Apartment building bike rooms?

[Tania]

When the SO was in an apt, he was able to make use of an on-site private storage room (not a shared bike room, although the apt building did have one). It was about the size of a small WIC.

I don’t have a bike room in my building nor would I ever use it. I have five bikes in my 750 square foot apt and my cat doesn’t seem to mind. It IS tough not having a place to work on my bike. It can be done in our shared garage but it’s not ideal.

[Emm]

@dkel 182719 wrote:

Should we get an extra bedroom for the bikes? (Now that I think of it…)

If your bikes are of high value…yes.

I had a bike storage room in a old building, and it was impossible to find space in it. So when you check out buildings, make sure you see their bike rooms, and ensure there are racks free that you could use.

Theft wise, I have had 2 friends get their bikes stolen out of these rooms in Arlington and Alexandria, so be careful and lock up securely if you use it, and have good renters insurance. When I moved into my current town home, I was told there was a bike storage room in the building next to mine, but my landlord cautioned me not to use it since she’d heard about thefts there.

Honestly, having a small rack like this one in the living room isn’t terrible (and it’ll even fit a third bike with add on arms). It’s my current set up and works well. A spare bedroom would be even better.

[dkel]

This is good info. We’ll have to have a family meeting on this: even if we each only have one bike on site, that’s still four bikes. Our balcony may be an option, especially if we have a tarp out there to protect the bikes from the elements.

[Steve O]

My building recently built an indoor bike room, which includes a repair stand, a nice amenity. It currently has lots of space in it, particularly on the wall hangers.
It has some deficiencies, in particular it cannot be accessed without taking stairs (d’oh!). I feel like it’s pretty safe, because it is accessed with a fob, and the building tracks who enters the room. So if your bike is stolen they can narrow down the suspects pretty quickly.

I, however, use a chicken-wire storage area, which currently holds 3.5 bikes with room for at least one more, and possibly more than that with clever use of hooks and such. I also keep spare tires, pump, tools, etc in this space. I pay $20/month for it.

[dkel]

What I’m hearing is:
The bike room is great!
I wouldn’t use it!

[n18]

One option: use something like Public Storage, which costs something like $100-$200/Month. I never used them, but I was told that the paperwork would take 20 minutes, and I don’t think that includes reading it.

https://www.publicstorage.com/
https://www.cubesmart.com/
https://www.extraspace.com/

Another option: Make a compact bike storage like this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tXYlUMkgY4

Some parts that are mentioned in the video:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/VPC-3-4-in-Black-Malleable-Iron-FPT-Floor-Flange-16-521-604/205955667
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Mueller-Global-3-4-in-x-Close-Black-Steel-Nipple-584-001HN/100163081
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Southland-3-4-in-x-72-in-Black-Steel-Pipe-584-720HC/100144060
https://www.homedepot.com/p/3-4-in-x-3-4-in-Black-Malleable-Iron-90-Degree-FPT-x-FPT-Elbow-520-004HN/100060658

[Steve O]

@dkel 182763 wrote:

What I’m hearing is:
The bike room is great!
I wouldn’t use it!

Not exactly. They built it long after I had already established myself. If I were going to live here a just a few months, it might serve just fine.

[jrenaut]

@dkel 182750 wrote:

Our balcony may be an option, especially if we have a tarp out there to protect the bikes from the elements.

Check the rules at the apartment – many places don’t allow storage on the balconies.

[dkel]

@jrenaut 182768 wrote:

Check the rules at the apartment – many places don’t allow storage on the balconies.

Sigh. This is why I have a house.

[Author]

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