Storing Your Bike for the Winter

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For many cyclists, fall is a bittersweet time of year. The changing leaves make every ride beautiful, but for most of the country the onset of cold weather and the ever-present danger of snowfall mean that, sooner or later, even the most devoted bike rider is going to look outside and think “you know what…maybe it’s time to put everything up for the year”.

Not the most joyous of occasions, but don’t worry – spring is always there waiting for you, and in the meantime we’re here to try and provide a few tips to help with packing everything away until it’s warm enough to use again!

 

Step One – The Bike Itself

Perhaps the biggest and most obvious thing you’ll have to stash when it’s no longer bike-riding season is, well…the bike! Maybe it’s alright to leave it on the floor or in an entryway when you’re still using it, but you don’t want it just hanging around taking up room for the next few months where you can’t really use it. Installing a wall-mounted bike rack will give you a convenient place to store your whole family’s bicycles for the winter, up off the floor and out of everyone’s way!

 

Step Two – Your Cycling Outfit

Even if you don’t have a fancy bright-colored biking uniform covered in sponsor logos, you’ve probably got some clothes you reserve specifically for biking that you won’t need for a little while. Surely you already have a dresser or two with some extra drawer space handy – just remember where you put them! If you’d rather free up the space in your drawers for something you’ll wear more often, then a spare duffel bag can come in handy here too.

 

Step Three – Your Tools and Accessories

Particularly if you’re the sort of person who loves tinkering with things, you probably have a whole collection of tire pumps, wrenches, and the like, and even if not you’ll have some safety gear to put away (…right?) for the winter too. You’ve got a few options here – garage storage boxes could be a good call for all your helmets and such, and there’s plenty of sizes of toolboxes available to hang onto any of your speciality bike tools until you need them again…or if you get bored during the winter and decide to start fixing your bike up in the meantime.

 

We know nothing will quite take the place of being able to ride your bike whenever and wherever you feel like it when it’s cold out, but with these steps you know everything will be there waiting for you when the weather warms up – or if we get a sudden warm front in November. Stranger things have happened!