Mr.Moto
Well-Known Member
I’ve had it in my cart for a week now. Will probably pull the trigger this weekend. 😀
Sliding bike storage rack
- Thread starter kramonut
- Start date
tonyride
Don't piss off the red guy
We trust that you'll have all of our questions answered once you have it all set up.
Yea when you all come to the conclusion of the perfect bike storage rack, can someone let me know. I’d like to keep it under $100. It would also be nice if the hooks lowered so the vertically challenged household members didn’t rely on me to get their bikes down.
I have one of those pulley systems. Pos and pita. Not worth the hassle. A hook is way easier.
JonF
Well-Known Member
How many bikes? You can do 2 for under 100 if you buy the 1UP trolleys (frankly a great design and reasonably priced) and get your strut and fittings from HD. But this also depends on how you mount it. If you can mount it straight to your ceiling, thats the simplest and cheapest way. If you need to cantilever from the wall, you need double the amount of strut and fittings and cost will be over 100 fore sure. Though you can save more with your own trolleys and hooks, since 1UP trolleys exist, i can't see cobbling your own together, the features are too good to pass up.
remember end-stops - or just a bolt and rubber spacer.
JonF
Well-Known Member
My configuration will have the track captured on both ends between the wall and a post so like you mentinoed i'll likely add a bolt stop to backspace off the wall.
JonF
Well-Known Member
1up trolley's arrived, perfect fit for standard 1 5/8 unistrut
You can see how the threaded shank of the hook engages in the unistrut slots to lock it in position. Simply pulling down and compressing the spring and the trolley disengages and you can slide the trolley and pivot the hook in a position you want. Interesting to note that they only lock and position when empty. Under the weight of a bike, the spring compresses and the trolley disengages and it's free to pivot and slide. Would have thought it should be the opposite to lock your bikes in position.
You can see how the threaded shank of the hook engages in the unistrut slots to lock it in position. Simply pulling down and compressing the spring and the trolley disengages and you can slide the trolley and pivot the hook in a position you want. Interesting to note that they only lock and position when empty. Under the weight of a bike, the spring compresses and the trolley disengages and it's free to pivot and slide. Would have thought it should be the opposite to lock your bikes in position.
I think the logic is that it can be hard to get the bike on to the hook if it's moving around, so it locks when there isn't weight on it.
JonF
Well-Known Member
That's certainly a valid point. On the flip side, ideally you would not want the bikes sliding into each other when hung up. Maybe its not really an issue in practice though.
kramonut
Well-Known Member
So far, for me, in practice it's not much of an issue. I loaded up the rack a couple days ago w/ more bikes & wheels & it's been great. Granted, I do just have to be a little careful when walking by & not smacking the bars & hence moving the bikes, but so far, so good.
Having used mine for a bit now, having the hooks lock into place when you remove the bike would be really helpful! That's where the potential for smacking the bikes together can happen...the hook moves a bit on mine if I'm not careful taking a bike down.
Nice to know the 1up hooks work with the regular unistrut! Are you going to mount the unistrut directly to the ceiling or from brackets? I have mine right into the bottom of the roof truss so that little bit of extended screw would just hit the drywall above.
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serviceguy
Well-Known Member
Considering they sandblasted and powder coated the strut the price difference is justifiable, the galvanized rail from HD will eventually rust. I'm going with the HD strut and some trolleys from Amazon plus the Park Tool hooks, not really saving any money but it looks a little sturdier than the 1Up setup and I don't really like the spring action. I'm also thinking to use the same system in a poor man's pocket door setup...
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serviceguy
Well-Known Member
That would make it a lot more expensive, $18 for a M10x1.5 unit...I've reconsidered the whole swivel thing, as long as I can adjust the hook one way or another is fine. Actually, I will just need the hooks to be perpendicular to the rail. I like the bearings of 'my' setup because they bigger. I've also thought of a number of applications beyond the bike rack, I just need to come up with the proper anchoring to the ceiling. Starting with these...Plus
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