Viewing 23 posts - 1 through 23 (of 23 total)
  • Apartment Dwellers – How do you manage your space?!
  • Kitz_Chris
    Free Member

    I’m about to move from a large house with garage and multiple sheds into a much, much smaller apartment. I’m beginning to panic!

    Overall possessions aren’t a problem, I’ve got rid of a lot of stuff and can easily fit everything in to the living areas, but I’m still worried about bikes.

    The place has got a shared basement, which will be fine for my commuter, work-stand, skis etc, but I’m worried about the other three bikes in the apartment. What about cleaning them? Or even way around trudging mud through the building?

    Any tips for happy flat – cyclist situations?

    tomhoward
    Full Member

    Get a good vacuum cleaner. Get a portable pressure washer that doesnt need a hose (mobi?). Get used to having bikes in your living room.

    stuartie_c
    Free Member

    Bikes n’ books in the spare room. Guess which bike gets the most use nowadays?

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    dabble
    Free Member

    Ace, i want a bike tree too! 😀

    stuartie_c
    Free Member
    maccruiskeen
    Full Member

    Have fewer bikes. In fact just have one bike. I used to just have an hardtail with two sets of wheels when I was a city dweller – One set of 26″ nobbles, one set of 700c slicks.

    For bike washing duties I’d stop by a local filling station and use the hose next to the air machine (for filling screen wash) and rinse off any muck while it was still wet. For a proper clean I still (now i’m in my sprawling country pile) use a bucket and the brush from a dustpan and brush.

    br
    Free Member

    I’m about to move from a large house with garage and multiple sheds into a much, much smaller apartment. I’m beginning to panic!

    Rent the flat next door too?

    Kitz_Chris
    Free Member

    Have fewer bikes

    This isn’t an option! Three bikes is bare minimum, and it will most likely head back up to four once I have next years race bike. I resigned to bikes in the living room, and I suppose it might be more of an incentive to clean them regularly too. I’ll be having a look at those bike trees too, looks like the only solution.

    Rent the flat next door too?

    If I could afford the flat next door, I wouldn’t be moving 🙂

    somafunk
    Full Member

    I don’t live in an apartment(flat) but i do live in a small one bedroomed bungalow and my 4 bikes hang from bars mounted on the bedroom walls, i never bring a dirty bike into the house and despite having a garden shed there’s no way my girls are living outside in the cold.

    Similar to this style – holds two bikes with ease up off the floor.

    labsey
    Free Member

    Bike stays chained up in the meter cupboard. Luckily the Missus prefers the en-suite to the bathroom so I put some shelves in the bathroom and keep a load of tools and stuff in there. It’s pretty much an indoor shed.

    Just gotta be really smart about how you store stuff. Try and stick shelves where you can and you’d be surprised how much you can stash without looking like a hoarder. Mud can be an issue.

    bentudder
    Full Member

    I had a bike tree. You can fit two on each side – road bikes / skinny barred bikes on the inside – without taking up too much room. I lived in a one bed flat for five years this way – the last 12 months of it sharing with my girlfriend (now Mrs Udder – blimey, but I’m lucky) and working from home. Completely survivable.

    Oh, and get used to lots of jokes from girls about pole dancing. But no pole dances. 🙁

    We had a hose on the ground floor. Be very careful about tyre scrapes in communal areas – I wiped any off I saw, regardless of whether they were mine.

    Cut down on the bike count if you can.

    Use it as an excuse for a proper clear-out of everything you own. Really cut down. It’s remarkably satisfying.

    captaindanger
    Full Member

    I take e front wheel and pedals off and can fit 3 in the cupboard under the stairs

    Nobeerinthefridge
    Free Member

    Stuartie, I love yer bike tree, except the tinsel ;-))

    lulubel
    Free Member

    When we moved from a large house with a massive (think 90sq m massive) garage to an apartment, we paid a bit extra to get one more bedroom than we needed. The extra bedroom is set up as a store room/bike shed with cheap open shelving from Ikea along one wall and bikes around the other walls. It’s a fairly modest sized (but not tiny) double bedroom, and we can fit 4 bikes, each in their own space, so none of them are wall mounted, and still have plenty of space in the middle of the room for cleaning/maintenance.

    We don’t have carpets here, so the tiled floor is easy to clean, but you could always take the carpet up, if you have it, and put some wipe-clean lino down instead.

    HoratioHufnagel
    Free Member

    Its a pain, thats for sure. Especailly if they need cleaning a lot and theres not much daylight to do it (like now!)

    I have one of those bike stands too, keeps the wheels off the floor and stops them getting knocked etc.

    I bought a cheapo folding Dahon to use as a commuter, doesn’t take up much space.

    MrSalmon
    Free Member

    I’ve also fairly recently moved from a house to a flat and struggling with bikes. Also went camping at the weekend and the wet tent is proving to be annoying.

    I suppose annoying is all it is really though, you just find a way and put up with it. But I’m hoping to get back out on the MTB this year and I’m already wondering how that’s going to work when I arrive back covered in cr@p and needing to clean the bike. We’ll be going back to a house as soon as possible though!

    LadyGresley
    Free Member

    I have a long narrow hallway in my flat, room for my three bikes. I often turn the handlebars of ones not in frequent use, so another parks beside it more easily. I have some of that plastic carpet protector matting too, so don’t worry about drips from wet bikes.
    I have been known to clean bikes in the bath – that was when I discovered Cif bathroom mousse cleaner is an excellent de-greaser!
    And, yes, wet tents are very difficult to deal with 😕

    simon_g
    Full Member

    We have one like the ebay linked one. We’re fortunate to have an alcove in the hallway that is about the length of a bike, so it goes in there. Stand keeps one bike up high, then rather than hang, we pack in three bikes below (two belong to the Mrs and they don’t get used as much). An old rug in that space means any chain oil, stray mud, etc doesn’t get on the carpet, and we have a long rubber-backed hallway mat from ikea that leads from the front door to it.

    I have a dirtworker/nomad 12v cleaner which goes in the car if I’m taking the MTB, wash off before putting in the car, it’s dry by the time I get home. Use the bath occasionally for more thorough cleans. If I was riding from home, I’d stick the washer in the car, and wash bike outside before bringing in. Big Ikea bags for bringing dirty kit back inside.

    Riding kit and tools/spares are in plastic crates above the wardrobe.

    For maintenance, I have an old duvet cover I can put down in the lounge and work away on.

    You do need to be brutal about what you “need”, in terms of bikes and spares. Replace some wheels and you may not have the luxury of space to keep them “just in case”.

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    I take e front wheel and pedals off and can fit 3 in the cupboard under the stairs

    +1, you’d be amazed how little space they can take if they have to. I kept my nice bikes under the stairs in a tiny cupboard for the last 18 months in a small house (commuter, bmx, SS, in the shed)

    If there’s no cupboard space, I bought a CRC bike bag and with the wheels off, everything fits in the bag with the bars poking out. added bonus you can do the packing at the trails and not get mud in your car either. Easy to stash behind doors, sofas, etc.

    Organisation is the key though. Spares have to be kept to a minimum and bikes have to be n-1 and reialble (no room for spares). Do you need a carbon race bike and a steel hardtail, or would an aluminium hardtail do the job of both and allow easier access to the bathroom, that’s the kind of anoying decison you end up having to make!

    toyrobot
    Free Member

    I was faced with a similar problem a couple of years ago. My only option was a cupboard / tiny utility room / thing. I cut down an ikea clothes rail that I had and now store 3 bikes, wheels, bits and bike clothes not to mention all me and my OH’s shoes in there. It’s not too much trouble and it means the bikes are in the house. I doubt I’d ever have them anywhere else now. It means I always give the bikes a hose down at least, when I get back from a ride, so it encourages good practice too.

    HansRey
    Full Member

    -If you have a seperate shower/bath, consider leaving one or two bikes in the bath.

    – Store kit, wheels, clothing under the bed

    – use the same helmet for other sports (e.g. snowboarding)

    stuartie_c
    Free Member

    Stuartie, I love yer bike tree, except the tinsel ;-))

    😀

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