BikeStow Up Allows for Freestanding, Vertical Bike Storage

Oct 8, 2021
by BikeStow  
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Press Release: the BikeStow Up

Having moved to Loughborough University to study Product Design Engineering, BikeStow co-founder George Laight quickly encountered a dilemma when trying to store his bike in his small student flat.

It became clear storing it vertically used the least floor space, however he couldn’t even put blu-tack on the walls, let alone wall hooks! At the risk of losing his room deposit, George instead set about designing a solution. Welcome, the BikeStow Up: an elegant, freestanding approach to space-efficient vertical bike storage.

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Key Features:

• Elegantly displays your prized bike horizontally or vertically.

• Space efficient storage perfect for your home, flat, office, garage, or bedroom...

• Roll and rotate - no heavy lifting involved.
• Completely free-standing - no screws, damage, or permanent commitment.

• Compatible with road, mountain, cross, fat, and e-bikes with up to 5” wide tyres.

• Family made and CNC routed in-house in Stourbridge, UK.



How Does it Work?

Views: 3,659    Faves: 2    Comments: 0


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First, roll the bike in and lower the ‘v’ slider. Here some handy ride prep and basic maintenance can be carried out, or even left as is, for horizontal storage.


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To advance to the vertical configuration, simply rotate the bike on its rear wheel until its seatpost lands on the seatpost-cradle. By using the back wheel as a pivot, no direct lifting is involved, therefore making storage near effortless. A provided hook-and-loop strap conveniently stops the handlebars and front wheel from turning, and features an interior section of soft foam to prevent frame damage.

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The seatpost-cradle is flippable, moveable between five slots, and swappable for a tall version, giving plenty of adjustability so different bikes rest at the perfect balance point. Paired with BikeStow’s patented ‘v’ slots and ‘v’ slider arrangement, bikes of various sizes from graceful road bikes, unwieldy e-bikes, to mighty fat-bikes are always held securely.


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The BikeStow Up is lovingly manufactured in-house in Stourbridge, UK, from CNC routed birch plywood, before being hand-finished and partially assembled. The brushed aluminium ‘v’ sliders are laser cut locally and hand-brushed just outside of Birmingham’s historic Jewellery Quarter.

This is BikeStow’s second bike rack solution, having launched the BikeStow Original almost three years ago. Equally, the Original was also conceived to solve a personal problem, after co-founder and father Simon Laight grew frustrated when transporting bikes inside his new van.

The BikeStow Up starts at £120 and is available direct from BikeStow.com.

Author Info:
BikeStow avatar

Member since Dec 4, 2018
4 articles

116 Comments
  • 196 1
 Looks a really nice solution for those who have to keep their bike in the house without it being an eyesore. You could almost pretend it was a display piece in the corner of the living room.

Important note: Marin R3ACT owners excluded from above statements.
  • 4 1
 Idea to save more space, have a rack for the front wheel in the base and store the bars turned 90 degrees.
  • 154 1
 Maybe we offer a fabric cover for R3ACT owners...
  • 11 2
 @BikeStow: Damn, I don't own one but that was pretty savage ! You didn't have to do em that dirty
  • 8 0
 @BikeStow: it would have to be one amazing looking fabric cover
  • 32 2
 Thanks for that. I had to look up the Marin R3ACT and now I have a brain tumor.
  • 3 11
flag xxinsert-name-herexx (Oct 8, 2021 at 4:48) (Below Threshold)
 @bacondoublechee: If you want to waste 5 minutes aligning your bars every time.
  • 1 1
 @bacondoublechee: Yeah - I came down here to comment the same thing. Nice product though, looks well though out, aesthetically pleasing and surprised at the relatively low price
  • 3 0
 You can just call the R3ACT a post-modern piece
  • 7 0
 OK I need to apologize to Pole- I called their new machined monstrosity the ugliest modern mountain bike. But my subconscious had scrubbed the R3ACT 2 PLAY NAILD abomination from my memory.
  • 1 0
 @xxinsert-name-herexx: just mark on bar, stem and/steerer with a small spot of paint.
  • 1 0
 @BikeStow: Well played... haha
  • 9 0
 @xxinsert-name-herexx: I think the suggestion is that with the front-wheel out, you can turn your bars sideways, like when you turn.
  • 4 0
 @BikeStow: They'll need two covers. One for the bike and another for their face when they take it out in public.
  • 1 0
 I just use a 25 lbs weight behind the back wheel.
  • 1 1
 @BikeStow: This already exists. It has for hundreds of years. They're called curtains.
  • 2 0
 @xxinsert-name-herexx: um no.....remove front wheel, store it in base, turn bars 90
  • 2 0
 @bacondoublechee: lolo racks wall hook done
  • 1 0
 @xxinsert-name-herexx: No, if you remove the front wheel you don't need to do that.
  • 31 0
 man blows student loan on cannondale......
  • 39 0
 that's what student loans are for - right?
  • 3 0
 @BikeStow: of course
  • 3 1
 Time to go back to school. Yes, again.
  • 24 0
 Next generation of the stand should work as both a bike stand and a manuals trainer Razz
  • 22 1
 Price is not that bad actually, considering local manufacturing and that it has some visual appeal
  • 4 19
flag rtclark FL (Oct 8, 2021 at 7:30) (Below Threshold)
 I bought the same thing at IKEA for $20
  • 6 0
 @rtclark: link.
  • 1 0
 @rtclark: LOL
You win!

Ps: you can buy a Thule rack with some kind of swivel, and besides being cheaper, you can mount it on a rack!
  • 1 0
 @rtclark: sorry.... the IDEA is good, but I can make one with I have around for free taking less than an hour to make it.... or can take longer if Facebook goes down again!

Really........ I did a "Bike Wardrobe" spending as little as 20euros, and can park 6 bikes in less than 2m width
  • 1 0
 @rtclark: having been gifted one of those bike nook things, it just doesn't work with tires bigger than 2.3s. And their provided strap doesn't reach the downtime. It's a pretty terrible product and have even worse customer service.
  • 10 0
 When I went to Loughborough Uni I got told I couldn't keep my bike in the room, cleaner dobbed me in, so I put down a £20 deposit on the bike shed key, opened up the bike shed and there wasn't a single bike without most of its parts missing, after that I stored it on top of the wardrobe in the room, the cleaner never noticed in the 2 years I stayed in the halls
  • 7 0
 That's a brilliant idea,I'm currently struggling with space for my latest purchase,my bike cave is full to bursting with kids bikes,my older bikes (which obviously I can't bring myself to sell),and spares,now I just need to fxxk the washing machine and tumble dryer out of the back room and job done Smile
  • 8 0
 It’s a trap! £120?!?!? Has anybody else seen the price of lumber these days? Probably get a photo of it in the mail, or it’s not even real wood; it’s probably made of bronze or silver or something cheap like that.
  • 8 0
 I was quickly reading to the end to find the cost, thinking ~ this is going to cost $495, plus a monthly subscription of $9.95
  • 10 0
 Cool, somebody found an actual use for a manual machine!
  • 7 0
 That's really clever, his other stuff looks equally good too. Must be possible to replace the front wheel strap with something more in keeping with the rest mind?
  • 8 0
 a bungee with a hook on either end? I really like this, if i only had 1 bike in my tiny flat i'd be all over it

unfortunately i have 5... and i havent found a better solution than just carefully leaning them on each other with as much overlap as possible
  • 1 0
 Looks pretty good, I have their 2 bike carrier for my van and it's one of the best purchases I have made to date. Loading and unloading bikes is a breeze, much better than crawling around trying to bungee cord them down.
  • 4 0
 Thanks @pbuser2299!

We are looking at working with a bike bag / strap brand to offer a more in keeping strap - but the stars haven't quite aligned yet Smile
That said, the current straps aren't a compromise!
  • 3 0
 @Davec85: Glad to hear! #NoMoreBungees #BoycottBungees
  • 1 0
 Could paint the strap birch !
  • 6 0
 Considering a sheet of Birch ply is ~£90 right now the prices are excellent
  • 6 0
 Plywood prices keep going... Up...
  • 1 0
 @BikeStow: All my sources have doubled in price since pre brexit/covid. It's put some projects out of reach. I need a new kind of visually good plywood that costs £50 a 15mm sheet. Either that or move to America where prices seem to have gone back down.
  • 1 0
 @BikeStow: Is it solid birch ply or birch veneer ply?
  • 7 0
 @thingswelike at the moment we're trying to absorb the cost, hoping the prices revert even a little bit to pre brexit / covid levels!

@juicebanger it's solid birch plywood Smile
  • 1 0
 @BikeStow: I hope they do, for both our sakes!
  • 7 0
 Very nice rack.
  • 6 0
 Nice Rocket too. Longshot geo compatible. Good work.
  • 5 0
 Now the Rocket can point up towards space Smile
  • 2 0
 Why not just put hooks on the wooden wall next to the bike, and hang it by the front wheel. Less hassle in every aspect, and no dirt on downtubes exposed to the beholder. This is OK if you have white walls and nowhere to fix hooks onto, but then again, too easy to accidentally crash the bike agaist the wall anyway.
  • 4 2
 Not such a great idea if you have a rental property!
  • 4 2
 @mountainsofsussex: just learn how to do the most basic fill and paint and you’re done. Not hard.
  • 1 0
 @noplacelikeloam: In the UK lots of internal walls are stud with plaster board. Sure as sh!t the stud is never in the right place….or has plumbing or wiring attached
  • 1 0
 I made one out of a 4x4 and a 2x4...

Cut a V lengthwise in the 4x4, that's the bottom part where the rear wheel sits, add two 2x4 vertical posts at one end and add a piece of 4x4 (with a V cut) in-between at the height required for the seat to sit in, add two pieces of 2x4 screwed to the bottom 4x4 so the base is T.

Bonus: drill a hole in the vertical posts so you can lock the rest wheel in there using a plastic tube, this way you've got a way to easily keep the bike standing upright when working on it.
  • 2 0
 Love the detail in the design. Can't say whether its a good deal at 120 of whatever bucks work in Great Britain. Bet you could flat pack these just like Ikea furniture pretty easily.
  • 2 0
 Long-term plan is to offer a flat-pack version to make shipping reasonable for our friends in North America Smile
  • 1 0
 This looks really good. I'd get one if I didn't have a big garage.

Beware though the Chinese copies will pop up in no time on ebay/amazon. If you haven't done so get some patents and copyright on it.
  • 2 0
 This is perfect for our apartment where the 2nd bedroom is home-office, guest, storage room. Sadly the shipping from UK to CA is too much, no fault of the bikestow group.
  • 3 0
 Put some wheels on the base so I can move it around in the garage
  • 2 0
 What's the point of isolating the rotation of the front wheel with that strap?
  • 21 0
 It is more to stop the handlebars from turning rather than stopping the rotation of the front wheel
  • 3 0
 I think its more to keep the wheel straight so the centre of balance stays within the base size.
  • 4 0
 Outstanding !
  • 2 0
 great for the bachelor lifestyle but not so much for anyone with..kids, pets, etc.
  • 2 0
 I will lie on the couch and the bike will train the wheelie. C'est magnifique!
  • 1 0
 Canadian tire sells a vertical rack like that for 60CAD that’s 3 times less bulky and also has adjustments... feels like some sort of bad copy!
  • 2 2
 Looks nice but not very stable. If you bump into it and the thing falls over you will regret not just using a hook on the wall..
  • 10 0
 Stick it in a corner and don’t be clumsy
  • 2 0
 I could myself my college self coming from a bar and somehow being attacked by my bike.
  • 1 0
 The article says it starts at £120 but it's listen on the site as £100, jut fyi
  • 2 0
 plus postage...
  • 3 0
 £100 + VAT for UK customers, though that could've been made more clear on the site in all honesty.
  • 3 2
 Just need to know if it’s compatible with an iPhone, and how long the battery will last
  • 2 0
 Doubles as an extremely uncomfortable chair for a very small person
  • 2 0
 That's how I picture most engineers.
  • 1 0
 Nice rack, but is it compatible with Downcountry Bikes??
  • 1 0
 The force is strong with this one....
  • 2 0
 That's very neat!
  • 7 0
 ..and, purchased
  • 1 0
 @jezzah: thank you!
  • 2 1
 If it doubled as a manual trainer….
  • 3 0
 I was just thinking the same Big Grin Or, make one of those manual trainers to do the same thing!
  • 1 1
 I really like it, Id buy 5 for my garage, but at £120 a pop, unlikely Im afraid.
  • 1 0
 Outstanding and elegant design! Well done!
  • 1 0
 i like it. would never buy it, but many would
  • 1 0
 This is how I place my bike on the trainer when not in use.
  • 1 3
 Is it ok to store a bike with the front caliper above the brake lever? Looks like there's some adjustment to maybe avoid this though
  • 3 0
 Every bike hanging front wheel up on a hook in the garage says yes. Also keeps your bath oil against your upper fork seals.
  • 3 0
 This is a fair question, in my experience, if there are bubbles in your system they can end up in the system when upside down (less so like this), where you'll notice it as soon as you get on the bike. After a short while pumping/riding it will work its way into the reservoir and work normally, it's then a good reminder to bleed your brake.
  • 1 0
 I can't think of too many brakes where the highest point of the master cylinder would be below the hose connector in this position. I'd think you have to go fully upside down or turn the bars to get an issue.
  • 8 9
 Or just screw a hook in the wall
  • 2 0
 I think he loses his deposit , that was the hook in backstory , the fact of the matter is however as a student its your duty to lose your deposit
  • 7 1
 Yeah, it was a very challenging article to read….
  • 6 3
 I have lived in many many many shared houses. No matter how clean you are, you never get your deposit back... Landlords are, as a rule, cunts
  • 1 0
 @Compositepro: not sure how many students have £120 to spend on a bike holder, I certainly didn't.
  • 1 0
 @dirtrider121: dont disagree but get this product in front of a load of middle aged it workers who live in tiny flats and they will be spunking in their frappachinos with delight , my mates a landlord he bought his students one of those asgaard sheds to put their bikes in cost him best part of 2k after install
  • 1 0
 few bucks from home depot, bike out of the way. no strapping the wheel everytime.
  • 1 0
 @gabriel-mission9: That's been my experience of landlords too, so the last time I rented I just didn't pay my last month's rent and told them to keep the deposit. They didn't like it but what were they going to do about it? Hardly worth legally pursuing. It's not like they knew where I was going next.
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