eric044

Hi,

I am planning to relocate to the referenced area for work. I probably will not be able to afford a place with a garage. It seems that some, if not all, complexes, will not list bicycle parking as an amenity. What should I expect?

MikeyMK

They're never secure anyway. From external cages to internal communal storage rooms, they just get broken into and rinsed.

I have to carry a 90 lb e-bike up three floors of stairs to my apartment, but not for five minutes would I leave it downstairs.

FBinNY 

Expect to keep your bike in your apartment where it'll be safe.

TenSpeedV2

I have 5 bikes in my apartment currently, soon to be 4. There is no way that any of them would sit outside for any amount of time. You may want to try to get something light enough to carry if you are going to be taking the stairs a lot. There is no way I would be carrying a 90lb e-bike up and down 3 flights of stairs. No. Way.

eric044

May want a case with a case with a zipper to lock in any dirt.

Mark Stone

I agree with the others - Keep your bike in your apartment by the front door.

Skipjacks

Get a rack. Hang it on the wall in your apartment to get the bike up off the floor, keep the bike inside.

Nothing wrong with keeping a bike on the floor. It just uses up floor space. A nice wall rack keeps it out of the way. It you have a hallway in the apartment it's perfect. That's an area where you don't put stuff anyway.

Leaving it outside or in the stairwell or anyplace outside your own locked door is a mistake.

wingless

My close friend lives in a beautiful condo where ~60 really bikes are always in racks in the locked parking garage. They also have a live compressed air hose nearby and handy. They never have a problem.

Like others, my bike is always kept safe indoors.

wphamilton

Four bikes inside my apartment, three of them lining the hallway by the front door. I have another two outside on the patio. If we had a bike parking amenity I'm not sure that I'd use it, because it's so convenient to just roll out the door and go. I don't see it as something to be concerned about.

I put some rugged carpet throw rugs underneath them, no need for zipper covers etc.

Trakhak

Columbia was built as a planned community with houses with many common features, so it might be worth signing up at the NextDoor group for Columbia and asking for recommendations from cyclists who live there.

odiolalluvia

I'd get a wall hanger and hang your bike in your apartment. Be sure to drill into a stud. Even if the internet leads you to believe big enough toggle bolts will allow you to hang your bike from drywall, don't do it. Trust me, they won't. I learned that the hard way.

kodythekolt307

I live in an apartment and I lock my bike to the fence in my backyard. There is a metal part that I wrap one lock around. I place my bike on the fence and with another lock I run it through the tire and through the first lock. Then I take a cable and run that through the first lock before I lock it. I take the saddle out of the post. I stuff a plastic shopping bag down the cavity to try and prevent rain getting in. I keep all my bike bags and saddle in the trunk of my car that way I only have to grab my bike and go. During the winter my bike lives in my mom's garage.

Gresp15C

Among the other ideas mentioned here, I was looking for a way to keep the muck from my bike from damaging the carpet in my office at work during the winter months. I ended up getting a couple of boot trays from Target. They are large plastic trays that are pretty cheap, and have enough capacity to do the job. One for each wheel, arranged so that one of the trays also catches drip from the bottom bracket.

BikeLite

Good thought on the boot trays. Aldi had those on sale for about 5 bucks a few weeks ago.

Chris0516

Eric, Columbia is in Howard County(one county north of me), MD. A lot of the apartment complexes no longer have garages IF, the complex is no taller than three floors. Just has open-covered parking for vehicles.

If the complex has more than three floors, you will only see uncovered parking for vehicles.

Find out from the complex, if you can keep your bike inside the apartment.

I say all that, not only because I live in the region. But also, when I lived in Duluth(Minnesota; 2002-2007), I moved into a fourteen-story building at one point. I asked building management where I could lock up my (road)racing bike. Since they only had an outdoor parking lot behind the building. I told them that was unacceptable. Since my bike, other than my feet n' public transport, was my only way(I can't drive for medical reasons) of getting around. The building management finally buckled. So, I kept my bike in my apartment.

But in the DC-Metro and Baltimore-Metro regions, bikes are only thought of as a commodity. Not a form of transport.

In this region of the US. A bike locked up outside, or in an open parking garage, overnight. Won't be there in the morning. Keep it in the apartment.