The creative ways NYC’s avid cyclists store their bikes in their apartments
- When storage is not available, New Yorkers stash bikes on pulleys, hooks, and behind closet doors
- Basement storage is a nice perk but pricier models should be kept in your apartment
Owning a bicycle in New York City can be a great way to get around. But storing one in a tiny NYC apartment is another matter.
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New York City apartments can be so cramped some residents have trouble even fitting a bed inside. Yet somehow, the city’s most dedicated cyclists find room to keep their bikes inside (yes, multiple bikes).
“Some people put TVs on their walls. Bike guys will put bikes on their walls,” said Christopher Dixon, the owner of Dixon’s Bicycle Shop in Park Slope.
The best way to store your bike is to keep it inside your apartment—either on a hook on the wall, behind a closet door, or through a more complicated ceiling pulley system—rather than outside where your bike will be exposed to the elements, Dixon said.
“Bikes don’t react nice to being left outside for the whole winter,” Dixon said.
Dixon is lucky enough to have plenty of room to store his bikes at his duplex in Park Slope or in his shop. But not everyone has that much space on hand. Brick Underground caught up with three other NYC bikers—some avid cyclists, some not—to see how they store their bikes in their homes. Read on for their tips and tricks for the city’s cyclists.
A home office as a bike storage space
Corey Browning, who works at Recycle-a-Bicycle in Clinton Hill, manages to squeeze six bikes inside his Harlem apartment that he shares with his girlfriend. Just three of those bikes fit inside the couple’s second bedroom, which they use as a home office, Browning said.
“I pretty much have bikes in every room,” he said.
Browning’s cycling hobby was a part of his apartment search; he said looked for places on lower floors, or those with an elevator, so he could more easily get his bikes inside after a ride.
His current seventh-floor apartment has an elevator, thankfully, though Browning said he has been forced to lug his bike up the stairs when the elevator breaks down. To him, it’s well worth the effort.
“I view it as a cheat code to the city,” Browning said. “You can get everywhere so much quicker and not have to worry about [dealing with] a car or the train, and whether the train is on time or delayed.”
Three bikes in a Brooklyn co-op
Brooklyn renter Rebecca lives in a Kensington co-op, where she keeps her road bike, gravel bike, and a hybrid set of wheels.
When she lived in a different building, she stored her bikes in the hallway. She moved to a bigger place to have more room for her wheels (and so she could stop violating NYC fire code).
She keeps two of her bikes in the entryway of her one-bedroom apartment, while her super is kind enough to store the third in the building’s basement.
Lucking out with a basement storage space
Brooklyn renter Savannah used to keep her three-speed road bike in her apartment building’s foyer. After settling in Bedford Stuyvesant, she found a building with a garage where she can stash her wheels.
The garage has a hook where she can hang her bike and keep it protected from the elements. She said the ability to keep a bike has been a huge help in getting around Brooklyn, so much so that she’s been “trying to convert people” into fellow riders.
“I like having my bike since it can be more convenient to get around Brooklyn,” Savannah said. “It’s 20 minutes on a bike versus 45 minutes on a train sometimes to get to the same place.”
