Here on BikePortland’s Real Estate Beat, we write a lot about commercial and apartment/condo bike parking. But we’ve never covered the bike parking Portlanders are probably best at: cool ways to store bikes at single-family homes.
Let’s change that. Snap a photo of your setup and we’ll share the most interesting, creative, impressive, attractive, whatever.
When high-end prototypes are being stolen from local garages, this is a matter worth talking about.
If you’ve got a bike parking setup at home that’s worth sharing, text, email, tweet or Facebook message it to @bikeportland or to me directly: 503-333-7824 or michael@bikeportland.org. Include your first name and what city you live in.
And hey, if you know someone else whose parking setup is an inspiration, send this post to them.
— The Real Estate Beat is a weekly column sponsored by real estate broker Lyudmila Leissler of Portlandia Home/Windermere Real Estate. Let Mila help you find the best bike-friendly home.
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Ok…pressing send on photos of my semi secure bike parking room at home showing my bike pile of exotic steel and carbon steeds…wait now…do I really want to make it that easy…like a Craigslist ad with a Google Map link. ;-0
Ha! Obviously we won’t include addresses (or ask you to share them).
Please see “reader”‘s comment below. Maybe get a tool to strip off location metadata in case some folks inadvertently leave it on.
Yeah, I am not falling for this trap… I store our bikes (which are all Huffy and Magna brand) in a locked and buried shipping container reached via a secret entrance. That entrance can only be accessed after passing a security system consisting of a roving Doberman, biometric scan, and three questions from the Bridgekeeper.
“African or European swallows?”
Blue, no, yelloooow…….!
Without a firepole it’s amateur. Tell me you have one of those. (and sharks with lasers)
Perhaps withhold names, as well as addresses?
Not a Portlander. Unlocked, under a Costco shelter tent. Real _rural_ Olympic Peninsula county. Had a beater car stolen off the back 40 once. No one’s touched the bikes. Noisy dog tends to deter invited and uninvited visitors. Oh yeah, bikes mostly cheap and old, with the exception of an Aluminum Novara Buzz I’m modifying for our daughter. May buy her a U-lock to use when she rides to school.
My 38 year old mixte gets parked in my ugly basement. I’m not sure this would make for a compelling photo.
Mrs Dibbly & I park indoors, in a hallway, which she wont let me photograph because “it’s messy”. Imagine a mid-80s Santana tandem hanging from the wall, along with a similar vintage Vitus 979 frame (with wheels, never built up). Underneath them are 4 other bikes. Two others are in storage. We really had to cut back when we moved cross country to Portland.
Great idea for a story, though. I want to see the photos.
We turned our Model T Ford sized garage door that cut into our basement into french doors….no more in door car parking, just bike parking.
Our basement also now stays a comfortable temperature all year around….a built in air conditioner in the summer, no more serious air leakage in the winter.
In my gah-rajh. Duh!
Nine of my favorite bikes are parked in the living room of my overpriced seattle one bedroom apartment. Not super glam but dry and secure, and I wouldn’t trade for my employer’s seven car garage full of land rovers and lexuses for anything.
Picture this… Apartment building parking garage. Roll up and put your fob on the thingy and the door opens up. Ride in and around a corner and there are some nice racks bolted to the floor.
Secure and convenient.
make sure your smart phone is not putting a gps location in the metadata of your photos.
In my garage, which is secured with an automatic garage opener, I fixed a 2″x12″x10′ to the wall and screwed in honk’n big bike hooks to the board. Also screwed in honk’n big eye bolts and cable-lock bikes within secure garage. I know cable locks are weak, but potential thief would have to be very committed and prepared to break into garage, then cut cable. Cable locks prevent snatch and grab if I mistakenly leave garage open to grab a sandwich or beer.
I love this idea! Can’t wait to see the follow-up article.
My Surly Straggler lives in my basement. My Bianchi San Jose and wife’s Trek 8000 live in our shed. I lock the shed at night, even though my neighborhood is pretty quiet. I make great efforts to ensure tweakers will not get their hands on our bikes.
I use multiple u-locks to secure my bikes in my locked basement and use a hefty cable lock to secure them to exposed pipe. My pedal cycles are the only material things I care about. Everything else is easily and inexpensively replaceable.
At Peninsula Park Commons (www.penparkcommons.org) have a 600 square foot bike barn shared by our 9 household HOA. The bike barn was constructed by Orange Splott LLC. http://www.orangesplot.net/ in 2008 (http://www.oregonlive.com/realestate/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/homes_real_estate/1220036126197870.xml&coll=7). Despite this we are still a bit short on bike storage space because I and my neighbors have a bike accumulation problem.
In my dining room, leaning against a bookcase. She is NEVER left outside. And, at work, in my office. I’ve had too many bikes stolen to lock her up just anywhere…
Inside a locked building at all times.
And even then I usually have it rigged with some elaborate noise trap such that if you even touch it something loud will drop on the floor and draw the attention of several people.
At home this includes parking over a length of carpet runner that either completely blocks draining water or is itself backed up with a thick drop cloth. Too many times parking over apartment carpet has rain water carried road grime down to said carpet to produce ugly stains. Solution: sacrificial carpet runner.
Inside my tiny studio downtown. I would never leave my bike in the garage.
In the kitchen
Duh
Good bikes in the garage, old bike has been leaning against the house for years, no lock or anything.
On a wall in my living room, I screwed a 2×4 into studs, then screwed bike hooks into it. I painted it the same color as the trim and Hanging them vertically indoors has always been my preferred method, but they are always indoors when I’m not out – for the good of both our health (my bike and I).