New garage build - storage ideas
 

I’m building a new garage and I’d like to incorporate bike storage from the get go. It would be great to have something to lock bikes to that is in place when the concrete is poured so it could never be moved.

A design that allows one bike to be stacked above another like you see in apartment storage solutions would probably be ideal.

Has anyone seen or done something like this?

https://www.insight-security.com/con...or%20available.

Generously plan width and length for all bikes, tools, benches, cars, stands..... then add 5 feet to each side.

How about the Steadyrack's? They allows you store them vertically where they can pivot side to side and reduce the space needed and access to each bike individually and you dont have to lift them. You position them above your floor 1/2 or more. Mine sit about 3/4" off. I have six bikes in my garage this way.


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...107fd07c6b.jpg

this is a great option. I could have just 2-3 of these with long chains to attach to multiple bikes at once.

I’ll try to find one in North America that will ship to me in Canada

I hadn’t seen this before but that’s an excellent space saving option, if expensive. I’d still want a way to secure the bikes to the floor via a chain but I really like this.

haha very true. We’re a bit strapped for space width wise and will end up with about a 1.5 car garage but extra long.

I'd love to have a garage with a door that's accessible from the front, so I don't have to raise the big garage door every time I want to go in and out with a bike. And a place to store my bike right there rather than having to wheel it past all the **** to the back of the garage. In other words, a garage where bikes are first class citizens.

When I built a shed a few years ago and poured a concrete pad for it, I put a couple of large eye-bolts in the concrete. I also used nuts and large washers to make it almost impossible to pull them out. I run a cable through the bikes and lock it to the eyebolt.

I think this will be part of what I end up doing. I’ll come back and post a picture in a few months once it’s all set up

Or you just buy a hardened eyebolt and add a plate to set in the concrete.

https://protoolwarehouse.com/3-4-wil...e-bolt-eb-28t/

Im assuming your build site has already been determined, but my first thought was "Do you want to build in a place where you feel compelled to chain your bikes up WHILE they are in a locked garage?"

As someone who has built his own home as well, i would think about the future - some of the wall mount systems like were shown above can be un done and taken to the next house, --- or - horror of horrors, you might streamline down to 1 or 2 bikes later on and not need a heavy duty floor mount retention system

Or --- in my case, i built my "forever home" about 10 years ago and am already sick of certain aspects of it (mostly where i live and rising value of land around me --- not sick of the house itself) -- but am seriously contemplating cashing it out in a few years and downsizing ---- the next owner might not want protrusions in the garage floor when then they just want to put a workbench and park cars (there is a part of me that also says "that will be their problem then" )

Just providing a counterpoint and something to ponder, even if only for a moment.

HAd a friend who was a bachelor say once that he was not putting a dishwasher in his new home, he wanted more cabinet space. I pointed out to him that he may not be single forever, --and that his next wife or the next owner of the house would probably want that ------ this was a bad example though, because his house was full of design flaws --- he had an elaborate walk in shower with multiple jets planned but no room for a tub -- and again the "But i never use a tub" response

The first statement that I highlighted mirrors my own thought: why would you have to lock the bikes when they are inside the garage? If your garage will have windows, choose some that are very secure, or skip them entirely...Choose a solid steel door with an ANSI grade 1 lockset. And make sure your garage door setup is solid.

Regarding the second statement: it'll be tougher to sell a house which lacks a dishwasher and bathtub, obviously. When my wife and I do renovations on a house (we've owned a couple now), we always (ALWAYS) think in terms of both our own preferences and generic market trends.

We live in a city with a drug problem (Peterborough, ON) so there’s plenty of petty crime, but I’d be taking steps to lock up my bikes inside the garage no matter what city we lived in.

With all the problems I inherited in this house, I will definitely not be concerned with a potential buyer not wanting a piece of steel in the floor haha.

If I were designing a garage with bicycle storage in mind, I'd be thinking vertically. How much unused overhead space are you going to have?

If building a garage, why not instead of try to figure out the storage in the area most likely for theft with the rollup door (and necessitating the chains) design a little room with a deadbolt door for valuables? I would imagine a 6' x 8' space with the bikes on the rack on the one wall, center walking space, then a little tool chest with table top on opposite side with a pegboard on the wall.

Then all your nice tools are also stored.

Then you can hang the bikes in there and not deal with a chain or cable every time you go ride.

Just a thought. If they have time to drill out a deadbolt on a door, they'd have time to use your own power in the garage to use a grinder on the cable or the chain.

As much as theft probably makes you feel terribly violated, that is what insurance is for. Just make certain you have adequate coverage.

Storage itself is a different beast. If you make more room you'll likely just use it all up.

No, I don't have anything useful to add. Sorry, cold and drizzly today. Stuck inside.

Planning to have the bikes not visible from the street when the garage door is open would be good if there is a theft problem.

If you hang from the wall, you can always put eyebolts in the studs or in the runner wood like I used for my setup. Then if you want to secure them, you still can and not have to worry about putting something in your floor. That way if you need that floor space for something else down the road, tiedown points will not be in the way.

Have you considered visiting a few new, and old school, or indie shops and what their solutions are?

If you don't have more than two or four bikes, you might want to hang them flat on the wall, if the wall is large enough. That saves space depth. There was thread last fall where somebody showed quite ingenious home made rack to slot bikes flat on the wall, sloping out... I recall now it was some plywood contraption with a slot in it that pedal crank arm was slotted in, making the bike hang by that one point and there was a strip of wood screwed to the wall that bike tires rested on. Search the forum.

Yea I remember that as well...it was a cool idea.

That’s an interesting concept but I haven’t been able to find that thread. I’m also probably not as handy as this genius and would prefer to buy something ready made.

we could go as high as we wanted, but it’s no fun reaching over your head every time you want a bike. Plus my wife is only 5’2”. We’ll use the upper part of the garage more for canoes, I think.

Consider making the garage overall bigger than planned, add in two wide man doors at opposite ends. Tall ceilings are a must.