Pulleys - anyone store their bike by hanging it from the roof?

johnny

I'll tells ya!
Staff member
Could swear that there was a thread with this in it but I can't find it.

I need to make space in my garage, which has a high, slanted ceiling. So I'm thinking of hanging my bikes by way of pulleys so they lay flat up against the ceiling.

Anyone have any experience doing such things, offer advice, recommend a product?
 

johnny

I'll tells ya!
Staff member
To add, I've seen all the results that come up on google but they all seem to be held in place by a couple of small screws. I'm just a little reluctant to hang 12-13kgs worth thousands of dollars from a couple of little screws. Hoping to find something a little more substantial.
 

pineapplehead

Likes Dirt
Some time ago i rigged a pulley system to store a canoe up high. The only advice I have would be to use a 2:1 ratio to make it easier weight wise. Granted, a 13kg bike isn't the same as a 30kg canoe but your back will still thank you.
 

ozzybmx

taking a shit with my boobs out
Looked at a few ideas when I was limited by space at my last house, ended up buying the covered hooks from Bunnings and lifting them up there.
 

goobags

Likes Dirt
I have some covered hooks from rope and just lift them up and have them as close to the wall as I can get.

More on the crappy screws but a 13kg bike will end up being 26kg+ of weight hanging off the screws themselves.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

johnny

I'll tells ya!
Staff member
The ceiling is too high to manually hang the bikes.

The surface is exposed beams on a slant - bike doesn't have to hang completely flat, the rear wheel can be at the lowest point and the bars/front wheel at the hanging at the highest point but not flush to the ceiling.

My two concerns I have with what is readily available - this one from wiggle, for example - are that you have thousands of dollars dependent on a couple of little screws and that I can't really screw them into the beams as they are approximately two and a half inches wide where I would secure the pulley plate. I'm considering running some metal rods between two beams and somehow attaching the pulley mechs to them somehow.

 

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
I use these (cheapies off evilbay) to lift my roofrack off the 4by. And lower it down too! I screwed the pulley blocks into a piece of hardwood. 76x19 or so. Then this was screwed into the bottom chord of some trusses. The carport roof is not lined so I could centre them properly. The trusses are 3m above the concrete floor. The roofrack weighs 20kg and I use two bike systems to lift it, one each side. I changed the rope from the black stuff they came with to good old telstra rope (blue and yellow stuff). This was because the black stuff looked a bit sorry and would slip off the pulleys and down the side where it got wedged. When the roofrack is stored for more than a month or so I use loose ties between the trusses and the roofrack to take the weight off the pulleys.

I dont use the finger things and I think these are the weakest point and I would suggest changing these for cloth straps/loops. I put eyebolts through the bottom pulley and use tiny D shackles to the roofrack. Not something you can do to a bike.

To be honest they are plenty strong enough but change the ropes and hangery bits.
 

Ultra Lord

Hurts. Requires Money. And is nerdy.
I think your missing some photo’s mate

@Dales Cannon

What if you made up a bracket to wrap around the beams that those pulleys could bolt onto, and secure the bracket with bolts running through the sides? Like some 5mm flat bar running across the beam, the pulley bolts onto that, then weld or bolt some angle to come up the sides of the beam.
 
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Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
Yeah. Tomorrow.

You could use eyebolts and then make some of these to go through and hold the bike.



Edit: A shot from the archives... using a longer Tracklander rack now but same principle.

 
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Paulie_AU

Likes Dirt
Use a bigger screw than the tiniest thing you can find? I really think you are under estimating the weight holding potential.

6mm batten screw will hold it effortlessly.
 

scblack

Leucocholic
Screws in the roof will hold more than you think. I have my old Chinarello road frame plus about half build minus wheels or cranks etc - hanging from my garage roof. That weighs about 4-5kg. Its hanging (above my car) from about 6 little rounded screw in picture hooks and light fishing line.

But I guess it does not go up and down for use, and is not going to be activating pulleys or anything - which would add quite a bit of pulling "weight" above the bike itself.
 

scblack

Leucocholic
The ceiling is too high to manually hang the bikes.

The surface is exposed beams on a slant - bike doesn't have to hang completely flat, the rear wheel can be at the lowest point and the bars/front wheel at the hanging at the highest point but not flush to the ceiling.

My two concerns I have with what is readily available - this one from wiggle, for example - are that you have thousands of dollars dependent on a couple of little screws and that I can't really screw them into the beams as they are approximately two and a half inches wide where I would secure the pulley plate. I'm considering running some metal rods between two beams and somehow attaching the pulley mechs to them somehow.

That Wiggle one could be easily fitted, very safely. Fit the Wiggle rack to a piece of board solidly - then attach the piece of board to the roof beams. The board can be wide enough for the rack bolts to hold solid, and the board can be long enough to reach across and anchor to two or more roof beams.

Its the way I have my clothes dryer in the garage. Big solid board is anchored to the wall, then the rack for the dryer is attached to that board.
 

johnny

I'll tells ya!
Staff member
That Wiggle one could be easily fitted, very safely. Fit the Wiggle rack to a piece of board solidly - then attach the piece of board to the roof beams. The board can be wide enough for the rack bolts to hold solid, and the board can be long enough to reach across and anchor to two or more roof beams.

Its the way I have my clothes dryer in the garage. Big solid board is anchored to the wall, then the rack for the dryer is attached to that board.
Yeah, I think you're right and that's the direction I'll take.

@paulie-AU - I think my desire for better fastening is two fold: firstly to actually hold the bike and secondly to convince me that it will be bombproof so I don't wake with every sound in the night thinking "shit..., was that my bike?!".

So yeah, big screws and serious glue onto thick board onto the beams......, with blutack, string and splashed with holy water and positive thoughts.
 

Ultra Lord

Hurts. Requires Money. And is nerdy.
Huh, didn’t even think of using a plank of wood. Here I am planning a bracket that will hold 500kg odd nicely hahaha. Totally not over engineered at all.

That’s a fair whack easier for a dude without my workshop and all the associated scrap steel to knock up. Post picks when it’s done johnny, and don’t forget the hammer is the most valuable tool you own.
 

johnny

I'll tells ya!
Staff member
I'm putting hooks on this wall as high as I can, which will mean the doors will still open when I garage the car.

Cheaper than stoopid pulleys....

 

flamin'trek

Likes Bikes and Dirt
I had a pulley system and ended up not using it, less of a pain to just lift the bike onto a hook. Having a pulley at each end was a recipe for having to adjust each end as it was lifted, especially with a heavy kayak. The pulleys also mean you lose some extra storage height, more if you double up to get the lifting advantage.
 
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