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I might be moving again soon and looking for rentals. My current flat has a garage and a private area outside with a water tap, which has been great for MTB'ing, with the amount of time spent on maintenance and cleaning.
I'm struggling to find properties that would be well-equipped for MTBs that aren't really expensive. First, most flats can obviously be ruled out. Most terraced houses too, usually the garden is only accessed through the back of the house- my partner would not be best pleased about carrying a muddy bike through.
1950s-80s flats and houses sometimes have separate private garages in a block and a 1 bed flat of this type seems like the most economical choice. These don't usually have power or water though, and the garages are sometimes in locations that would make me concerned about break-ins. Sure these are nice-to-haves but I want to reduce any friction towards doing my favourite hobby. And it's still the minority of properties that even have this, limiting the search.
This has made me contemplate how much more accessible road biking is to MTBing, which is a shame because MTBing is 10x more fun. Do most people here have a private garden and garage/shed? How to make it work well with other living situations?
In both my previous flat a d current flat I have a private garden. My old one had a hosepipe and my current one will do once I've finished renovating it. Both of there were/are first and second floor of a three story building. The previous was a split-level so my garden at the rear was actually ground level, even though it was first floor relative to the front if that makes sense. The current one has a flight of external steps from the garden, I have the back garden and my downstairs neighbour has the front. Both are late Victorian.
Anyway, point is flats like this exist, and are fairly common where I am in the Tweed Valley, so don't dismiss the idea of a flat.
As for a shed, I agree, no way would I be keeping my bikes in a shed, or in a garage which wasn't attached to the house. In my old flat there was a utility room by the front door which was used for the purpose. The current one does have a shed, but that is used for storing firewood and suchlike, the bikes are in one of the downstairs bedrooms.
It really isn't difficult to pick the bike up and carry it to the room where it's kept if it's wet, no tyre tracks on the floor if that's what your partner is worried about, bringing them through the house is a total non-issue. Wooden floor in the store room and I just hoover up the pine needles now and again.
A battery operated lower pressure hose can solve the bike washing...fill a bucket with water and hose/wash bike before taking inside.
That could open up more options for you.
This has made me contemplate how much more accessible road biking is to MTBing, which is a shame because MTBing is 10x more fun. Do most people here have a private garden and garage/shed? How to make it work well with other living situations?
My first rented place was tiny, an end-terrace house which at least meant easy access to the (tiny) back yard. I put an old curtain made of thick fabric down on the floor in the living room and kept the MTB on that, it worked OK but maybe wasn't the most attractive thing to look at. But I could just shake the curtain out every once in a while.
The road bike lived in a corner of the kitchen (the MTB couldn't fit there because of the bar width).
You just sort of make it work - sometimes it's more of a pain than others; I remember at uni the only option to store the road bike in my study/bedroom was to take both wheels off and tuck the lot under the desk which meant putting the wheels on every time I wanted to go for a ride.
Obviously the ideal is a nice big patio area and direct access into a hard-floored storage area with light and heat and a spare wall to mount all your tools. The reality is that most people are bodging and making do and using what they have.
Big bag maybe to put the bike in to carry it through the house?
I live in a 1990s coach house type flat, terraced but above 3 garages (one of them being mine) so I access my back garden through my garage. Works well for bikes, costs a small fortune to heat in winter though...
I had a terrace house with a cellar and a garden.
There was some carting the bike through the house, I was just careful not to troop loads of mud through the house and cleaned up if I did.
You're approaching this all wrong. What you actually need is a new partner.
/thread
My flat has a basement the same layout as the flat.
I thought it was ace when i bought it butt now i realise i hhave set the bar so high all nicer houses look a bit shit.
My old terraces (northern) had ginnels or rear entryways. Never an issue.
Other than that I've always had sheds and semi-detached. Tap and bucket. Back door I can strip off at (sorry neighbours) and walk through to shower without trailing mud.
I've now all the luxuries of detached with garage, shed, tap and cleaning area to catch mud, rear door next to washing machine and half the laundry floor is a big doormat for stripping off inside not outside...
Terraced house here, carry the bikes through and jet wash in garden. Biggest issue was the narrow hallway and wide bars, tbh. Occasionally washed bikes at trail with portable washer but kinda gave up on that when we went from a van to a car. Mid-terrace is also more secure from shed burglary. I think it helps that Mrs Kilo is a keen mtb’er too.
Someone else mentioned it but portable washer to get the bike clean, dry it off, clean/dry/oil the chain etc and then throw in a bike bag - can get one of the old envelope type travel bags for pence on FB marketplace etc. Sounds like you're possibly town/city based so I'm assuming you're driving to trails? Do all that at the car when you get back after your ride so no need to faff at home when you return.
I feel for you. My number one priority for our first house (which we are still in over 30 years later) was off road parking and a garage. The garage did once have a car in and bikes, but it's now bikes, bike shoot, paddle board/kayak and camping shoot. Outside tap essential. I even have a bike stand on the garage wall for washing filthy MTB's. Don't use it for the other bikes.
Lidl Parkside have a battery powered low pressure jetwash on offer on the continent that seems ideal for those without an outside tap.
You've not mentioned if you've got a car, but when I lived in a terrace house and had to access the courtyard through the house, if the bike was really minging I'd stop in a petrol station with a self car wash and blast the worse of the mud off the tyres with the lance and then get it off the frame with the brush/lance on low pressure so could get it through the house.
I did mess with a portable washer, but I found it quite a faff lugging all the water and cleaning the bike when really wanting to get into the car and get warm, others do get on with doing it just fine though.
There were plenty of occasions though where a dirty bike was carted into the house and left pretty filthy, albeit on a plastic sheet, but enough that I'd get it in the neck
When I started biking I was in a first floor flat in a terraced house. The water supply came in through the shared hall and I added an outside tap in the front porch so I could hose the bike off in the street before bringing it in.
Modern tech has made that a bit easier - Aliexpress dustblower will now get most of the water off then a cloth and you'd basically take a mostly dry bike in. Worx hydroshot and jerrycan before you get home is even better (but you still need a hose really to fill it up).
sounds like 2 separate problems - storing the bike, and getting a winter muddy bike clean.
switching to road is going to still leave you with the first problem, and dont underestimate road grime.
I've got a Velosock - could be useful both for carrying the muddy bike through the house to an enclosed rear garden, and for indoor storage. Folded, they are about the amount of material of a tshirt (somehow) so can leave it by the front door while you are out.
When we were in a mid-terrace (although we did have back gate access), we had an asgard metal shed in the back garden.
I would not want to leave a nice mountain bike in one of those garages in a block of garages.
We lived in London ground floor maisonettes for about 10 years. The one we bought had a big enough understairs cupboard for 5 bikes (4 on the floor with front wheel off; roadbike hung up with both wheels off.). Faffy but it worked. An earlier iteration, we used the second bedroom as bikeroom/workshop. Put a layer of scrap carpet down to protect the floor.
Washing? Meh. Just carry 'em through. If you're not riding them offroad to the door, most of the loose mud will have fallen off on the road or the car, give them a bounce outside and crack on. If your partner hasn't accepted you're a mountainbiker and muddy bikes is part of the deal, its always going to be a sticking point. I came home once to find mine washing her commuter in the bath, so I'm sorted there... 🙂 Hard floors that you can just sweep help too.
This thread actually is a good reminder of how lucky I am now I'm a proper grown up (and lucky enough to live oop north!) as I have a big detached house with loads of parking, big garage, big garden etc etc.
I have, however, been there, done that. I remember having one of those hosepipe tap adapters jubilee clip'd on to the kitchen tap in a 1st floor flat, slinging the hose out the window to sluice to bike off before dragging it, dripping, up the stair case and leaning it on the wall in hall to the extreme annoyance of my flatmates.
One other trick a mate did when in halls was to ask for (and get!) a disabled/accessible room. This came with effectively a massive wetroom with a shower head attachment. We may or may not have washed bikes off in there and sluiced the mud down the drain in the middle of the floor!
Back on topic though - remember to consider Cellars. Ideally, cellars with outside access, quite common round here with big-ish terraces.
Think we have it easier up north.
I'm in an end terrace, with shared access to the back (I get a slightly bigger yard as mine was where the outside bog was) so got an outside tap and hose for bike wash. Then outside access to multiroom cellar underneath, one room of which is bike store and workshop
Plus whatever for living up north with decent biking on the doorstep, a cellar and accessible backyard with a tap. That and tiled/wooden flooring for those bikes through the house moments.
My previous house had a cellar which had been thoughtlessly converted into a kitchen diner - it had a window rather than just being a cave. Fortunately it incorporated a full width cupboard which would accommodate four or five bikes no problem - more with Jenga-lke cunning.
But basically, cellar, hard flooring, outdoor tap.
But Coronation Street was full of terraced housing....
Buy a van, wash with battery jet wash and store it in the back?
