Bike Storage Archives - Page 2 of 2

Posted on February 22, 2019June 10, 2023 by Arthur K

How to organise your garage and bikes

Whilst garage spaces are similar from one home to another, how you use your space and what you keep in it can vary significantly. That is why tips on how to organise your garage and bikes can be useful but they can’t really delivery the full recipe for each and every person.

The benefits of being organised inside the home are exactly the same outside it. An organised garage can not only make it easier for you to find things, but it can also reduce the chance of damaging items kept in your garage like cars and the bikes themselves.

Today’s article has a focus on bikes because bike riding is becoming a whole lot more popular in Australia. Many people not only ride on the weekends, they now also ride to work. Bikes can be a much bigger investment than what they used to be, and people take that investment quite seriously.

Greater popularity also means more bikes in homes and a bigger challenge on how to how to organise your garage and bikes without compromising the bike or the rest of the garage.

The Bike Plan

The tips for your bike plan are to consider what amount of space you need for storing your bikes, ie look at the size of each bike and the space you will need around it. The last thing you want is damaging the bikes as they are taken form storage and then returned.

You will need to consider where in the garage you want them to be stored and how they will be accessed. This includes taking the bikes off and stand or hook and then returning them. Consider that you might need access to all bikes at the same time, particularly if you are riding to work on weekdays and with the family on weekends.

Storing bikes is not just about the bikes themselves, its also about the accessories. Think about helmets, pumps, shoes and other clothing. These items also take up space and can actually be quite awkward to store.

How to organise your garage and bikes

There are lots of different ways to store your bikes. Vertical storage is by far the most popular and where you will find the most storage ideas and options.

If you’re opting for indoor storage, you need to accept that any effective solution will require you to drill holes in your walls. The only other alternative is to run poles from floor to ceiling, or to consider free standing solutions which are effective but take up lots of valuable space.

We did some research and found several stores selling a variety of bike storage options. In terms of vertical storage ideas consider:

Wall mount bike storage

The most common types of indoor bike storage is a simple set of hooks screwed into your wall. One hook allows you to hang your big vertically (on its side). Two hooks allow you to hang your bike horizontally.

A hook designed for bikes allows you to hang your bike vertically with the tyres facing the wall. This saves you space along the wall.

Hanging your bike horizontally on the wall requires that you either have two hooks or brackets. Alternatively there are also options like the one below which combines a bracket and two hooks. This type of hooks has the bike sitting off the wall and easy to view and admire.

Below is a more modern hook which needs to be screwed into the wall but allows for the bike to face the wall.

An alternative hook solution is the one below which has one for the top and one for the bottom. This solution enables the tyres to rest without touching the wall. In this case however two hooks also means more holes in your wall.

StoreWALL Bike Hooks

StoreWALL bikes hooks are also a great alternative for hanging your bikes vertically on your wall. The StoreWALL solution utilises a wall panel which is installed on your wall. The Bike hook is then attached to the panel.

Use of a wall panel allows the Bike Hook to be moved around as required. Additional hooks can be added for your helmets and other bike accessories.

Freestanding storage stands

If you own more than one bike or you live in a house of cyclists, then buying bike storage specific furniture may be worth investigating.

Pulley & winch systems

A pulley system is directly attached to the ceiling or on the wall high up. Having your bike high up has it out of the way. The Pulley and Winch system uses a harness and hook to lift the bike up towards the ceiling.

A secondary attachment is used to secure the bike from movement making it safe dangling above your head.

Using the ceiling in your garage can be useful as long as it doesn’t interfere with any garage door systems. It looks like a pretty effective way to organise your garage and bikes

Bike Storage Sheds

If the challenge to organise your garage and bikes is getting too hard, consider a separate bike storage shed. It does require more space and quite a bit more in cost but it also get the bikes out of the garage and securely stored.

Posted on September 7, 2018June 10, 2023 by Arthur K

Tips for organising your children’s sports gear

Everyone agrees that having your kids spend less time in front of a screen stuck inside the house and more time outside playing sport is a good thing. The challenge in an age where we want everything nice and tidy is keeping it all organised. Having the right kind of storage system for organising your children’s sports gear is more than half the battle. Below we have provided some simple rules and tips which you can use for better management of your family’s sporting equipment.

Cricket & Baseball Bats, Hockey Sticks and Tennis Racquets

Most people stick the bats in the corner leaning up against the wall. Over time more and more gets piled on top of them and when you want to pull the bat out, its impossible to grab without knocking everything over. You can avoid this hassle and mess by keeping bats, sticks and racquets pegged onto a slatwall or pegboard. Today’s slatwall solutions come with a great range of hooks allowing for bats, sticks and racquets to be securely attached but easily accessed. Most hooks are usually long enough to hold more than one item.

Balls

Whether they are larger balls like basketballs or soccer balls, or smaller tennis or cricket balls, they can easily be kept in buckets or tote bags. StoreWALL offers a great range of Tote Bags which cater for balls of all sizes. If you don’t want a bag, consider a deep basket or a bin for organising your Children’s sports gear. What you want to avoid is finding all the balls on the ground because the kids where looking for the tennis ball which was at the bottom of the basket. Consider a container for smaller balls and one for larger ones.

Protective Gear and Clothing

A great way to organise uniforms is to either colour cod them or to arrange them by sport or family member. This makes it easy for everyone to identify whose clothing it is or which sport it belongs to. For items like gloves or cricket pads, I suggest you keep them all together with the related clothing. This ensures they don’t get misplaced or moved away.

As an example, your cricket clothing, pads and gloves could be kept in one specific basket or tote bag. Once the kids are done with using them, putting them away is as simple as placing them all back into the ONE basket.

Sports Shoes

The ideal way to protect your soccer and football boots is to clean them after use (both training and matches). Regular cleaning with a wet rag protects the synthetic surface from scratching and staining. It also ensures whatever dirt (soccer and football being winter sports) accumulates under the shoe is not transferred to all of the other shoes or the floor.

Most sports stores sell tote bags designed for shoes. They keep the shoes aired so that they can dry out but also in a protected bag so that pairs aren’t split up. Some suggest to use peg boards to hang your shoes but I don’t find this really practical. Dirty shoes are not the nicest accessory to have on show. Use a larger tote bag or deep basket to keep your sports shoes together. If you follow the concept of having a basket for each key sport played by your kids, then you can add sports shoes to that basket as well. Preferably once cleaned.

Organising your Children’s Sports Gear

We all want our kids to spend more time outdoors than they do today. Organising your children’s sporting gear needs to be a shared responsibility. Easier to say than do, but with some discipline it can be achieved. It’s important that children learn from an early age that we don’t do everything for them. Organising their sports gear independently is one of the many things they can learn early on.

Tips on grouping sports gear

When deciding where the sports gear will live, consider:

Size and numbers – how much space is it taking up and how many do you have
Seasonality – is the gear used throughout the year, or can it be moved to a different place when not used
Shape – some things take up a lot of space due to their shape (e.g. balls).
Ventilation – it’s better to keep shoes in a well-ventilated container and room.
Accessibility – make sure the children can access their gear without your help.
Dirtiness – how dirty is the equipment.

Get the Kids into the Routine

An important key to achieving some success with organising children’s sports gear is having a routine before and after sport activities. Kids should know what they need to take with them for training and matches. Clothing, drink bottle, boots, towel, hat etc. Help them get into the habit of gathering these items before each session. The routine applies equally after the session is done ie returning everything to where they found it.

Here’s an example

Soccer boots get returned to the garage.
Put them in the soccer basket.
Drinking bottle is returned to the kitchen sink.
Put sports bag away in the laundry (where it lives).
Get undressed and throw everything in the laundry bin or return it to the garage with the rest of the sporting gear.

Whilst I would love to say that my kids follow all of these rules, they don’t but I have found that keeping items organised and in specific locations helps everyone find them before the game or training. It also ensures we aren’t running around looking for them for half the morning.

Posted on June 5, 2018June 11, 2023 by Arthur K

Simple Bike Rack for your Garage Wall

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Space is a premium in most homes and garages so finding an effective way to store your bike(s) is really important for most households. Add to this that leaving your bike outside is not a great option if you want it to last a few years (the rust will build up real soon). Finding a simple bike rack for your garage wall shouldn’t be that difficult and thankfully these days there are plenty of options to choose from. StoreWALL gives you 2 easy to setup options which ensure your bikes are no longer lying on the floor or up against the car.

We have 5 bikes in our household and they take up far too much room in the garage given the amount of use they receive. My kids love bike riding but getting them motivated to start the ride can be a challenge. Once its done they are quick to dump the bikes on the garage floor and run inside for a refreshment. It’s then up to me to set them all up again and get them out of the way.

Simple Bike Rack for your Garage Wall

StoreWALL has two easy to setup options enabling you to either hang your bike vertically from the wall or to have it hang horizontally. Both options are safe and secure and the choice is determined by the amount of room you have.

StoreWALL Bike Hook

The first method utilises the StoreWALL J Hook (also known as the Bike Hook). The StoreWALL Bike Hook needs to be added to your wall via the use of a slatwall panel. The slatwall panel needs to be placed at a height which allows the bike to stand on its back wheel. Ideally allow the bike to hang a foot or so off the floor. To lock the bike onto the hook all you need to do is place the rim or wheel inside the hook. Using the spokes to support your bike, it will be locked in. By hanging the bike vertically, you can actually hang several bikes in a very small area.

StoreWALL Bike Brackets

The second method has the bike hanging horizontally. Combining a StoreWALL slatwall panel and two Heavy Duty 381mm Bike Brackets, the bike frame is placed over the brackets so that it is held in position. An effective way of positioning the brackets is to place them one slat groove apart. The bracket on the left can be the higher of the two.

On each bracket add some anti-slip padding so that the brackets don’t scratch the frame of the bike. Coming 381mm off the wall, there is plenty of room for the bike frame to be rested on the brackets.

The advantage of this option is that the bikes only hang a maximum 381mm off the wall (the size of the brackets). This will allow you to fit several bikes (smaller bikes sitting higher) and allows plenty of room for the actual vehicle.

Slatwall Panels

The added advantage of slatwall panels is that the panelled wall can also be used to store other items which are bike related. This includes tyre pumps, spare tyres, sporting clothes and helmets. Even if you don’t have a huge amount of room our smaller 1.2m panel can do an effective job for you. See our bundle below as an example.

StoreWALL Bike Bundle

To get you started with a simple bike rack for your garage wall we have prepared two combination StoreWALL packages that incorporate either bike hanging method mentioned above plus much more. Note this is not just a one bike solution, it will cover pretty much everything you need related to bike.