Would you hang a bike by its wheels?

BigSpecs

I am trying (desperately) to tidy my garage up a bit. Including kids bikes we are now nearly in double figures. Due to the construction, I cannot fix things to the walls of the garage but it does have beams I can use. I have purchased some hooks from Edin Bike Coop and I am going to hang some of the gear from the roof beams. My question is...would you hang a road bike by a 700 rim? or are you liable to cause some damage? Would the weight of the bike (normal road, not too heavy) distort the rim in the longer term?
Cheers,
Col.

trekrider127

On the basis that many bike shops use exactly that method for storage, I don't think it is a problem at all.

Thermo1

I doubt it - hanging the bike from them will be far less stress than what they're designed for.

Pokerface

Would I hang a bike? Only if it had been really, really and and killed someone. :twisted:


Yes - of course you can hang a bike by the wheels. Just make sure to get the hooks that are coated in rubber-like plastic so you don't scratch the frame or wheels. You can hang it by one wheel or two wheels even.

Simon Notley

Given the relatively small weight of a bike compared to the stressed that are placed on the wheel during use, I would have thought it would be fine. My dad has kept his bikes like this for years and they seem to be fine.

Anonymous

All my road bikes are hung up by their wheels, no problems at all!

Mister W

Of course not. Bikes should be carefully placed in custom made mounts on the sitting room wall

larmurf

Just back from an hotel in Alcudia where over a hundred bikes
were hung up by the front wheels in the cellars

Dave Loasby

Mister W wrote:

Of course not. Bikes should be carefully placed in custom made mounts on the sitting room wall

thats divorce talk in most households.
we used to hang bikes from rear wheels in the shop where i worked. and thats 20 yrs ago when strength wasn't like todays stds.

Bhima

Simon Notley wrote:

Given the relatively small weight of a bike compared to the stressed that are placed on the wheel during use, I would have thought it would be fine.

Exactly - although hanging it would mean you're pulling the rim away from the hub, whereas, you compress it when you're riding - so I wouldn't go crazy hanging other stuff on the bike etc... The wheels aren't designed to be pulled in that way.

redddraggon

Bhima wrote:

Exactly - although hanging it would mean you're pulling the rim away from the hub, whereas, you compress it when you're riding

The hub is in the middle of the rim isn't it? So if the bottom spokes are in compression surely the top spokes would be tension, just as they would if you hung the bike by the wheel.

djb1971

All of my bikes are hung by either the front or rear wheel and it's never caused any problems. They get more hammer on the tarmac than being hung from a bracket!!

Smokin Joe

redddraggon wrote:

Bhima wrote:

Exactly - although hanging it would mean you're pulling the rim away from the hub, whereas, you compress it when you're riding

The hub is in the middle of the rim isn't it? So if the bottom spokes are in compression surely the top spokes would be tension, just as they would if you hung the bike by the wheel.

There is zero compression on the spokes, even if an elephant is sitting on the bike. It is impossible to put any compression, as the spokes would fall through the holes in the rim.

Bhima

Yes, good point. Any compression is felt by the tyres and not transferred to the spokes.

redddraggon

Smokin Joe wrote:

redddraggon wrote:

Bhima wrote:

Exactly - although hanging it would mean you're pulling the rim away from the hub, whereas, you compress it when you're riding

The hub is in the middle of the rim isn't it? So if the bottom spokes are in compression surely the top spokes would be tension, just as they would if you hung the bike by the wheel.

There is zero compression on the spokes

Yes there is, I was talking about R-SYS wheels

ariege_cyclist

The only wheels I wouldn't recommed hanging a bike by are ones like Mavic Cosmic Carbones, where the carbon fibre is a fairly flexible fairing rather than a part of the structure. Hanging a bike by these wheels may end up putting a slight dent in the fairing of the rim. All other wheels, even deep carbon rim ones should be OK.

Chaz.Harding

There is NO problem hatsoever about hanging bikes from wheels, upside down, pointed down or any other way, by one wheel or two, as long as

1) The hooks or nails are padded. Plastic-y coated are ok for metallic rims. For aero or carbon rims, I would suggest using a couple of lengths of insulated pipe-lagging inserted inside each-other. You can get it from almost any hardware store - B&Q etc for literally pennies / metre.

2) You don't decide to hang massive weights off your suspended bike - IE your petrol lawnmower that you can't find a place for, 4 spare tyres for your car, your medeval suit of armour and your weight plates for gym work. You get the idea.

Wheelsets are strong buggers - they suspend your weight when you ride (hopefully ) so they are more than capable of supporting the bike's up-side down weight. As long as you don't do the above, at least!

bigbelly

I hang my road bike up from it's front wheel. No problems so far.
As an alternative, if you are really worried about damaging an aero type wheel as mentioned earlier, you can get a hook / pulley system and winch the bike up by the handbars and saddle.

graeme_s-2

My Dad has a set of those EBC hooks and hangs his bike by the saddle and stem. So if you really didn't want to hang your bike by the wheels there's a sensible alternative.