Year in Review: Bicycle Storage

In the late 70s, we built a 10′ x 20′ storage building in our back yard. It was divided into three spaces: 10′ x 10′ for general storage; 4 ‘ x 10′ for yard tools and a pump for the sprinkler system and a 6′ x 10’ workshop.

John Perry installing windowIt was unconditioned and poorly sealed, particularly when the bottoms of the doors would rot out. Over the years, it became the home for squirrels, rats, a possum family, silverfish, cockroaches and, eventually, termites.

When I retired in September, 2008, I needed a place to store all of my prints, negatives and clips under controlled conditions. We had Brother-in-Law John come down to make the place right after everything was emptied out, triaged and termite-tented.

When he was done, the building was insulated, drywalled, air conditioned and had a hurricane-proof window in the workshop.

How do I store the bicycles?

The only problem was that I had five bicycles to contend with: my new Surly Long Haul Trucker, old Trek 1220, Wife Lila’s Trek Navigator 300 and Schwinn 3-speed. Finally, there was Bro Mark’s 40-year-old Sears Spyder that I had hoped to restore.

Those were all blocking access to the shelves that had my archived photos. Shuffling them around was going to drive me crazy.

That’s when I heard about the Cycle Tree

Harbor Freight Cycle Tree with four bikes on itThe Cycle Tree, from Harbor Freight, sounded like my solution.

  • It holds up to six bikes.
  • It’s on wheels, so it can be moved from one side of the room to another easily to get to the shelves.
  • It takes up four square feet of floor space.
  • Best of all, it costs $44.99 (plus shipping)

Read the full Cycle Tree review

The full review, including detailed pictures of the assembly, is here.

Bottom line: sometimes you really DO get more than you pay for. The Cycle Tree does everything I need it to and for a great price.

2 Replies to “Year in Review: Bicycle Storage”

  1. I wonder if I can get one of these. My family have four bikes between us and they’re just propped up in the garage. A cycle tree would be perfect as it would help us tidy up a bit!

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