Thursday, July 7, 2011

Vertical Bike Storage System from Gear Up

If you live in a small space, you know it can be tricky to store your bike(s).  Even if you live in a big place, it's always nice to be organized.  I love the household real estate saving quality of this vertical bike rack from  Gear Up. 

This is a floor to ceiling rack that uses tension to hold everything up.  It has a very small footprint and will keep those bikes up and out of the way while looking great.   There is padding on either end of the main structure to protect floors and ceilings.  It's perfect for apartment dwellers, and everyone who would prefer not to put holes in the ceiling and will accommodate 7-11 ft. high ceilings.

The body of the rack is heavy duty airplane grade aluminum and works fine indoors or on balconies, carports, garages or basements.  If it will be exposed to weather elements, say stored outside on a covered porch, it is recommended that you occasionally apply some WD-40 to the nuts and bolts to extend their life as they are the most vulnerable parts, which the company is happy to replace when and if needed.  The arms are carbon steel coated with vinyl--strong but gentle on bikes.  The rack is built to last and something you buy once. 

Set up is pretty straight-forward.  On the box it says it takes minutes, and now that I have done it, yes, I can see it taking minutes, but for the first time you might want to allow a good half hour.  Should you run into any problems, Gear Up has an extremely helpful and friendly staff that will walk you through it over the phone. 

For odd shaped bikes,  there are adapters that you can get that will facilitate mounting the bike.  I had this issue with my commuter-cruiser hybrid, but with the adapter bar, it fits fine.  You can purchase extras arms to mount additional bikes up to 200lbs, though I think aesthetically, two is really ideal unless they are kids' bikes. 

It is a good looking design that would match many different styles, I think it has an industrial modern look and I can see it in a variety of settings.  I really like this for use indoors--there's something fun about seeing your bike in the house.  Gear Up has many different styles and storage solutions to choose from, find them HERE.