially in more urban areas where jobs, food, entertainment, and most other necessities are within fairly close proximity to each other, having a car, paying for insurance, gas, and parking can be a completely unnecessary expense. Many times, having a good bike can be the way to go. Not only is owning a bike low-cost compared to a vehicle, it is 100% eco-friendly! Not only are you helping out the environment every time you get your bike out, you are helping your own body. If you live within a few miles of the majority of the destinations you need to go, you have the best of all worlds, low-cost, eco-friendly, and great for the body. Storing your bike can be a challenge though. What do you do if you have an apartment on a high floor of your building? Most apartments are quite small, where can you store it? If you are going to keep it outside your apartment walls, how are you going to keep it from being stolen? If you are looking to get a bike for use at your apartment or wondering what some of the different options are to hang, store, and secure your bike, keep reading. We are going to go through all the places you can store your bike, including some ingenious devices to help you keep your bike functional in your apartment while at the same time, staying out of the way of normal living, all while making sure your bike is safe and protected. Let’s go through some of the best basic options when it comes to storing your bike: Places Inside Your Apartment To Store Your Bike Living in an apartment means that space is precious to renters. Chances are you are not going to have many unused areas in your unit, which means making the most out of the space you do have. Let’s take a look at some of the spaces inside your apartment you can utilize or retool to be a good solution for your bike. Closets Usually, there is going to be at least one closet next to the front door of your apartment. This makes for easy access when you are getting your bike out to go ride, and when you are putting it away. A closet can also make for a handy place to keep anything your bike has picked up on your travels out of the rest of your apartment. Simply moving your heavy coats (if you live in a part of the country where you need such things) out of the way can usually give enough room for you to store your bike. This way, your bike leaves with you the moment you are out of the apartment and is put away right when you come in. If your closet isn’t deep enough for you to put the entire bike inside and close the door, you can simply turn the bike up on its back wheel and store it vertically inside the closet. If you live in a part of the country that gets a lot of rain or snow, you may want to consider putting a mat on the floor inside your closet. This way, you can keep your closet from getting too messy and have an easy way to clean up anything your bike or clothes happen to track in. We recommend something as simple as using these Heavy Duty Rubber Trays (Amazon Link). While primarily used as a shoe mat, this mat has the ability to be dual purpose, used for shoes and also your bike. Grab a 2 pack and place them end to end and give yourself a nice parking spot for your dirty or wet bike after a ride. They are very durable, and best of all, super EASY TO CLEAN. This is a huge plus! Many people simply use their mats until they need to be thrown away and replaced. That leads to stinky rotting mats whether they are inside or out. With this mat, you can easily take it outside, to a self-serve car wash, or even just take it into your bath or shower and rinse it off right in your apartment and it is ready to serve you for another few months! Laundry Room If you are fortunate enough to have a washer and drier inside your apartment, more than likely they are going to be partitioned off into their own separate laundry room. Even if the room is too small for your bike to have a space of its own, it still can serve a great function of keeping the bike out of the way of your normal day to day activities or when you have guests over. Even if you need to take the bike out of your laundry room when you actually need to do your clothes, it can still serve as a space to keep your bike out of the way. And with all storage solutions, that is the ultimate goal. If you have a laundry room in your apartment building but not necessarily in your unit, ask your landlord or manager if it is possible that you store your bike in there to keep it safe and out of the elements. Many times, they will have no problems with this as long as it isn’t impeding other tenants when they are trying to do their laundry. And because large laundry rooms are usually filled with pipes and conduits, there are many times places that are good to chain your bike to. If you can use the laundry room, even if it is a public laundry room, all you will need to keep your bike safe is a good lock. Using something like this simple Spin Lock and Chain might be all that is needed to keep your bike from rolling off without you. The nice thing about this lock and chain set is that it simply fits around your waist when you are not using it, so you don’t have to worry about putting it in your bag or hanging it off your shoulder when you are riding around town or going into a store. If you want something that is more secure than a cable lock, you should take a long look at the Kryptonite Heavy Duty Bicycle U Lock Bike Lock, which is made from hardened Max-performance Steel. It’s easy to use and can secure so much more than your bike if needed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcV767If94E Get the New York Standard U-Lock from Kryptonite (Amazon Link) Regardless of what lock you end up using, we absolutely recommend that you do not cheap out on your lock. Bikes are not cheap and can even range into thousands of dollars. Spending $30-$40 on a good, dependable lock is cheap insurance for ensuring your bike stays where you want it to. Garage Most apartment complexes will have the option of renting a garage with the unit. Sometimes the garage is attached directly to the unit and other times the garage is in a separate location. Either way, if you have the option of a garage, this is an easy option for you to keep your bike safe, secure, and out of the way. You also won’t have to deal with the problem of dragging any dirt or mud in your apartment from outside. A garage also gives you the options of installing a hook or rack system which we will show you below. Behind Your Sofa While this is usually not the most aesthetically pleasing solution, it can serve as a very practical one. Simply move your couch out from the wall a few inches and your bike can slide right behind it and be out of the way. Some people don’t appreciate the look that storing a bike behind furniture gives to the apartment, the bike is always on display and can never be completely “put away”, the end choice is ultimately a personal decision. This simple solution can be exactly what makes it possible for you to keep and store your bike out of the way in your apartment. Balcony or Porch This can be an absolute Godsend for your bike storage problems! Most times, people are not using their balcony or porch on a daily basis. Even if you do, more than likely there is going to be more than enough room to slide your bike to one side, or perhaps if you have a porch on the ground level, store it and lock it up behind your grill or A/C unit. But storing your bike outside comes with its own set of issues. If you are on a balcony, you may not need to chain it up when it is out there depending how far you are away from neighboring balconies. However, if you have a porch on a lower level, you are absolutely going to need to keep it safe. The other problem you are going to run into is keeping your bike protected from the elements. Not only are you going to want to keep your bike’s components protected from the elements so you don’t loose paint or have rusting or degrading components, you are also going to want to keep the saddle dry. A padded saddle drenched in the rain all night can be a recipe for an embarrassing situation with your pants when you get to work or the store. There are a couple of very simple and cost-effective solutions you can get to keep your bike dry, safe, and out of the elements. These are crucial to maintaining your bike’s longevity and keeping the components in good shape. The first solution we recommend is the Pro Bike Cover from Pro Bike Tool (Amazon Link) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbyN-hU_52I This bike cover is extremely durable and will stand up to almost any weather condition. Not only do we love this bike cover, but the outstanding reviews from other customers online absolutely sing the praises of the product and company. Easy to use, extremely durable, and highly recommended at an unbeatable price. This bike cover is an absolute go-to solution!! Good for virtually any bike you have, it can also fit 2-3 bikes depending on how big they are. If it is just you or you and your significant other in the apartment, you are going to have no problem storing both of your bikes in this high-quality cover (Amazon Link) Additionally, on the cover, there is a place to attach the lock of your choice, so if you do have a ground floor apartment with a porch, not only will it be protected from the elements, it will be safe and secure as well. If riding with a partner we recommend the 210D XL Bike Cover (Amazon Link) This bike cover is big enough to store 2 adult-sized bikes. It is rain, sun, UV, dust, and windproof. This is an economical solution to keeping your bike safe and protected. Just as you would take care of your car, you want to protect your other modes of transportation as well. This is a great solution if you need to keep your bike outside or on your balcony or porch. It also has 2 lock holes sewn into the fabric so that you can quickly and easily lock the cover to your anchor of choice. And it is big enough to put 2 bikes into and not only is waterproof, it is lightweight. The third solution we recommend for bike covers is the YardStash III (Amazon Link) from YardStash Solutions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy5RlNHi1aI This solution is perfect to keep your bikes or any other outdoor gear safe and dry. While this is a product that is meant to put outside your porch, it is a perfect size to set up on your balcony as well. YardStash III is easy and quick to set up and while designed to easily store your bike, can also hold your children’s toys, garden equipment, tools, or anything else you want to keep outside, but don’t want to be damaged by the elements. While big enough to put a couple of bikes in easily, it is narrow enough to still fit on your balcony if needed. Check this product out if you want to have a more permanent place to store your bike (Amazon Link) Considerations For What Type Of Bike Rack To Get Maybe you want to store your bike inside though and can’t stand the idea of your bike suffering through all the weather conditions your car does. Some people absolutely love to display their bikes to people who come through their apartments, and it is a piece that they are very proud about. Or maybe you don’t have the option of having a balcony, porch, laundry room or garage, and need some other solution to storing your bike. We are going to go through several different types of racks and stands that can be a great solution to storing your bike, but first, there are several things you need to consider before deciding on which bike stand or rack is going to be the best for your apartment. Space If you are going to get a rack that hangs on your wall, do you have enough space between the floor and the ceiling to make this work? Some of the racks allow you to store the bike so that the wheels of the bike are running parallel to the wall. Others have the wheels sticking out perpendicular to the wall. How much space you have, and where you are going to position the rack in your apartment is going to have major implications of what type of rack you need to get. If you don’t have the ability to anchor the rack into the wall into studs that are study enough to hold several bikes at the same time, maybe you should look at vertical racks that use the bike’s own weight to stabilize the rack. Knowing the difference between the racks, and what space you want to put the bike in is going to determine which one you end up buying for your apartment. And don’t forget about ceiling height. If you end up getting a vertical rack or hooks to hang your bikes on, do you have enough clearance to get the wheels between the rack hooks and the ceiling? The first thing you need to do before just ordering something is knowing exactly where you are going to be putting your bike and what the special dimensions that you have to work with. The Weight Of Your Bike. You are more than likely going to have to find the studs in your wall, and determine if the wall and supports inside the wall are strong enough to hold both the rack and the bike. The last thing you want is to get your rack or hooks set up and have the whole thing break out of weak anchors in the wall. Not only will you have a damaged bike, but you will also have some nasty holes in the wall your landlord will insist you fix. If you have a couple of lightweight road bikes, these are going to put much less weight on your wall and there are specially made drywall anchors (Amazon Link) for these. However, if you have a couple of heavy-duty mountain bikes, you are going to have 4 or 5 times the amount of weight hanging on your wall! For the sake of your security deposit and a whole lot of headaches, you may not want to trust drywall anchors to hold the rack or hooks in place. Knowing how much your bike weighs and what your rack needs to be able to hold is going to play into which one you need to buy. How Much Do You Use Your Bike? For some, their bike is life itself. It is more than just daily transportation that gets them everywhere they need to go. They love and take care of their bike on almost a daily basis and have a close relationship with it. They know their components inside and out and can fix anything on their bikes. Essentially, their bike is an extension of themselves. Others, simply have a bike for recreation or leisure activities and just use it occasionally as the situation warrants. They want to have a bike to use when it is nice outside and want to take a ride with their kids or significant other, but the rest of the time, it just needs to be out of the way. For some, their bike is a decoration. It’s a piece of art. They want to show off their amazing ride to everyone that comes over, and while they do ride it, simply being able to show off the amazing bike in their apartment is what is most important to them. You may fall directly into one of these categories, or you may be a little mixture of both. Wherever you fall, the following guide to Bike Racks and Hangers will help you find the perfect solution that fits your personality and your relationship with your bike. Bike Storage For Inside Your Apartment Floor Stands This is exactly what you are thinking when you think of a bike stand. Those things you parked your bike in when you were riding down to the park or off to school as a kid. These stands simply sit on your floor and usually is consisted of a couple of bars of metal that the wheel of your bike fits between. Your apartment complex may even have a bike rack outside your building. Most bike racks for apartments or condos are designed to hold just one bike, but there are other options that expand on that functionality, holding 2, 3, or even up to 5 or 6 bikes at a time. These floor stands are great for entry hallways or in a garage to keep your bike off the ground or just laying around. And one of the best features of them is that they are super easy to use. Literally just push your front wheel between the bars and you are good to go. It doesn’t get much simpler and easier than that! The 2027 RAD Cycle Foldable Floor Stand accomplishes everything you need to think about when looking for a floor stand and more. First off, the entire thing is foldable. If needed, you can fold this rack up almost instantly and take it with you if you wanted, or throw it in a closet when you don’t need it. Durability and foldability are not two terms that are often used together, but this product is legitimately stable. From the durability to the foldability, to the price, this bike stand is our favorite stand-alone bike stand for a single bike. It’s design also makes it so the frame of the bike doesn’t actually touch the metal of the bike stand, so you never have to worry about scratching the paint off your frame. On the bottom of the stand, there are rubber feet on the stand itself. This allows the bike stand to grip the floor and stay sturdy, but it is going to prevent any dings or scrapes that you would get with a normal metal stand. The next floor stand we recommend is the Reliancer Sports Foldable Bike Storage Stand (Amazon Link) The sturdy, compact nature of this stand is what makes it attractive. With 4 points that hold the wheel in place, it is one of the most stable single-bike stands you can get. You can also fold this bike rack up with the quick pull of a knob on the side of the stand so you can throw it in a closet or trunk of your car with ease. The nice thing about the Reliancer is that you don’t have to lift the bike up to put it on the stand. The front holder tilts when you put the front wheel in, so all you need to do is glide your bike right into place, not run it hard over a bar the tire has to fit over. This makes it also the easiest bike stands to use. If you live with a roommate or significant other, chances are you probably have two bikes you are going to need to store. You are going to need the ability to store more the one bike in the same location. Something like the CASTOOL Two Bike Stand (Amazon Link) below is going to be what you are looking for. Along the same lines as the other bike stands we showed you, this one has a smart, 2-bike system design. Just a couple of pieces during the assembly process allow you to quickly and easily put this great bike stand together in minutes. This steel construction bike stand is the perfect option for storing two bikes together (Amazon Link) Wall Racks Wall Racks or Wall Mounts are designed for those who have limited floor space inside their apartment and want to keep their bikes off the floor. There are many different types of Wall Mounts, which we will go over below. Wall Racks are nice because, with most of them, you can modify how they work to fit your specific bike just the way you want. There are some significant differences in how aggressive the wheels and handlebars are between road bikes, cruisers, and mountain bikes. The ability to modify the racks and hooks makes it possible to store any type of bike on your wall. Additionally, a bike rack can serve as an aesthetic piece in your apartment, similar to art. Bikes can be more than just a functional transportation tool or recreational tool; it can sever the same aesthetic function and talking piece as art in your apartment if you are into biking and like the way your bike looks. Or maybe you just want to fill that empty wall with something cool. Hanging a bike on your wall for all to see can have the dual benefit of being uber-functional while at the same time showing off your taste in design. The most basic design, but often the highest used, type of wall rack is Rack Hooks. The StoutMax Heavy Duty Storage Hooks (Amazon Link) is a great solution. These are heavy-duty steel hooks that come 8 in a package, which is normally good for several bikes. The hooks can be screwed into either your wall or a ceiling. The non-stick graphite finish on the hooks allows you to easily twist them into your wall or ceiling. (Make sure that you have them screwed into a stud behind your wall or a joist in your ceiling. The last thing you want is for your bike to come crashing down as the screws pull out of the drywall. Not only are you going to risk damaging the components on your bike, but you are also going to leave big, torn-out sections of drywall your landlord is not going to appreciate.) Instead of being made of cheap plastic like many you will find at your local box store, these are made from galvanized steel and are engineered for strength and style. They are sharp and professional-looking and are not an eyesore to look at. These are a snap to install and the nice thing is you can put them virtually anyplace you can find a stud to screw in the hook. A simply designed, yet elegant solution to hanging your bike would include the Leonardo Da Vinci Rack Rook Hanger made by Delta Cycle (Amazon Link) This stylish, extremely reasonably priced rack hook hangs your bike not from the frame, but from the tires. This leaves the bike looking like it is essentially just stuck on the wall. The two pieces that the tires clip into are small and non-intrusive and go with virtually every type of interior design you can think of. This is a great product for people in apartments who have limited space! The rubber on the end of the hook protects your frame from scratches, there is no assembly needed at all with this rack, and you can literally get the bike hung on your wall in seconds. This is a great solution for those who want to keep their floor space to themselves, but also need to store and display their bike. The modern design of the hooks allows your wall to look good even if there isn’t a bike hanging on it. The Classic Bike Rack from Steadyrack (Amazon Link) is one of the best products we have seen for a wall mount. This elegant system can hold up to 77 lbs. per rack, making it good for virtually any bike on the market. But not only can it hold quite a bit of weight, but it also can swivel from side to side. If you need space on one side of your rack or the other, simply turn the bike the direction you want it to go and you will have 160 degrees of swivel. This is an awesome, flexible feature not seen with most other wall-mounted racks. But the ingenuity of this product doesn’t stop there. With most racks and hooks, you are going to have to lift your bike up manually every time you want to take the bike off or put it back on again. Steadyrack solved this problem. With their ingenious design, all you have to do is “roll” your bike up the wall until the front wheel gets in the rack. This is awesome for people tired or frustrated with lifting a heavy framed bike up and off of hooks every time they want to ride or put away their bike. That can become tedious and tiresome. Just being able to balance the bike on the back tire and roll it up the wall allows virtually anyone to put the bike away with little trouble. We absolutely love this product!! A less obtrusive design for a wall rack is something more minimal and traditional like the Velo Wall 2D Rack from Feedback Sports (Amazon Link) This is a simple design made specifically to save people space in their apartment. The mounts on the arms where the bike rests can be moved closer to the wall saving even more space. This is the “2D” part of the name. It is as flat to your wall as the handlebars of your particular bike will allow. Just a couple screws into the stud of your choice and the small body of the Velo Wall Rack is up and ready to go. Soft rubber cradles hold the frame of your bike while not scratching the frame or damaging the paint. If you need to save all the space you can and want something that is uber functional and out of the way, the Velo Wall Rack is an excellent choice for the apartment dweller. Standing Racks Standing racks are great for those people who have a bit of extra space in an apartment or bedroom that you can use to put one of these racks. These racks also work well if you don’t want to put holes in your walls or ceiling as hanging racks will require you to do. Most standing racks use gravity and the weight of the bicycle itself for stability, which means that it becomes more stable the more weight that is put on it. This is also why the majority of freestanding racks accommodate two bikes, one over the top of the other. A perfect example of this is the Michelangelo from Delta Cycle (Amazon Link) This is a sleek-looking bike stand that will look great in your apartment or condo with or without a bike on it. You don’t need to do anything to the walls or ceiling of your apartment. Simply follow the instructions, which make putting this stand together amazingly easy, it’s one of those assembly items you can literally accomplish in a couple of minutes. There are also rubber bumpers on the outsides of the rack which protects your walls from scratches, and rubber sleeves so the paint doesn’t get scratched on your bike frame. It can hold up to 80lbs., which is usually more than enough for two full-sized bikes. And the way the stand presents the bikes makes it look like they are hanging in thin air, which is always a great conversation piece and a good chance to talk about your bike. This is a cool, well-designed product that is absolutely perfect for not only storing your bike in your apartment but making it look extremely fashionable at the same time! Another floor stand with a little different design idea in mind is the Duel Touch Indoor Floor-To-Ceiling Stand (Amazon Link) This stand uses a unique idea of extending the stabilizing rod similar to the rod you have in your shower. One end is anchored by weight on the floor while the other end is extendable up to 10 feet high via the quick-release latches built into the stand. Once you extend the post to the ceiling and anchor the bottom end to the floor, you will have a bike rack that is sturdy enough to hold 4 bikes. The mounts themselves can rotate 30 degrees back and forth, giving you the option of adjusting how the bikes actually sit on the frame. An optional add on feature is the handlebar stabilizer you can get from Topeak as well. This stabilizer does a couple of things. First, it keeps your front and back tires straight at all times, which allows you to utilize your space more efficiently. The second thing it does is keep your bikes streamlined front to back for an exceptionally aesthetic look and feel. With the stand going all the way from the floor to the ceiling, it has the benefit of tying the whole room together. This is the perfect stand to set up in the corner of your apartment that you use the lease and let your bikes be on display and out of the way! Ceiling Hooks Ceiling hooks are essentially the same thing as wall hooks. They can work great if you have shorter pieces of furniture or other items that you want to store underneath your bike. Ceiling hooks are also a good solution for those who are forced by the weather or necessity to store their bikes for long periods of time. They can stay out of the way in an underutilized room or fit perfectly at the front of your garage. The advantages to ceiling hooks are their price and design. You can use the same hooks we talked about early in the article for your ceiling. Just make sure you are anchoring the screw properly in a joist or beam to avoid damage to your bike or the injury of a person. While some hooks can make the taking off and putting on heavier bikes more difficult, once they are on, they are on for good and out of the way until you need to use it again. No matter how much you use your bike, or how much you want to display it, there is a storage solution for you. Everyone has a different layout of their apartment, different needs, and different preferences. There isn’t a single option that will work for everyone. It depends on how many bikes you have and want to store, how prominently you want your bike shown, and how much you use it. All of these characteristics will factor into what type of mount you should get. But even if you don’t want to spend the money for a mount there are other options you can utilize as well. Consider storing your bike outside on your balcony or porch. The bike covers we showed you above in the article can be the perfect solution to freeing up space inside your apartment while keeping your bike safe from theft and the elements of nature. If you want to be super-economical, you can always rearrange your apartment to accommodate your bike. Simply putting it behind your couch in your laundry room, or perhaps reutilizing a closet can be the perfect balance between cost and functionality. No matter what you end up choosing, know that owning an apartment can be a perfect place to store your bike and that no matter what your situation, there is a bike storage solution that’s right for you. Recommended for You: The Difference Between a Flat and an Apartment How To Be A Great Tenant And Boost Your Personal Value What Constitutes a Guest In An Apartment?