I am looking to move from a house (with garden and shed) down south to flat in Edinburgh in the near future. I'm looking forward to this due to the riding available locally, i.e. some proper hills! What I'm not looking forward to is moving into a flat. This is quite small but has the great bonus that it will be very cheap to live in. This makes a lot of sense as can save a fair bit of money.
I currently have 4 bikes and one is my girlfriends. I could reduce this 2, one of mine and hers. But there is still a storage and maintenance/cleaning issue. Where am I going to do that? Storage outside of the flat is not really a good idea as the area isn't great.
Anyone any ideas that would make living in a flat with mountain bikes less of PITA?
Just done a similar thing. If you're lucky, your flat might have some of the "Edinburgh Press Cupboard" things. We've got two, about 3' square and 10' tall, with shelves, that are recessed off the hallway. My bikes (x3) fit into one of these with the wheels and seatposts off if I take out one of the shelves.
What area are you moving to?
It's not old enough to have one of those cupboards. I think there is some sort of storage cupboard for each flat in the communal hallway. Don't think bikes will be safe in there though
The area is Longstone, just off Longstone Road.
If flat has high ceilings the pulley rack things are quite good.
When I lived in Morningside I bought a garage to keep the bikes in, concreted in a ground anchor and secured with a motorbike chain
Sold the garage at a nice profit when moved away, the parking regulations certainly helped the prices!
Definitely keep bikes in the flat, not the stairwell, they go missing all the time. If you have an understanding partner maintainence isn't problem if you have wooden floors, just make a mess and sweep the mud up! I used two decorating trays under the bike for chain cleaning, otherwise just let the mud dry and brush it off. Pentlands mud isn't too bad compared to other places and tweed valley is just pine needles.
Get a flat with an extra room and have a bike room?
Although it sounds like you already have a flat sorted..
Oh and when I've lived in flats with bikes, I stored them in my room (either on a bike stand I made, or an old shower curtain on the floor). Reguarly stopped off at Asda/Sainsburys on the way home after ride to use the jetwash, generall £1 for 3 minutes, and kept chain lube and an old towel in the car.
Longstone is not that bad an area, my wife lived there for a bit and my office was there too. Wester Hailes is nearby which does not help though. For maintenance just head to the bike station and rent a stand for a few hours, not ideal but ok
I live in Stenhouse and store my less valuable bikes in the shed but keep my cotic in the house. I wash it outside and stick it in the spare room with front wheel off. Visitors tend to put up with it's presence.
From Longstone you are straight onto the water of leith and into the pentlands, via the rather good Blue Goose pub. There's a regular Saturday bike ride with ERC's mtb group too from Colinton, just a short ride away.
It is a great city to live in as well as great for mtb'ing. Sure you will you enjoy living here.
A mate of mine lives in Edinburgh and has a raised double bed that he fits about 7 bikes under in their spare bedroom.
Like this-
It's a great solution. He also has a bike tree taking 3 more bikes in his living room.
We had an extra cupboard in our flat in Edinburgh that would take 4 bikes (more if we bought bike poles). Shame you've not got one, it was ideal. I would not have kept my bikes in our stairwell, though- I remember one morning being woken up at 4am by a stoner ringing our doorbell and trying to get in. He'd have been off with any bikes in a flash. This was in Bruntsfield, so not exactly the roughest area.
Thanks for the replies and ideas. I think the actual issue is that I will be living in the flat with the other half. If it was just me on my own there would be no issue! Feeling a bit more positive about it now
We have one of the racks that leans against the wall - designed for keeping two bikes off the floor, but we have a nice bike-shaped alcove and keep one up high, then three down on the floor, with an old rug underneath.
We have a long rug/runner from ikea that is like a very long doormat - means if you come in with dirty shoes and/or bike it gets all the way to where the bikes are kept.
I live in London so almost all MTB rides involve the car, I have a Nomad (aka dirtworker) washer so I can give it a reasonable clean before it goes in the car and it's dry by the time I get home.
Maintenance - old duvet cover goes down in the lounge and I put my workstand on that. Fold up and shake outside, wash once in a while to get the greasy stuff off. I restrict myself to one big plastic box of tools and parts that lives in the bottom of a wardrobe. It means you have to be more discriminating on what you keep - can't keep an old set of wheels "just in case" because there's no space for them.
[i]This is quite small but has the great bonus that it will be very cheap to live in. This makes a lot of sense as can save a fair bit of money.[/i]
We can all save money by downsizing, but it kinda gets pointless if you are making life difficult for yourself for the sake of it.
For me, having a mancave that's bigger than most LBS's gives me joy 🙂