So i've finally got a job that pays enough to warrant moving out of my parents and into a small flat.

Now seeing as the state that myself and my bike are in when I get back from local rides is not pretty, I was wondering what others do in this situation.

One bed flat, 1st or 2nd floor, shared stairs, no parking nearby, no garden/bike wash area.

Wisdom needed for green yoof.

When this happened to me I left the bike at my mums and started running instead

This lasted 4y till I knackered my knees, stopped all exercise and became a fat bastard

Sorry

On the other hand my flat was rented
If youre buying (poss not clever ATM) then its your place your trashing and you dont need to worry about the landlord

And if it helps my mate lives in a rented flat and strips his wheels and seat post off after each ride, walks up to the 3rd floor and puts his bike through the shower

It works for him!

Good luck

2nd floor flat, 1 bed, shared stairs but I do have a communal garden to clean the bike in, but to be honest it doesn't get cleaned that often. I have a big tarp that goes in the hallway to catch mud/pine needles/melted ice and make sure there's a sock or something on the end of the handlebars to stop the paint getting scuffed on the walls. Flat still gets markings, but its not bad (I rent). Had 3 bikes at one point like this…

No reason why not. Polythene sheeting in the hall to protect the walls and acarpet if its rented. Brush off dry mud.

Live in uni halls….
recommend a long hose pipe–> for the bike and you to use outside
(bung mine out of the window)
keep a load of old towels for the dry off…

also i have a big plastic tarpaulin which i put down in my room when i service/clean stuff saves stainin the carpet 😀

good work for moving out! my bro (older) still lives at home…tut tut…
😀

i had the same problem.
bought a 12v pressure washer and bike stand then tried to clean bike before taking it upstairs into room with old carpet on the floor.
at one time i had 6 bikes in the flat! that was fun
biggest problem for me was tyre marks on the white walls, but these came off with cillit bang

I used to live in a very small 7th floor, 1 room flat with the missus. Between us we had 5 bikes in there with no issues (though we did have a loft bed that all the bikes used to live under). You'll make do with the little space you have.

Cheers for the hope!

yup – will be renting. At uni I lived in a shared house for 4 years with a decent garden so that worked well. Might try to find somewhere with a garden/parking so I can leave the bikes in the van til dry.

Teeny 1 bed flat originally, used to stop off at my folks and wash it there, or wipe most of it off and they stayed in the bedroom. Now bigger flat, they get washed very rarely and stay in the boxroom, which is a dumping ground anyways, so some mud gets ignored.

Know a few students that keep 1 bike in their single room. I keep 3 in a 2 bed flat and it gets a bit cramped, bt otherwise fine.

I had 3 bikes in my old flat. Kept them in the – small – lounge on a mat. Cleaned them in the car park with a bucket. Was a bit of a pain, but got used to it.

i used to rinse the bike with the water hose at the air and water bay at my local garage. doesn't get the bike totally clean but removes anything that would drop off later. Older buildings tend to have more nooks and crannys to shove a bike into.

Dirt worker mate, I got one and its made a massive difference to how bad the bikes are when you get home coupled with one of those massive (5ltr?) water bottles you get in the super market full of own brand water worth the cost to get the huge bottle!! you can have the bike really clean before you get home.

edit alos get a big towel cheap Asda or some where do the for a fewq quid for drying the bike off and sorted!

I put plastic sheeting down, then its straight, in the shower for me and the bike best part is the other half doesn't mind one bit…

i used to stick mine in a bike bag, carry it up the stairs/lift then chuck it in the shower or jet wash it before hand at the nearest petrol station

That was a serious post btw. You've just moved out. The world is your oyster. Bikes will still be there in a few years time. Don't become a nerd like these lot, get out there and have fun!

Move any wardrobes out from the wall a wee bit and store the bike behind it. I used to live in a 3 bed flat and in that flat were 4 kayaks and 9 bikes.

LOL at hora.

I moved out first over 8 years ago. I was just living with the parents as a stop-gap post uni.

Either way, I'm already a nerd. 😉

I kept one bike in my room at uni, then when I moved to a shared house it lived in the corridor. Housemates were great about it (apart from one, but we all used to hide from her). Next house had a coal-cellar type place I appropriated as a bike shed,

when I had my flat I'd keep one in the loft and one in the hall, much to my wifes despair, especially when I dismantled a romic shock in the hall and blue pressurised oil escaped all over the `

This post is good for me, I'm picking up the keys to my first place today! I think I,ll be going down thebig plastic bag then shower route at first. And I like the idea of putting the bikes behind the wardrobe…

At uni I kept my bike in the room even though it was against the rules and they told me to put it in the bike shed. I just left a bucket of water, brush and sponge in the hedge outside and cleaned it when I got back. Put it in one of those big orange survival bags and stored with the wheels off behind a chest of drawers/desk.

Normally ad a full set of paddling kit permanently in the shower and occasionally a boat on the floor too.

Big DHB bikebag, dirtworker or hosepipe. Sorted.

Oh, and try and find a ground floor or basement flat with a garden or yard 🙂 Worked for me.

I just thought about it, and I'm going to have 1 bmx, at least 2 mRNA and a road bike in myroom. That should be fun. Ithinki I'd better get contents insurance…

im gonna have the same problem in a month or 2 if all goes to plan, except, 2 of us, will have 5 bikes in a 2 bed flat….

i think its VERY dependant on the landlord.
my old landlord, was never there, and i had a huge room, so i had 4 bikes propped up in my room, and a wooden carpetless floor, so it was FINE.

worst scenario, is you scuff the wall a bit, and have to re paint it.
fit a tarp over the carpet if youve got carpet, but i would choose a wood floor and then buy rugs out of prefference

i like the idea of having a dirt worker, a big bottle, and wash it in the street using the cars battery. might consider that as a possbility! 🙂
also got a 12v socket in the boot of my moto just for the job

Was in an 8th floor flat.

Up in the lift. Bike in the bath. Shower on. Cleanup before the missus gets home.

Shimples.

The Bath is your friend….

…so is the entrance wall

…. and the wardrobe

… and the corner near the kitchen.

Never take up running! What the hell??

wow flame job!

looks like a fantastic flat.
wanty!

It may be nice, but I told Mrs Flamejob that I would never live in a flat…..

… now I have to use a lift to get up/down and I can't park within 500m of the front door.

….. AND there is the whole 'wash bikes in bathroom' thing.

I used to just chuck the bike in a DHB bike bag, zip it up, no mess in shared flat. Occassionally I'd empty the bag out of the dried mud…

flamejob I'd paint one of those walls burnt orange/ochre.

used to wait till SO was out and use the shower to clean the bike when i was in a flat. somehow fitted two bikes in.

Dirtworker for washing before it goes in the car. If by "local" you mean from your front door, jetwash at a garage on the way home – should be pretty dry by the time you get back.

I'm lucky enough to have a gated carpark around the back of my flat so if I wash it when I get home I can leave it to dry before taking it inside.

If you're on a tight budget though it's worth looking at a lodging or flatsharing arrangement – might help your money go further and more likely to have off-street parking / garage / shed, etc for your bikes.

My dh bike fits in a CRC bag with just the wheels taken off, so I just shove it in that and it lives in my room. The only problem is it means i never clean it.

Instead of a tarp, you can use a thick piece of carpet offcut to line the bike room. Mine cost £15, and I've just rolled it back after 16 months. Despite almost never cleaning my bikes, having grease, lube and brake fluid all over the shop at various times, the carpet underneath is pristine still. Looks and feels better than tarp too. Two great things my flat has are a bin store downstairs and a 2ft strip of wood flooring by the front door. The bin store is big enough for 2 bikes and the wood flooring means I don't have to get changed outside 🙂 The two cleaner bikes live in the bike room.

when I was a student had three bikes in a large single room. Used to go to sleep 6 inches from the closest one.

I'm lucky. My flat came with a garage 🙂

I must admit… I don't actually have the 'dirty bike' problem any more. 😳

Don't let a SO move in! They come over all funny about bikes in the shower, kitchen etc.

i used one of these

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/ebwPNLqrymode.a4p?f_ProductID=9725&f_SupersetQRY=C417&f_SortOrderID=1&f_bct=c012372c012369

its been great for rented flats. Keeps all the marks off the wall, and with the wheels turned a bit the bikes don't stick out to much.