Bike Storage Solutions - Vertical Bike Racks

We'll now look at vertical bike racks, which is a common choice for bike storage. The reason vertical bike racks are used so often is because they're designed to store the bicycle vertically – which reduces the amount of floor space needed to park the bike.

The racks can also be staggered vertically. And like high-density ground mounted bike racks, this allows bicycles to be parked closer together, maximizing the number of spots that can be  created.

The next thing you will need to consider when evaluating vertical bike storage, is that they are generally available in three mounting styles. To help determine the best one, we'll cover each in more detail. Starting with wall mounted.

Wall Mounted

A wall mounted bike storage rack is secured directly to the wall by installing anchors in the wall. This means you will need to be able to drill into the wall to use this type of rack.

In terms of the different styles of wall-mounted racks, most commonly you will see two types. One that consists of just an element to hold the front wheel of a bicycle.

The other has an element to hold the wheel, as well as a tray where wheels of the bicycle will rest. The tray feature is often selected to help protect walls from dirt, mud, sand, salt and other debris on bicycles wheels that can be transferred or cause damage to the wall.

Strut

The second wall bike rack mounting configuration is a strut mount. With this, a strut or c channel is mounted to the wall. The racks are then anchored to the channel. Again, to use this type of rack mount, you must be able to anchor into the wall.

The benefit is each rack can be repositioned along the channel without the need to drill more holes into the wall. This is advantageous when you want the option to expand the number of racks in your bike storage area  in the future.

This rack style makes it easy to set up your bike room one way now and easily add to and reconfigure later.

A potential challenge in using a strut-mounted vertical bike rack, other than drilling restrictions, is there would need to be an unobstructed length of wall for the channel to run.

And like the wall-mounted, these are available with just the rack element or a rack and tray.

Freestanding

For situations when you want to use vertical bike storage, but are unable to anchor into the wall, a freestanding bike rack is your best option.

This type of rack is a stand-alone unit with legs and racks anchored to a channel. Just assemble and place where desired.

Freestanding vertical bike racks provide the additional benefit of creating bike storage spots in the open areas of rooms – no walls needed. This allows you to maximize the bike storage density within the area.

Horizontal, Wall Mounted Bike Storage

Bicycle storage doesn't have to be confined to a bike room or its own designated area. There are instances where you need to create bike storage spaces in an existing building where a separate area doesn't exist, or it is not in the construction plans.

For these situations a horizontal, wall-mounted bike storage rack would fit your needs. These are well-suited to utilize most any wall space. Like the front of car stalls in a parking garage for example