Designing bicycle storage for small spaces

We’ve been riding bikes since the early 1800s and since then, have produced more than 1 billion bicycles worldwide – that’s twice as many bikes than cars! Biking is a major source of transportation for the world, and for some a lifestyle.

North America and abroad, many people are opting to pay a small fortune for this two-wheeled vehicle as more and more, we see people opting to forgo the expense and burden of car traffic and parking, while celebrating the environmental impact of peddle power. Couple their pragmatic uses with intense bike-related athletics and bikes are becoming a more present part of urban life. As a result, we need to pay closer attention to how they fit into our spaces. We’ve started with bike lanes and streetscaping, but we need to give more thought to how we store them.

Finding the right place or way to store your bike can be a challenge. Whether you live in an urban apartment or condo or in a sub-urban single family home, you may already battle clutter in your living space. If a bike is your main mode of transportation and is left parked in a public place while you are at work or running errands, the idea of leaving it hanging on the wall of a parking garage presents questions about safety and security.

Bike riders are prolific and the number will only continue to rise. Here, in Ottawa this year, we have the third fastest growth rate in cycling worldwide. Better homes for bicycles is imperative.
As architects and designers, isn’t it up to us to include bikes into the equation when designing a space – whether residential or commercial – in the sameway we would consider car storage?