What if I told you there was an easy way to store 5 bikes in a very tight space, that would require minimal lifting to store them? What if I told you the installation was even easier than the manufacturer made it?
The Bike Storage Challenge From My Wife:
After we installed our garage flooring and slatwall, we had several feet of unused space. We tried a couple of storage racks for bikes and nothing really worked right. The kids could not get theirs off and on really easily and neither could she I was not a big fan of putting all the pressure on a single tire and a lot of the racks that held the bike by the frame would not work with my full suspension. What she wanted was clear. An easy to use bike rack that we could get any of our bikes on and off — and that this could be done safely when I was not home.
The SteadyRack Solution
I have used and written about the SteadyRack before and it has always been one of my favorite bike racks. We decided to pull out what we had and go back in with all SteadyRacks. The only thing I do not like about the product is their instructions. OK, maybe it’s a guy thing and its certainly an American thing, but they just seemed complicated — and measurements in mm and kg was not helping.
So here is the simple English way to put these things up. One note, to cover my self… These are my impressions and not the manufacturer’s instructions. Always refer to their instructions, especially for weights and safety information. I installed the first one, exactly as they described. Then I came up with a much faster and easier way to do it. I would have to modify this slightly if one of the bikes we very heavy. But there are all aluminum bikes.
Remove the plastic covers from the front and Put the back tire against the wall and put the SteadyRack on the floor under the front tire. The “S” should be closer to your pedals and the “K” should be closer to the front of your tires. Make sure the front tire is sitting on the rack like it would if it was hanging and make sure the back tire is all the way against the wall. Take a pencil and put a dot using the top center hole in the rack. Measure the distance that dot is from the wall (in our case it was between 60″ and 64″)
Find your stud. Add 2″ to the number from the previous step and mark the stud at that height off the ground. So for example if the measurement was 62″ I would put a dot 64″ above the floor, centered on the stud. So far this is pretty much what they tell you… Except they tell you in mm and kg…. Here is one really simple hint:
Using a level as a straight edge, mark a straight line from the dot all the way down the wall. You will have four screws fall on this line and that will help keep everything lined up. Now, place the Steady Rack on the wall. Center the top hole over the dot and drill a hole. Fasten it to the wall using the included lag bolt. Just use the one hole for now. Leave it loose enough that you can complete the next step.
Align the bottom home in the rack on the line you made, so the hole is centered on it. If you did the previous step correctly, you can verify with a level that your rack is straight. Now use that bottom hole and drill a hole for the lag bolt. Attache the lag bolt through the bottom hole. Tighten the top and bottom lag bolts. Pre drill and fasten using the remaining lag bolts through the remaining holes –I’m sure this is overkill, but got to keep that bike safe 🙂 .
Now roll your bike on its back wheel and it will kind of pop onto the rack. Mark the point on the wall where the tire hits it. Attach the bottom bracket at that point (in height) on the wall and center the holes over the line again. This will make sure you hit the stud and make sure everything is straight. Reattach the plastic covers and you are done!
How Close Are the Bikes
Because all the bike heights are slightly different and because you can swivel the bikes on the rack, we were able to mount them 16 inches apart.
