For the tiny house, condo and apartment dwellers with a cycling habit, apartment-friendly bike and gear storage… Well, it sucks. But even in a few hundred square feet, you can make room for the care and keeping of bikes — they don’t need to be getting grease on your sofa or taking up all of your free space. Fortunately, there are plenty of great inexpensive products on the market that make keeping bikes in your apartment less of a hassle than ever before… Garage not required!
One key to apartment living with a bike habit? Less is more. You don’t need tons of extra equipment, what you need are smart storage solutions and a capsule-like approach to gear. Think about looking for jackets that will work for hikes, climbs and rides, opt for leg warmers and armwarmers with your shorts and jerseys instead of buying full cycling tights and long sleeve jerseys, and even consider using mountain bike shoes for all your rides so you don’t need mountain and road shoes. But when it does come to gear, there are a few great buys that will actually save space and keep your place cleaner:
Bike Storage
Delta Michelangelo Canaletto Two-Bike Gravity Stand
To be honest, the Delta Michelangelo Canaletto Two-Bike Gravity Stand is absolutely not attractive, but this is the only standing rack that’s on the market that’s inexpensive and can be used in an apartment bereft of studs in the wall for wall-mounted racks. This rack breaks down and goes back together super easily, and the arm height and width is super-adjustable, so whether you’re putting a mountain bike or a fixie on it, you can make it fit nicely. (Pro tip: Spray-paint it black or chrome if you want to make it seem more stylish.) $52
Wallniture Byko Wall Mounted Bicycle Storage Rack Shelf
If you do have studs in your wall, take advantage of them with a bike rack/shelf combo. These shelves are perfect for the bike commuter since you can keep your helmet, your shoes, your cap and gloves, a bike lock, your bike lights, and all your other riding accoutrement in one place so when morning comes and you’re running late for work, you’re not scrambling to find the stuff you need to get out the door. (Hang wet gear on this rack if you get home from a rainy ride.) $51
Bike Nook Bicycle Stand
Only have one bike and want to get it out of the way so you have some semblance of floor space again? If you don’t have studs for a wall mount, the Bike Nook Bicycle Stand is perfect. It allows you to flip your bike up onto one wheel so that it can be stored upright instead of on both wheels. You also avoid smudging white walls or creating a chaotic space where the bike is leaning on everything. (PS: I didn’t think this was going to be worth it until I bought it and fell in love.) $59
Simple Houseware Heavy Duty 3-Bag Laundry Sorter Rolling Cart
Cyclists know that there are three kinds of laundry: everyday clothing, cycling clothing, and holy $hit clothing, so a three-section laundry sorter is the perfect solution to your laundry sorting needs. Separating those outer layers that are grease-stained and drenched with mud-spray from your nice work clothes and even from your baselayers and chamois can help avoid grease spots on your one nice white shirt and prolong the life of your bike socks in the process. $35
Stylish Gear
Lezyne CNC Travel Drive Floor Pump
When you live in a studio apartment, it’s all about finding gear that’s as stylish as it is functional, since you can’t really hide anything and keep it out of sight. That’s where the chrome finish and minimalist design of Lezyne’s CNC Travel Drive Floor Pump really comes in handy. The pump is super hearty — buy once, never need to replace — and it looks chic as hell sitting in a corner. It’s arguably the most minimalist-styled piece of bike equipment out there. $100
YETI Rambler 18oz Vacuum Insulated Stainless Steel Bottle with Cap
A classy bike thermos that can fit into a bottle cage? Perfect for winter rides, and for transporting your coffee spill-free to the office on the days that you commute by bike. The YETI Rambler is spillproof and the vacuum insulated steel walls guarantee that hot drinks will stay hot… and in the summer, cold drinks will stay cold. It’s also simple, timeless, and will fit in with the office crowd and with the rowdy partiers on the backside of a cyclocross course. (Pro tip: Yep, your beer will even stay carbonated if you seal the lid on tight!) $30
Keep it clean
iLOT 1.3 Gallon Weed Sprayer If you’re not willing to bring a dirty bike into the shower in your apartment, or you don’t have a removable shower head, then you’re going to want this $20 lifesaver. A pump-action 1.3 gallon sprayer can be filled with warm water to wash off your bike in your parking garage or in the driveway, or in your shower stall. If you hit the trails a lot and need to toss your bike in the back of your car, bring this to the trailhead to give your bike a quick clean before you load it back in — it’s especially great for cyclocross races and gravel grinders, but muddy mountain bike rides can definitely benefit too. And for commuters, while you may not think about cleaning a bike too often, your drivetrain will thank you and pedaling will be a lot smoother if you give it a quick clean every few weeks, or at least after particularly stormy rides. $20
Ass Savers
Who has space for a full set of fenders in an apartment? Unless you only have a commuter bike that’s always kitted out with a full set of fenders, you probably don’t want to waste space on storing a set of legit clip-on fenders. They’re bulky and take up a ton of shelf space, and they can be hard to clean. Enter the super-cheap Ass Saver, a small clip-on fender that only takes up about 12 inches of vertical space but otherwise can be crammed just about anywhere. They keep your butt dry on wet ride days, and are ultra-easy to remove and rinse off in the kitchen sink. $12
Bike Bicycle Clean Brush Kit
Keep your cleaning products minimal, and buy a set of brushes that covers everything you need for a sparkling clean bike. When you’re sudsing up your bike frame, you’ll have every brush to get the chain, cassette and frame perfectly dialed. (Pro tip: Use the mini-sprayer to get the worst gunk off, then bring your bike and this kit into the shower with a squirt of grease-fighting dish soap for a deep clean.)
Maintain your bike
Essential Bicycle Tool Kit
Every cyclist should have a few basic tools, and if you’re an apartment-dweller with space at a premium, you’re going to want just those few essential tools, plus an easy spot to store them. Spin Doctor’s tool kit is a neatly packed, small kit of the basics you need to tune and maintain your bike. A hex-key set, chainring bolt wrench, screwdrivers, a bottom bracket wrench adapter and a chain tool make up the kit, and because they have slots in the small storage box, you never have to worry about misplacing your 5mm hex key again. $70
Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance: The World’s Best-Selling Bicycle Repair and Maintenance Guide
Save yourself a few bucks at the bike shop by being able to DIY some of your bike’s maintenance thanks to Leonard Zinn’s famed book “Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance.” Its most recent iteration — 2016 — covers every repair you might need to make, from routine procedures like cleaning and lubing your chain to more intensive issues, like tuning a drivetrain. There’s a mountain bike version as well, if your bike takes you off-road. $24
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