PatrickGSR94

For those of us not lucky enough to have a "bike room" or basement or some other secured indoor location for keeping nice bikes, how do you store them when they're out in the garage or wherever else you keep them?

I keep my current bike hanging up on two hooks (made for storing ladders) on the wall of my garage. Front wheel is always off so that handlebars can turn sideways, and sometimes rear wheel is off depending on where I've been or what ride is planned next. But I've never locked it up. And sometimes our garage door is open during the day, if nothing else so we can see if/when people come up the driveway, or just to let more natural light into the kitchen. My bike cost me $200 6 years ago, and so I've just never really cared to lock it up while at home. Plus we've never really had issues in our neighborhood. Kids down the street leave their bikes out in the front yard for DAYS on end and they never move.

But if I'm going to be spending $1K on a brand new bike here pretty soon, I'm going to be a little more paranoid about it, I think. Any ideas for securing the bike while it's in the garage?

I should say that we do park both cars in there, and there is quite a lot of room taken up by storage shelves, tool boxes, air compressor, water heater, work bench, etc. So I'll have to find room to store this next bike, somehow. Oh, and the inside of the garage has finished sheetrock walls and ceiling. No exposed studs here.

Creakyknees

I lock my garage door, which is closed when I am not in it.

krobinson103

Our cheaper bikes just get locked together with cable locks in the garage. If someone wants to steal them they would have to take 4 bikes in one go or cut all the locks. My nice bike gets taken up to the 4th floor of my building and locked to the rail in the stair well. No one goes up there except me and its out of sight. Its also close to my handy tool station so I can carry out repairs/modifications from the comfort of my office/man cave/English school.

curiouskid55

I close the garage door. I hang four bikes wheels up over the hood of my wifes car, Two bikes wheels up over the hood of my van. 6 bikes 1 car 1 van no problem.

prathmann

We keep the garage door closed. If I won't be using the bikes for an extended period I also run a big cable through them and an exercise bench.

MindProbe

I have huge eye bolts run into the wall studs. I cable lock the bikes just to dissuade any one who might get into the building and into my storage room.

WC89

All 3 of my bikes (road, MTB, and hybrid) are in my garage, locked with a u-bolt lock around frame and rear wheel, and a thick cable lock around frame and front wheel to one of the other bikes. I'll lock my bike/bikes the same way if I bring them into the basement.

DaveWC

Exactly what I do. My son forgets to shut the garage sometimes and one winter someone walked into my garage & simply rolled out a bike and popped into their vehicle & drove away. I could see the footprints & tire marks on the driveway. Very frustrating. Locking it to the wall will at least make them work harder to get my bike. Of course in the winter my bike is now indoors.

Myosmith

Locked garage with U-bolts into the concrete floor which I can run a storage cable through.



"I know where you can get one of those trained security dogs for about $1,500."

"If I had a $1,500 security dog, the only thing I'd have worth stealing would be . . . the dog."

John_V 

Since we bought the Transit to transport our bikes and we ride every day, they normally stay locked up in the van with the alarm system on. The fork mounts in the van have a place to allow you to use a padlock and I also run a combination cable lock around the frame and deck ring in the van when we are traveling. If we are home and the bikes are not in the van, they are locked up in the bike shed in the back yard as I have a carport and no garage or basement. I live in a wooded area, away from the city, so there's hardly anyone that comes out here.

If we are traveling and I take the bike into the motel room, along with the cable lock, I use the padlock from the fork mount and lock it around the large chainring and chain. The lock is a tight fit and will tear up the chainring if they tried to cut it off. It will also mess up the front derailleur if they tried to ride it or roll it out. Nothing I can do if they decide to carry it, but it just makes it harder for them to not be noticed.

jdon

As others, I hang the bikes on hooks over the hood of my truck. 3 large eye bolts into rafters each with a cable lock, one for the wheels and one through the frames. This is for six bikes and works well. PITA at times but someone would have to work really hard to get them. I used to think they were safe just keeping the doors closed but a friend had someone cut a panel out of his door and opened it manually from the inside.

nhluhr

I also lost 2 bikes to this sort of thing, minus the footprints in the snow. Somebody left the garage door open, and suddenly I'm out a carbon Dura Ace bike and a Deore flatbar commuter.

When we moved into a different house, we made sure to dedicate space inside for the bikes, behind a locked door.

Seattle Forrest

One bike is in my living room, and one in the bedroom, protected by the watch cat.

AK404

Hah. I was thinking of doing that with my road bike in the off-season. Just clean off everything and store it in my bedroom.

10 Wheels

I keep one or two in the bed room.
Like this.

PatrickGSR94

Would love to keep my new bike in the house, but my wife will have no part of that for sure.

I may look into hanging it above the hood of a car, but then that may get to be a PITA when I have one car in the center of the garage while working on it, and need each side to access each side of the car.

If anyone else has any pics of their storage/security setups I'd love to see them.

leeinmemphis

mine are kept in a spare bedroom we have but once I get the big dummy going I may have to leave it in the garage.

MegaTom

Has she seen the receipt for the bike yet? She might change her tune if she were to know how much of her money you spent on it. Then again, you might have some other problems if she finds out how much money you spent on a bike...

PatrickGSR94

Haven't bought anything yet, but we already have discussed it at length and she knows full well how much it's going to cost of our money (though I'm the one making it).

MegaTom

Ah, newlyweds. Congrats!

StanSeven

Wow, there are some paranoid people posting here. I've got some very expensive bikes in my garage and never think about them. Thief's would have to know how much they cost to pick them over cars or other things in the garage. Plus that's why I have insurance.

longbeachgary

I don't think it matters how much you spend on your bike. It's worth the thirty bucks (EDIT - for a good u-lock - EDIT) to not have the feeling you get when something that was once yours is now someone elses.

Mine are locked in my garage with U-locks and also cable locked to each other.

milkbaby

Mine are indoors where the alarm and ammo are...

Homebrew01

A lot depends on region & neighborhood. I am fortunate where I am now, very low crime, but I would be "paranoid" too in other areas.

DaveWC

Picking up a bike and walking out of your garage is something every kid in the neighborhood can & will do. Stealing a car is a world of difference. They don't need to know the value of a bike relative to another to take them, they often take all of the bikes.

Insurance usually covers a fixed maximum for bikes. On my policy it's $1,000. I can increase that to the full value of the bike for about 1-2% of the additional value. So a $5,000 bike would cost an extra $40-$80.