How To – Building a Bike Storage Rack

Once you purchase your new bike, the immediate next step and task you will most likely face is storing it.  Over the years I have gone through many different storage options (and also no storage but just leaving the bike in my apartment or storage area) and have found different solutions that may work well.

Early on in my days of owning a mountain bike (actually, two — my bike and my wife’s bike) while living in an apartment I had decided that the bikes stay inside the entry way of the place, so I needed a storage option that allowed me to put the bikes along the wall of the entry way.  So that option was a vertical storage rack — the two bikes being on the wall.

So I experimented and came up with this design:

Do it yourself Wood Frame Storage Rack

Side View of the Rack

So how do you build this rack:  Here is a quick set of instructions:

Materials:  I used 2×2 wood from Home Depot (or Lowe’s or your favorite lumber store); wood screws; varnish to finish once assembled;

Optional: If you plan to be able to disassemble the rack you may want to replace the wood screws with bolts and nuts

Dimension wise — you will need to measure the size of the bikes you plan to store on the rack.  If you notice I have put different letters for the dimensions denoting the distances between the upper and lower rack arms, as well as between the lower arms and the floor or support beams of the rack.  If you own 26″ bikes then the dimensions are slightly smaller than if you plan to store a 29-inch bike.  Similarly dimensions will be different for road bikes vs. mountain bikes.

The other critical item to dimension properly is the angle C (on the images above) that defines the way the rack will lean against the wall.  This is a freestanding rack, so the angle C is important in terms of how it will push the actual rack against the wall and allow for self support.

Best option is for you to measure the sizes of your bikes and plan accordingly.  The rest of the project is just cutting the wood (you could ask the folks in the Home Depot to pre-cut it for you if you have done the dimensioning), then polishing the pieces with sand paper — yes, please do that as there is nothing more annoying then getting a wood splinter in your finger for example when you start using the rack….

Then you need to assemble.

In terms of where this bike rack fits — I have used it in my apartment entry hall, as well as in my garage years ago.  So, yes, it works also on carpet as well as on concrete surfaces.

Good luck and drop me a line if you have questions.

 

One thought on “How To – Building a Bike Storage Rack

  1. Pingback: More Options for Storing Your Bicycles – This Time Using a Commercial Option | Bikes, Biking Resources, Biking Fun

Leave a Reply