Hanging bikes vertically between the trusses

[rslaback]

Just curious if anyone can point out any issues with this for me or has already tried it.

My family has a lot of bikes:

1 each for the 5 of us, plus a tandem plus a 20" trail behind and a 2 seat trailer. Storing all these takes up a ton of room.

Currently, most of them hang horizontally on the ceiling above a basement stairway but it's somewhat challenging to get them into and out of position. It's around a corner and then you have to take the bike halfway down the stairs, hook on the pulley system and then go back up to the garage floor to pull it up all the way, reaching out over the stair way to guide it passed the other bike handlebars and pedals. Hanging them vertically somewhere would be nice but that would eat up a lot of usable garage space. The garage is a standard 9' ceiling, W trusses, drywalled but not insulated.

My thought is that I should be able to cut out some of the ceiling drywall, mount a perlin between two trusses at the roof level and mount a pulley on that perlin. Then, after building in a channel (similar to a skylight but without the light) I could store the bikes by hanging them from the rear wheel. In my head, the bikes would go high enough into the attic space, stopping the handlebars at the ceiling level, that they would take up basically no space whatsoever and I might even be able to fit some of the smaller bikes in the space above the garage door.

Any thoughts?

 

[cook_dw]

No thoughts on the truss idea but this is what I use and it works great and I hang my bike horizontally. Supports up to 50lbs when screwed into stud so not sure you would be able to use it on all your bikes. Just thought I would throw it out there. I also use one to hang my weedeater on. It also folds upward to not take up as much room.

Lowes - Bluehawk hanger

 

[jimgood]

rslaback, that sounds like a good idea if you don't have to insulate. But I would be inclined to hang them somewhat diagonally so that the only thing below the ceiling is the handlebars. That may have been what you meant. But, to me, hanging by the rear wheel alone would leave the front wheel below the handle bars, which are below the ceiling. So most of the front wheel is below the ceiling.

I would rig cable 1 between the wheels. Then the pulley cable would have a yoke that attaches to cable 1 so that it can slip along the length. That way, it will self adjust along the length as you snug the handlebars up to the ceiling.

 

[GN4WHLN]

I have out three bikes hung in a similar fashion. They hang from the underside of the rafters over the garage door with the front tire close to the apex of the roof. I could hang them in a more accessible manner if I ditched my overhead storage on the other side and hung them in the middle of the area the garage door occupies. Right now, they are a little hard to get down.

With all the bikes you have, you might consider a shed if you have the room for it. It would be easier to get them out and you could store all your related gear there too.

 

[Wanna Ride]

Just curious if anyone can point out any issues with this for me or has already tried it.

My family has a lot of bikes:

1 each for the 5 of us, plus a tandem plus a 20" trail behind and a 2 seat trailer. Storing all these takes up a ton of room.

Currently, most of them hang horizontally on the ceiling above a basement stairway but it's somewhat challenging to get them into and out of position. It's around a corner and then you have to take the bike halfway down the stairs, hook on the pulley system and then go back up to the garage floor to pull it up all the way, reaching out over the stair way to guide it passed the other bike handlebars and pedals. Hanging them vertically somewhere would be nice but that would eat up a lot of usable garage space. The garage is a standard 9' ceiling, W trusses, drywalled but not insulated.

My thought is that I should be able to cut out some of the ceiling drywall, mount a perlin between two trusses at the roof level and mount a pulley on that perlin. Then, after building in a channel (similar to a skylight but without the light) I could store the bikes by hanging them from the rear wheel. In my head, the bikes would go high enough into the attic space, stopping the handlebars at the ceiling level, that they would take up basically no space whatsoever and I might even be able to fit some of the smaller bikes in the space above the garage door.

Any thoughts?

My only suggestion, would be to hang them from both wheels, not just one or the other. This would keep them further up out of the way. I like to utilize as much ceiling/wall storage as possible to keep the floor as clear as possible. But not being familiar with your space and situation, that my not be possible, or the best solution.

 

[rslaback]

Supports up to 50lbs when screwed into stud so not sure you would be able to use it on all your bikes.

I value my wall space almost as much as I value the floor space.

rslaback, that sounds like a good idea if you don't have to insulate.

I would rig cable 1 between the wheels. Then the pulley cable would have a yoke that attaches to cable 1 so that it can slip along the length. That way, it will self adjust along the length as you snug the handlebars up to the ceiling.

I'm still planning to insulate but I am willing to exchange some r value for some floor space.

I might experiment with the hanging method you suggest. The first thing I am going to do is to hang each bike vertically from our basketball hoop and see how they balance. As long as the distance from the handlebars to the lowest point of the tire isn't enough that it hits me in the head I'm not too worried about getting them as high as possible. I've already got other a car carrier hanging from the ceiling which doesn't bother me as I can walk under it.

With all the bikes you have, you might consider a shed if you have the room for it. It would be easier to get them out and you could store all your related gear there too.

I'm definitely considering adding another 3 car garage to the property. That said, I wouldn't want to waste good shop space on bikes.

 

[drmarkr]

Yep....absolutely time for a bigger freestanding shop!!

The pics below are a method I've used to hang my bikes for 30+ years, starting back when I lived in apartments during college. Pick up some sliding door track and hangers, like these:

And then cut some pieces of 2x4 and screw the hangers to them. Then mount the track in a convenient location. When you hand the bikes, alternate them front/rear wheel, and, after getting them hung, you can carefully "compress" them into a way smaller space. I now live in a house with pretty much all the storage I need (wait...did I just say that?!?), so these pics are in my compressor shed, where I hang bikes I rarely ride.

Thought this might be of some use for someone wrestling with bike storage issues....

 

[drmarkr]

This is our garage...these are the bikes that we (me, wife, 10 y/o son) ride more frequently. Several road and mtb singles, a road tandem, and two mtb tandems. The ceiling is 10'4" and you can get a good idea of the head clearance from the pics. No issues at all for me at 5'10".

 

[Stuart in MN]

Is your garage attached to the house? If so, cutting a hole in your garage ceiling drywall may violate the fire barrier between the garage and house.

 

[rslaback]

Is your garage attached to the house? If so, cutting a hole in your garage ceiling drywall may violate the fire barrier between the garage and house.

The chase would be drywalled on all sides and at the ceiling level. The fire rating would be maintained.