Bicycling is one of the most rewarding hobbies one could have! It helps you exercise, it helps you enjoy nature, it can help you get where you’re going without a car…
…and it sure does take up a lot of space at your house, doesn’t it?
Most worthwhile hobbies do, but biking carries a lot of tools and accessories with it that you need to upgrade, repair, or otherwise maintain your beloved bike. Combine storing these tools with making sure you have enough room to actually work on your bike, and the whole thing can become something of a hassle.
That’s what we’re here to help with!
Organizing Your Bike Supplies
The first step is figuring out exactly what you need to organize. Obviously, there’s the bike, but how many accessories have you purchased? Do you have whole shelves of bolts and tools to put away, or have you pared it down to just the essentials? Do you already have replacement tires and backup parts to put away? Taking stock of the ‘inventory’ will do a lot to help the rest of the process.
From there, you have a few questions to ask yourself. For starters, you should figure out if you want a bench or a workstand. The shape of bikes means you need a lot of room to work on them, so creating a bench or a workstand, even if it’s just a conveniently-hung wall bicycle rack that gives you access to the harder-to-reach places on your bike.
Once that’s settled, you need to figure out how to store your tools. Toolboxes are all well and good, but it might be time to move up to something a little more accessible, if you’re trying to create an entire space for repairing your bike. So long as you have the wall space, you could organize your tools in a more visual fashion by using a pegboard or a lot of wall hooks placed near where you store your bike.
Of course, not everything can be hung on the wall, and bike repair is absolutely one of those hobbies that involves a lot of small pieces that can get lost easily. Use plastic storage bins to keep these parts close at hand on your garage shelves – preferably up off the ground where the little ones (or the pets) can’t get into them by mistake!
Finally, you might want to consider keeping a minifridge or home bar cart close at hand for drinks during the process. Will this help with the bike? No, but nobody needs to complete a project after they get thirsty, right?
Hopefully these tips can make your next big bike repair project a little easier, even if it’s never going to get any easier replacing those darn brakes!
