This week I started a major garage sort out and decided I would be able to access my bikes a lot more easily if they were hung vertically from the wall rather than from the beams. I was also hoping to save some space. After a quick search through Amazon I came across these ‘Vertical Bike Hooks’ which on the face of it looked a lot more solid than the others available.
At £8.99 for a set of two they are slightly more expensive than the competition, but I ordered six hoping they would be worth the money.
Product Info
PRICE: £8.99 (for 2 hooks)
AVAILABLE FROM: Amazon
WEIGHT: 520g each
DIMENSIONS: 26cm high x 7.5cm wide x 12.5cm deep
KEY INFORMATION:
- Wall Mountable
- 4 screws and wall plugs included
- Padded hook to protect bike wheel
- Hook does not move. It is stuck out so the unit forms a constant ‘L’ shape
- Wheels hook in from the right hand side
Review
The hooks were bubble-wrapped together with small packets containing the four screws and wall plugs.
They are reassuringly heavy and solidly made. I tried really hard to bend both the hook and the main unit and I stood no chance! The metal seems to be designed to last.
Fitting them looked like it was going to be easy. Simply pick your place on the wall and mark the 4 holes with a pencil.
When I went to put the bike up I decided not to use the included wall plugs as they didn’t note the drill bit size to use on them. I decided to use an 8mm drill bit and some wall plugs I already had; these worked fine with the included screws. I found it really important to make sure the top one was extra secure as this hole seems to take a lot of the pulling of the wheel.
When on the wall they could not be more solid. Having 4 holes to screw in means a bit of extra work when fitting, but they are really secure after fitting. My heaviest bike is nearly 10kg and it seems to hold this really easily.
I decided on a staggered pattern (see photos below) with mountain bikes at the top and road bikes underneath. This meant I could store the bikes fairly close together without any problems. If you only had mountain bikes an option could be to store them with the handlebars up and down on alternative bikes to keep them out of the way.
Hooking a bike is as simple as lifting the front wheel and hooking it in. This is really easy with narrow road bike tyres and a bit harder with thick mountain bike tyres. I found bracing the saddle against my stomach and slightly angling the wrong wheel to be the easiest way. You then have to pull the bike towards you slightly to jump it over the small lip on the right hand side.
The gap between the hook opening and the wall ends up being about 75mm. This is going to make these vertical bike hooks unsuitable for a lot of deep rimmed, aero wheels.
Is It Safe To Store Bikes Vertically?
The short answer is yes. Bike shops, velodromes, professional teams, they all hang their bikes by the vertically by the wheels.
The reality is you put more stress on the wheel every time you cycle on it. Even a heavy bike is going to weigh a maximum of 10-14kg, much less than an adult. Whilst it might seem like this pressure is exerted in a different direction than hanging it is not. You have to consider that your weight when cycling is actually on the hub in the centre of the wheel. This means the hub is actually suspended from the spokes and the rim of the wheel is being pulled on from the centre. This is exactly the same direction as the force applied by the hook when hanging.
Hanging is no worse than leaving a bike standing, it is still exerting force on the wheels just in a different way.
The only problem could be is you leave the hook resting against a spoke which could cause tension issues but if you keep the hook in a middle point between two spokes you should be just fine.
Overall I am really pleased I bought these vertical bike hooks and would recommend them to others if you are looking to save space in your garage or house.