BIKE RACKS BLOG

This blog has discussed bike racks, ceiling racks, wall racks and pretty much anything bike storage related.  Well, today I want to discuss something that is indirectly related to the storage of your bicycle and gear.  Most people store their bikes in the garage or in a shed, and are forced to share this space with a variety of other everyday items, one of which is garage tools.  Everybody needs them;  few know how to store them.  I have a couple of suggestions for garage tool organizers that will clear up space in your garage, providing you with the storage necessary for your fleet of bicycles.

garage tool organizer

Floor space in the garage is important if you want it to function at its maximum efficiency.  This is why I suggest using wall or ceiling racks for your bicycle storage.  Well, the same principle is at work here with your larger garage tools.  Items such as weed-whackers, rakes, shovels, hoes, chainsaws and ladders take up so much floor space when they are not being used; floor space that would be the perfect place to tweak your spokes or fix a broken bike seat!  I would recommend checking out the tool wall organizers over at StacksandStacks.com, where you can find magnetic wall racks, heavy duty wall racks, and even a simple pegboard for your tool storage.
Another suggestion for garage storage deals less with saving space and more with saving time.  Don’t you hate it when all you need to do to finish your bike-building project is fasten a few screws, but your disorganized garage makes you spend an extra hour just searching for a Phillips head screw driver?  Well add some bin storage to your garage and know exactly where everything is, at all times!  Most of the bin storage units at Stacks and Stacks include place holders for labels, ensuring you will never waste time searching for tools again.
I know today’s post was a bit tangential, but I just finished cleaning up my garage and was inspired to share what I learned from the experience with you, my dedicated readers.

Well, you certainly don’t have to be a super-human type being to get up on the ceiling. And you don’t have to be a rock climber hang upside down. And you really don’t need to work for the phone company, either. How do you do it? Let me explain to you how. Feast you eyes on some serious awesomeness. This amazing Aluminum Overhead Garage Rack and Hoist takes your bike, and HANGS IT!

Pretty neat, huh? The first time I installed one back in 2003, my kids and I stood and stared. My ex-wife said it looked like a scene out of her favorite film, “E.T. The Extra Terrestrial”. She was exactly right, and the Aluminum Overhead Garage Rack’s tough cam lock and frame is exactly right as well. You know what? It also holds ladders, if your bike is out in the shop. Or you’re out riding it. It’ll actually safely hoist up anything you want, up to 75 pounds! That was great for my cramped garage, when it existed. There just so much stuff around in there, the Aluminum Overhead Garage Rack really helps. It helps your bike “rise above”! (Ha-ha, sorry, bad pun.)

I’d nab one of these Aluminum Overhead Garage Racks quick, and hang your goods up, if I were you. You’ll be envied by your neighbors, and like I said, your kids will love watching things float up there. Mine used to. And my new fiance was so happy after I bought one, that she said that she could overlook all of my “wacky eccentricities” because I finally came though on something I said I could: I made a bike float in the air. Ha-ha! Peace!

Jeez, how about this guy? He’s headin’ for a brusin’ — or crusin’ for a hurtin’. If only we could save him from his fate, with like a really neat futuristic device that could change the way gravity works, like really just make sure he didn’t clobber his face and more importantly wreck that sweet bike, simply by using a device that could stop gravity in it’s tracks and by extension stop this guy and his bike in their tracks so he didn’t wreck that cool bike and break face, which he’s about to do. Man, too bad it’s only 2010 (almost 2011, ha-ha) and no one has invented that futuristic thing yet, and when they do, they should invent a futuristic time machine so they can go back in time and stop this guy from eating it. But hey, maybe he didn’t crash his bike into that rock, sending him over the edge of that cliff, maybe gravity DID stop, maybe gravity stopped, and everyone was so freaked out that some forward-thinking guy actually had time to go run and get his camera and take a photo of this biker floating in midair. Maybe. I doubt it. You don’t mess with gravity. But what I don’t doubt, is the coolness of this similarly titled bike-rack, the Gravity Bike Rack. Cool!! Right? It’s from Stacks.

A bicycle stand built for two! The space-saving Gravity Bike Rack holds 2 bicycles and helmets securely and needs no installation. Just choose a location and place the bike-rack against any wall. That’s all! No drilling into walls, and no mounting hardware. For added convenience, this unique bike storage stand has two hooks to hang riding helmets. Rubber pads on the back of the rack protect your wall. Perfect for apartments, condos, garages, homes and anywhere space is limited or permanent markings are prohibited. Arms can be partially rotated. Bike rack extends 12.5″ from the wall. Made of sturdy steel tubing. Weight limit is 100 pounds. Good luck!

AHHGH! BIGFOOT! Like there isn’t enough danger out there for the modern bike enthusiast, we’re faced with a pwefora of reports from the northwestern seaboard about Yeti Strikes on unsuspecting bicyclists. Horrible. The AP is filing story after story about lone bike riders, out on lonely forest paths, who unexpected run into this loner, this cryptozoological behemoth, and are scared senseless. While common sense thinking would have us bike-fans sticking to the tried-and-true streets and bike paths of our towns and cities, I refuse to accept that we can no longer journey into nature. I will not relinquish my right to load my car with 4 of my favorite bikes, using the aforementioned 4 Bike Car Bike Rack from Stacks and Stacks, and head into the great wilderness.

If you’re with me, and want to head out to the northwest territories and ride bikes, you’d better believe the 4 Bike Car Bike Rackis your best bet. This awesome car bike rack provides the ultimate in flexibility to accommodate today’s wide variety of bike frame designs while still maintaining all the advantages of having a hitch mounted bike rack. This rack holds four bikes and rotates to allow your bikes to be carried with the wheels level to the ground and provide greater clearance. Other features include a locking knob for added security and soft vinyl cushioning, which is grooved for cables and provides a secure, scratch free ride for your bike. Can accommodate up to a 2 inch frame tube. Assembly required. Good luck!

Brrrr. Winter is here today, friends! The Holidays and Santa are on the way! Woo-hoo! That means peak bike-related gift buying days ahead! I can’t wait for the undoubtedly great gifts I’ll receive this year from all my friends and fans of this blog! The Holidays are great because not only do you find values but you can get so many things for free if you just ask for them and the people you ask shop at the right places and like you enough to get you great things and not weak gifts or “gag” gifts because those are the worst! And you now what is the best part of the holidays? Christmas trees!! You know what other kinds of trees are cool? Bike rack trees! Check out this crazy cool Bike Tree. Cool!! Right?

Now, isn’t this the PERFECT GIFT FOR A WRITER OF A BIKE BLOG (me)? Hint, hint. Ha-ha. This Heavy Duty Bike Tree is a new bike storage system. This bicycle rack holds two bikes on its patented arm assembly that can move up and down as well as side to side for perfect positioning. And what makes this bike tree so cool, so really special, is that it holds any style of bike! Think about that for one second, then TRY not to order one! It features a powder coated steel tube construction that is both durable and stylish! And get ready, because this unique bike rack stands 84″ tall and the vinyl coated arms will not scratch or mar the paint! Dude, really. AND it holds up to 120 pounds and requires some assembly, no tools needed!
Pretty sweet. Pretty wild. Pretty bike rack! Good luck!

Oh my GOD! The New World Order is trying to take away our bike racks AGAIN!! You should read THIS ARTICLE from The Denver Post as fast as possible!! Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes is warning voters that Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper’s policies, particularly his efforts to boost bike riding, are “converting Denver into a United Nations community.” “This is all very well-disguised, but it will be exposed,” Maes told about 50 supporters who showed up at a campaign rally last week in Centennial. Maes said in a later interview that he once thought the mayor’s efforts to promote cycling and other environmental initiatives were harmless and well-meaning. Now he realizes “that’s exactly the attitude they want you to have.” “This is bigger than it looks like on the surface, and it could threaten our personal freedoms,” Maes said. He added: “These aren’t just warm, fuzzy ideas from the mayor. These are very specific strategies that are dictated to us by this United Nations program that mayors have signed on to.” My GOD — this isn’t a ha-ha moment, this is very real. The UN is going to quite possibly strip away all our human rights, and do it after tempting us bike enthusiasts with the promise of more bike racks and paths!! Anyway, until people figure out that we can have bike racks without UN control, and until people start to think for themselves and we fight the UN, we still have plenty of great racks right here and now!

In these troubling economic times, and even in Denver, you need value and dependability. If that’s what you’re after, then you’re after this awesome Aluminum Bike Rack that is Tension Mounted! There’s no minimum to the aluminum here, friends, it’s all aluminum. This rack is sleek and slender and it totally stores up to 2 bikes right out of the box, or you can add more with other attachments. If you look at the web page you’ll see how. It’s cool! It’s got a no-holes tension adjustment that secures the bike rack without wrecking your wall, and in these tough economic times, that’s cool. It adjusts to fit ceilings from 7′ to 11′ — like the convenience store. And that’s convenient. I would say this is a futuristic rack, maybe not crazy futuristic like the new space-age phones and all the internets, but it’s still pretty dang modern. You don’t really need anything more than a roof over your head, a nice family (just like my girlfriend and three daughters), a couple of bikes, and a good place to rack them. All this other crazy technology is just glitter. It’s cool, but you can always just stick to the essentials! Good luck!

Holy, holy Toledo, I had a BAD NIGHTMARE last night. Imagine this: a hellish world of gross black smoke, boiling lava, free-range fire, hot rocks, devil imagery, and torture shops. Sounds bad, sure, but it also sounds like Sacramento in early September. What made MY NIGHTMARE so very scary was the fact that in this bubbling hot-fire hell-house, THERE WERE NO BIKE RACKS. I know, unthinkable. In the dream I was leading a group of brave bicycle enthusiasts across this unspeakably terrifying vista, leading them, I hoped, to a vending machine of cool water, possibly a Snickers Marathon Energy bar, and at the very least, a BIKE RACK. So this group of tired, poor, huddled, yearning, breathing-free enthusiasts could rack their bikes for one moment of peace. But this was a NIGHTMARE, with the same thing happening again and again and again and again and again and again with no bike racks anywhere! Whew. I woke up screaming. I ran to my computer, and saw that it was still powered up, still on a website that would make me feel so much better. Friends, my computer was still tuned to Stacks and Stacks, and I was starting at something beautiful. I was staring at Stack’sFree Standing Bike Rack. Thank the lord, I was in heaven.

It’s a strong, black powder coated, steel framed free standing bike rack, and it really gives you a storage option for your bikes that doesn’t take up a whole lot of space. Or send you to a hell with no bike racks, BECAUSE IT IS A BIKE RACK, ha-ha!! Since this unit is free standing it gives you the option of placing it anywhere. Which is why they call it free standing. AND this bike rack looks stylish AND is able to handle up to 200 lbs worth of bikes AND is awesome! No wall required! Use it inside or outside, this rack can handle any bike holding job! I want you to think about that. And think about not having nightmares, too! Good luck!

You may read the news and hear about what is going on so you probably heard about this already but I’ll tell you now because IT’S IMPORTANT. On the internet, this story tells all about this guy who was totally slam-a-blammed for loving bicycles and bicycle riding. You can go read the story but if you don’t have time I’ll cut and paste the important, important part:

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — In January 2009, a disgruntled JetBlue customer was slapped with a $50 fee for checking a box containing a fold-up bicycle, clothes and some cheese. The box met the height and weight requirements to keep it from warranting a baggage fee, but JetBlue’s policy for checking a bicycle, no matter the size, called for a $50 charge.

The angry passenger called the airline’s customer service center but was repeatedly told it was company policy and that no exceptions would be made. After getting back home, he took his fight public in a blog post on the Bicycle Transportation Alliance’s website.

Then it was picked up by Twitter.

Within three days JetBlue called the cyclist back to tell him the $50 charge had been reversed and that it was changing its policy. “I have a great deal of respect for a company that is capable of recognizing an error and working quickly to fix it, ha-ha,” wrote the cyclist. The resolution of the saga was picked up in the bike blogosphere and Consumerist.

Yes, you guessed correctly… the airline passenger was ME. Boy, that whole thing made me mad. But alls well that ends well, ha-ha! I spent that 50 bucks on a new bike rack! Next time I fly JetBlue, I’m seriously going to consider taking a whole BUNCH of bikes with me - so I’m going to need something real cool, like this real cool bicycle storage rack called the Freestanding 4-Bike Rack from the folks over at Stacks and Stacks.

Need a bike rack that can accommodate many styles of bikes? This is the one for you. It’s a really sweet free standing bike rack! Great for the garage, this bike rack is perfect for families and people who collect multiple bikes (yes, that means me). It is super easy to put together, and super easy to use as well. Tough and strong and great looking, too! So really, I can’t think of a better way to store multiple bikes of different styles all in the same place, all at the same time. It makes organizing you garage a whole lot easier to, because all of your bikes can be stacked up. Maybe those wise guys at JetBlue hate bicycles, but I know you don’t, and I sure don’t, so don’t hesitate to buy this bike rack and show JetBlue what America is all about!!

Summer Solstice is here today, friends! The heat is on it’s way! Woo-hoo! That means peak bike-riding days ahead! I can’t wait for the burning heat, the 100-plus degree weather, the boiling wall of fire, the hellish nightmare furnace that is summer to crank up its thermostat and fry the sweat right off my face. Summer is great for bike riding and working up a real sweat, a real biblical sweat, an Apache sweat. And to cool yourself off in the summer? Trees. Ah, shade. It’s cool! You know what other kinds of trees are cool? Bike rack trees! Check out this crazy cool Bike Tree. Hot!! Right?

Now, don’t think this is some kind of re-do of an older, more useless bike tree. No way. Ha-ha. This Heavy Duty Bike Tree is a new bike storage system. This bicycle rack holds two bikes on its patented arm assembly that can move up and down as well as side to side for perfect positioning. And what makes this bike tree so cool, so really special, is that it holds any style of bike! Think about that for one second, then TRY not to order one! It features a powder coated steel tube construction that is both durable and stylish! And get ready, because this unique bike rack stands 84″ tall and the vinyl coated arms will not scratch or mar the paint! Dude, really. AND it holds up to 120 pounds and requires some assembly, no tools needed!
Pretty sweet. Pretty wild. Pretty bike rack! Good luck!

Holy smokes! Guess who reads this site!! I bet you figured it out from the picture, ha-ha! Well you’re right, Lance Armstrong reads Bike Racks Blog! He sent an email yesterday, and I read it:

“Hey Larry, great site, great information. Keep up the good work. Target a dream. Best, Lance.”

Wow. Can you say blown away?! I’m honored and moved that Lance took the time to send that e-mail, and that he likes this site. I bet it’s because he knows that sometimes you just need as much bike rack knowledge as possible. And sometimes you need to get a bike racked as fast as possible, and not worry about glitter and nonsense. Sometimes I get carried away with all my excitement for the coolest and newest designs of bike racks, but sometimes these racks are expensive and require a lot of research to make sure you get the right one. It’s okay. I found a great rack for you, Lance, that’s prefect and simple and easy and fast!

This is the really cool Bicycle Hook ProStor PIW-1 with an Iron Wedge. Look at that: no fuss, no problems! Ha-ha. Not that bike racks are ever a problem! You store your bikes on the wall or ceiling of your garage with the Iron Wedge bike hanger part — and they hang like vampires from the ceiling, or the just stick to the wall if that’s where you put it! It’s got a cool cushioned sleeve to protect your bike’s wheel, and it’s made from heavy-duty, REALLY-heavy-duty epoxy-coated, laser-cut 12-gauge steel. Dude, right? That’s tough stuff. And if you’re really crazy about security (and who isn’t in these tough economic times), the Hook features a “V” cutout to accommodate a cable lock! Awesome. This is a bicycle rack that is simple, and cool, and great! Check it out, friends! Good luck!