since6

Thanks for postings on hanging bike from wheel in garage. It's something I need to do as storage is getting crazy in my office and there's still space, even with two cars, in the garage.

But this raises my question. The garage as well as the garage door are insulated, but there is no heat, so temperature and humidity rise and lower with the seasons. House heat usually makes things 6-8 degrees warmer inside the garage and there is the radiant heat of a cooling car.

It's funning having such a worry now as I think back to those first bikes that sat inside my dad's open garage away from the falling rain and snow with their 50lb pipe frames and never worried over those decades about rust, nor really recall any, but now it makes you pause. Do you really want surface rust, especially after you cleaned off the last bout of it and does good quality car wax solve the issue as you don't wax the insides of the tubing...LOL, not that obsessive yet.

What, is there, a consensus?

Take Care

iab

As long as you don't cover your bikes with a vapor barrier (plastic film is an example), you should be OK.

If you really want to be anal about it, track your dew points.

Fredo76

Having left my Harley under a carport in Olympia for a year, I'd say you're potentially in for some rust if you don't take precautions. That's probably a lot more humid than inside a garage, though. If you lived in a dry climate, I'd say don't worry. My racing bike spent several years in an unheated shed, here in NM, with no deterioration apparent.

Soody

You can treat the inside of your tubing
Jobst Brandt thought it was nonsense
https://yarchive.net/bike/frame_rust.html
but he also thought water bottles were nonsense

I've had several frames rust out, from the inside. It's a worthwhile step for bikes that are ridden and put away wet, especially salted snow or by the ocean, tourers, commuters. I wouldn't do it to a nice fair weather classic.

I use common hardware store LPS-3, or Fish Oil, not framesaver, cheaper. Also normally do it to a frame when it's stripped to avoid gunking up the bb or headset.
Waxing is good too but I actually think the internal treatment is more critical for a steel frame which is abused.

Chuck M 

I have an insulated unheated garage too and live in NE Oklahoma where we get all four seasons within a 5 day span sometimes. My bikes hold up as well in the garage as my cars, beer fridge, tools, and everything else I keep there.

bark_eater 

I've got way to many bikes in my uninsulated attic. I try and clean and wd40 every bike that gets stored up there. It seems to me that dust provides a foot hold for rust so I do what I can to put every thing away clean. Some bikes have been up there for 5 years and I think that some surface rust has grown a little bit, but its realy just a suspicion. I do try and pull the seat posts out so the inside of the tubes can breath a bit, and to keep the saddles out of the summer heat.

bamboobike4

Unheated garage is likely fine.
Maybe not in Nome.

clubman 

Depends on circulation maybe. A dehumidifier never hurt anything.

GhostRider62

It isn't first growth bordeaux.

Sun exposure is an issue. Temperature swings? Not so much.

Dylansbob 

I'd be sure to get them down and moved around at least yearly.

I don't know how long this was hanging. Water condensation that froze.

rccardr 

Bikes are like children.
They get unhappy when forced to live anywhere but inside the house.

since6

Thanks all, seems Ok for storage where it is dry and they are ridden in dry weather. Sounds also like its better to keep them in rotation and use, cleaned and serviced as needed after ridden. It's always the hardest 5-10 minutes after a ride, to wipe things down with regular intervals of chain cleaning/lubrication, but it's also good time too, functional art.

Prowler 

My bikes are in the unheated detached garage all year. The good, fair weather bikes are up in the loft all winter so live in cold dry conditions. First RULE though is to never open any doors or windows on those nice warm days after a front sweeps through bringing warm air up from the south. Everything inside the building (bikes, tools, machines, materials, camping equipment, etc) very cold then an inrush of warm moist air is assured condensed moisture on everything, then rust. Wait until spring.

That’s why I have two winter bikes. They’re the only ones that get fresh air in the winter

dedhed

Two stay hung in the garage year round without issue. The rest rotate to the basement sometime in the late fall/early winter to make room for snow removal equipment and ice fishing gear.
I do fill the tires every now & again.

SJX426 

Having lived in the NW for over 30 years, I have the opinion that the climate is fairly mild compared to the east coast. Here the humidity in the summer is sweltering bad. Up there in Lacy, not so much.

I didn't have a problem in the Portland area, like Aloha. Here in Virginia, I keep a dehumidifier going in the summer and a heater set at about 60 in the third garage (added as an option so it has a wall between the other one) where the bikes and tools are. There is a sheet of plastic in the opening to keep most of the heat in the 3rd bay. I have not had a problem in the 4 years since moving in. Prior garages were adjacent to other ones and had one bay. The heat from the car helped along with the living quarters above.

If there is real concern, @iab has it right with the comment about dew point.

Jeff Neese

I'm in Michigan with fairly wide swings of temperature and humidity, and keep all of my bikes out in a detached, unheated garage. Never any problems, and I can say the same about all the tools I keep out there, my lawn and garden equipment, and also the stereo and speakers that I leave out there year round. As long as the garage is dry, you'll be fine. I have a full-length ridge vent and I've heard that helps to avoid condensation inside when the weather changes quickly.

LBCwanabe 

Does anyone have any pics of their ceiling storage in the garage? I am planning to build a carriage of sorts in my garage on the ceiling and have a general idea of what to do but when I google this subject I’m inundated with advertisements.

John E

I live 1 km downwind of the Pacific Ocean. Climatic extremes are not a problem, but salt air and high humidity are the reality, and some level amount of oxidation just naturally occurs.

Andy_K 

Wait! You park cars in your garage? Do you know how many additional bikes you could put in the space taken up by a car? I think I see the problem now.

Andy_K 

Yeah, salt water can be brutal. I left my boat on the coast, and it just didn't hold up.

zandoval 

One of the best rust inhibitors I have found is ArmorAll Tire Dressing Foam in the can (Brand Name do not substitute). My bikes except for my Hand Brush Painted bike are Rattle Can painted and need protection from the elements. They also have Bumper Sticker Decals that also need protection. After cleaning and drying the bike I liberally spray the entire bike with the foam then diligently wipe it all off. It appears to leave a thin layer over the metal, plastic, leather, and rubber parts and does a good job of preventing oxidation without being oily or greasy.

Over in Galveston Texas the guys on the water front use a mix of Linseed Oil and Denatured Alcohol 50:50 for internal frame treatment. Not only do they have a salt water environment but inland around Texas City the air is known to oxidize just about everything... Ha