Photo: Aya Kadid

Is it OK to store bike vertically?

Hanging a bike up by its wheel is no problem at all. The wheel is designed to take loads far in excess of the weight of the bike. The only potential problem will be if the bike is held upright by the tyre and the tyre goes flat!

gearhooks.com - Bike Storage Ideas: Hang Bike On Wall Vertically By The Front Wheel

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06 August, 2018

You know that feeling when you finally find the perfect bike for your needs? It's great! But if space is tight then it can be hard to store it - especially at home or in an apartment because not everyone has a garage, shed or space elsewhere. Storing a road bike on the wall will be easier than storing a mountain bike, because its bigger and heavier. A wall hanger for an ebike needs to be stronger than one for a hybrid bike. When you are storing a bike at home, work or anywhere else there are a few things to consider and we are here to help.

Is it OK to store a bike vertically on the wall. Can I hang a bike by the front wheel?

The short answer is that it’s fine to store a bike on a bike wall hook (or bike wall hanger), upright or hanging from the ceiling. People often ask:

The 5 Top Questions When Hanging a Bike Vertically

Why would I want to store a bike on the wall or hanging from the ceiling? How can I hang a heavy electric bike on the wall? It’s too heavy to lift. Will hanging a bike by it’s front wheel damage the wheel? Will hydraulic brakes still work if I store a bike vertically? Will suspension forks be OK if the bike is stored in an upright position?

Some other things worth considering, depending on the kind of bike you have are: What's the best way to store a road bike on the wall? How to mount 2,3,4 or even 5 road bikes on the wall? How can I store a mountain bike vertically What's the best way to store an ebike

Take a look at our range of vertical bike storage solutions

Let’s deal with each of these in turn:

1. Why would I want to store a bike on the wall or hanging from the ceiling?

Having bikes all stacked horizontally on the floor, leaning on each other is not a good way to store them.

they will take up loads of floor space

you won’t be able to get to the bikes at the back

the bikes will touch each other and get scratched or damaged

suspension forks dry out

Even if you have a floor mounted bike rack, where you push the front wheel into a slot or pair of hoops, you are likely to have problems with narrow tyres (the bike will lean to one side) or wide tyres (too wide for the slot). Sometimes the brake disc or rear mech (depending on which way you are storing them) gets in the way too. And they use a huge amount of floor space. Hanging your bikes on the wall will save loads of space in your shed or garage. If the bikes are light enough to lift off the ground (like road bikes) then you can hang them high enough up on the wall (or ceiling) to keep the floor clear.

3 bike wall rack

Even if they are touching the floor, 4 or 5 bikes will only take up the same amount of floor space as 1 bike leaning against the wall.

Storing bikes vertically on the wall means;

They take up much less floor space

they utilise un-used wall space

you can get to each bike without moving the others

each bike is held apart from the next so they don’t get scratched or damaged it’s better to store a bike with front suspension this way (see below) 2. How can I hang a heavy electric bike on the wall? It’s too heavy to lift. With the right kind of wall mounting bike hanger or bike hook that’s not a problem. It is possible to store a bike vertically on the wall without needing to lift it at all.

Wall bike hook for 1 bike

What you need is a wall mounting bike bracket or hook that is small enough, and fixed at the right angle, to easily fit between the spokes on the front wheel.

Double bike hook for 2 bikes

All you need to do then is pull on the back brake, take 2 steps backwards (the bike will magically rise onto its back wheel), release the brake, roll the bike up to the hook and then hook the wheel. This series of photographs illustrates this. Storing heavy bikes on hooks, where you need to lift the bike up, isn’t a great idea. Heavy bikes can be really awkward to lift up and you stand a fair chance of hurting your back. Also, this might mean that one person will become the designated ‘bike-hanger-upper-and getter-downer’ which is a right nuisance and it means only one person can get the bikes down or put them away. With the right kind of wall mounted bike hook you simply don’t need to do this.

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3. Will hanging a bike by it’s front wheel damage the wheel?

Unlikely. Assuming the hook has a nice rubber coating it shouldn’t scratch the rim. What most people seem to worry about is deforming the wheel but this is never going to happen.

Take a look at our vertical bike racks and hooks range

Consider that your road bike weighs around 5 to 10Kg. A mountain bike might weigh 10 to 15Kg. A downhill or an electric bike might be as heavy as 25Kg. If the bike is hanging by the front wheel then one wheel is going to have to support the entire weight of the bike. It doesn’t matter that the weight is being applied to the inside of the rim. Normally the wheels have to support the weight of the bike plus the rider. Even 25Kg is a tiny load compared to what the wheels on a bike are designed to cope with. Even a race ready, skinny biker will weigh around 70Kg. You’ve probably noticed lots of riders who are a bit bigger than that, perhaps 120Kgs or more. In this case each wheel is supporting a static load of 60Kg. If it’s a mountain bike or a bike being ridden through a pothole or up a kerb then the loads will be multiplied many times. On a downhill bike that could be 10 times or more. Unless something very extreme happens, all wheels including road bike wheels, are designed to cope with huge loads. Hanging a bike up by its wheel is no problem at all. The wheel is designed to take loads far in excess of the weight of the bike. The only potential problem will be if the bike is held upright by the tyre and the tyre goes flat!

4. Will hydraulic brakes still work if I store a bike vertically?

When hydraulic brakes need bleeding, air has got into the system. When you store the bike vertically the air bubbles rise to the highest point, the brake levers. When you take the bike down from the wall they may feel spongy at first. However, pulling the levers a couple of times should quickly sort the problem out. You should make sure the brakes (all kinds) are working before you start riding for obvious reasons. If squeezing the levers a couple of times doesn’t fix the sponginess then there is a problem with the brakes, not the way the bike is being stored.

5. Will suspension forks be OK if the bike is stored in an upright position?

Yes. Undoubtedly. In fact this is the best way to store any bike with suspension forks. All suspension forks have stanchions (the shiny tubes) that slide in and out of the fork legs (the bit attached to the wheel). To make these movements super smooth, the fork legs are full of oil. To stop the oil spraying everywhere every time you compress the forks there is a rubber seal fitted at the top of the fork legs. This will have a foam seal fitted behind it to hold the oil against the stanchions. When a bike is stored horizontally on the floor, the oil drains out of the foam seals. If left for a long time the seals dry out and shrink. This stops the forks working properly and can damage the stanchions. That can be expensive, especially with mountain bike forks that can cost £800 or more.

This is just one of the products in the GearHooks range

If the bike is stored vertically on the wall, the forks are tilted backwards. This means that the oil in the forks runs backwards and pools against the foam seals. This keeps the seals properly lubricated and stops them drying out. Another benefit of some wall mounting bike racks is that there is space between the bikes to store lots of other gear. That's a bit like even more 'free space' because it would otherwise be wasted, hidden behind the handlebars. GearHooks have a range of separate hooks for bike stands, track pumps, tools, spare wheels and other parts.

Extra hooks are available for tools and spare parts

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The kind of bike, and the number, you have will affect how you store it or them. Road bikes are easier to store than mountain bikes because they are lighter and their handlebars are narrower. Here are our recommendations:

1. What's the best way to store a road bike on the wall?

The best way to mount a single road bike on the wall is to hang it by the front wheel in your house, garage or shed. This is the cheapest and most convenient solution and should save space and keep your pride and joy safe from knocks and dings.

https://gearhooks.com/collections/gearhooks-bike-hooks-and-bike-storage-racks/products/vertical-bike-storage-hook-for-1-bike

How to mount 2,3,4 or even 5 road bikes on the wall?

Road bikes can be stored very close together on a wall mounted bike rack so it's a great way to save space and keep the bikes safe from damage. It's easy to start with a rack for just 2 or 3 bikes and add hooks for more bikes with just an Allen key and no more drilling. On the GearHooks bike wall mount rack, you can fit 5 bikes in just 1 meter of wall space. You can swing the bikes left and right to make them easier to get to or even hang alternate bikes upside down, by the rear wheel.

https://gearhooks.com/collections/gearhooks-bike-hooks-and-bike-storage-racks/products/copy-of-bike-wall-mount-rack-for-3-4-or-5-bikes

How can I store a mountain bike vertically

You can store mountain bikes in a similar way to road bikes but, because the handlebars are wider, you cannot fit as many on a rack. We recommend a maximum of 3 mountain bikes on a rack. That would still leave space for a couple of road bikes in between them.

https://gearhooks.com/collections/gearhooks-bike-hooks-and-bike-storage-racks/products/bike-wall-rack-for-5-bikes-wall-mounting-vertical-bike-storage-for-5-bikes

There are plenty of ways you can increase the number of bikes on a 1 meter long rail. Firstly you can swing bikes sideways to open up the space. Alternatively, you can install 2 racks for 3 bikes next to each other or one above the other. We also make a unique inverted V shaped rack, that will take up to 6 bikes, where the handlebars naturally overlap.

https://gearhooks.com/collections/gearhooks-bike-hooks-and-bike-storage-racks/products/flying-v-bike-storage-and-display-rack

What's the best way to store an ebike

Storing an ebike vertically is more difficult that a road bike because they are heavier, so harder to lift onto a hook. But, there are ways to hang an ebike that mean you don't have to lift it at all. With the right kind of hook you can get over the weight problem by keeping the rear wheel on the floor. You can just hold the brakes and step backwards, to bring the bike up onto its back wheel, then roll the bike up to the wall and hook the front wheel, without lifting the bike at all. This works equally well on a single hook, as shown in the sequence below, but will work in exactly the same way with 3 hooks on a rack.

https://gearhooks.com/collections/gearhooks-bike-hooks-and-bike-storage-racks/products/vertical-bike-storage-hook-for-1-bike

So, to summarise why storing bikes on the wall is a great idea:

storing bikes vertically on the wall takes up much less floor space

a bike hook isn't expensive and can cost less than £10

you don’t have to lift heavy bikes off the floor

you can get to individual bikes without moving others

bikes are held apart so they won’t get damaged

the front wheel can easily support a bike hanging from it

hydraulic brakes may feel spongy at first but soon passes

suspension forks benefit from being stored like this

However you decide to store your bikes have fun riding!

If you found this article useful and have any other gear to store or space that you'd like to save, then why not check out our other storage systems, like our garden tool storage hooks or golf club organiser racks. Thanks for reading. Hope it explained a few things. Feel free to contact us for more help and advice about storing all kinds of sports and leisure gear.