Bicycle storage

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Orange

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We would want to store 2 mountain bikes on our new boat. We'd like a large enough aft deck to be able to store the bikes under cover (like a Trader). However if we don't find a boat with that layout, we may need to store them on the foredeck somewhere (e.g. on an Elling E3). Has anyone attempted storage on the foredeck long term? What method of covering would you use.
 
Have you considered folding bikes which may be stored in the lazarette or spare cabin.
 
We have

Our full sized bikes stay in he cockpit whist at sea and on the swim deck or pontoon when we are parked.
We use a basic double front wheel stand from Halfords.
When underway we use a wrench strap to secure.

We just hose them down when we've been underway.

In the past we've used the foredeck but found it to be impractical in terms of loading/unloading; (our bikes are 23kg Bosch).

Our land lubbing friends Idamay have a trader and bikes work well on there with such huge amounts of storage but I'd stick to 15kg per bike if you are having to lift on and off a lot.

They'd fit on the foredeck of a trader 525 with ease tho'

Regards
 
Orange said:
. . . however we do enjoy mountain biking . . .
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I'm selling a Dahon Cadenza folding mountainbike on eBay at the moment. Although the one I'm selling is the 'solo' (singlespeed) model, the frame is identical to the mtb version. It would also work well with a decent hub gear as they are easier to look after on a boat. My expected selling price would leave plenty of scope for you to convert it to all terrain use.

You'll find it with a search on eBay as I don't want to put a direct link from here as I'm not sure of the protocol for doing that sort of thing on these forums.
 
Indeed we do, Nigel. They live on the aft deck most of the time but are moved to the fore deck when we want to use the space on the aft deck for entertaining, etc. When not in use for extended periods they live in the massive storage space in the fly bridge "eye brow." The use of this space is probably only feasible for folding bikes because of the size of the hatch.

The only real difficulty we have is getting the bikes from the side deck to the pontoon which involves lifting them over the side rails. This needs a bit of muscle power and is definitely not as convenient as Nigel's solution. BTW the lift over the side would be potentially much more difficult with an Elling which has very high topsides.
 
Thank you all for your replies.

Something that had not occurred to me was getting them on & off the boat. These are quiet high-end mountain bikes & weigh about 12kg each, so are not too heavy, but could still awkward to move around a boat. They have quite wide handlebars. I think a 50' Trader would have less storage issues as there would be several places where the bikes could be stored under cover. My favourite being the aft deck. On the Elling E3/E4 however Idamay is correct about the high topsides, which would make things a little more difficult. Some Ellings have a small aft garage & this may be our best option because it is near the swim platform.

http://go.openbms.nl/webservice/ima...resize_2.JPG&height=620&width=400&quality=100
 
I have a folding full size Swiss bike made by Montagu. It's by far the best bike I've ridden, worth looking at their website.
 
This is novel, looking for a boat to fit the bikes :)
Reminds me of a stay in the Walton backwaters when an adjacent 30' yacht discharged two massive Irish Wolfhounds into their dinghy. The dogs just stepped over the guard wires and into the dinghy.
Sorry Fredriff.
 
Yes, sorry it looks like that.

I realise the importance of the boat first, but I'm trying to allocate a sort of points system based on engine, living space, electronics etc.

If we can't fit our bikes - so be it. But I'd prefer to keep them.
 
Coincidentally I intend to keep my mountain bike onboard Magnum too, although I will be storing it in the lazarette. It's a big 29er although all carbon so quite light. Biggest issue is finding a bag/cover that fits as I really don't want it getting knocked about. I also don't want to take one or both wheels off if I can help it every time it's stowed.

These people make a "no disassembly" bag, but even the large version is around 5cm too short.

http://www.thebikebag.com/
 
Magnum said:
Coincidentally I intend to keep my mountain bike onboard Magnum too, although I will be storing it in the lazarette. It's a big 29er although all carbon so quite light. Biggest issue is finding a bag/cover that fits as I really don't want it getting knocked about. I also don't want to take one or both wheels off if I can help it every time it's stowed.

These people make a "no disassembly" bag, but even the large version is around 5cm too short.

http://www.thebikebag.com/
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I've traveled extensively with mountain bikes and never seen a full size bag suited to a 29er, not entirely surprising as it's rather at odds with one of the primary functions - making the end result as easy to transport as possible, size being a major consideration.

Is it really that much trouble to flick off the QR and slot the wheel out? Unless you're using bolt through I suppose.

Anyway I did some quick searches as you piqued my curiosity and found nothing directly suited, my guess is you might be better having something custom made, not too difficult a task I suspect. Perhaps a chat with the company you linked would prove fruitful.
 
I think the problem is that I am not looking for a transport bag, just a storage bag. Sure taking the front wheel off is nothing really, so I may have to do that. Still can't find any "front wheel off only" bags though.
 
Magnum said:
I think the problem is that I am not looking for a transport bag, just a storage bag. Sure taking the front wheel off is nothing really, so I may have to do that. Still can't find any "front wheel off only" bags though.
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Get flexicovers to make one up for you. You could get them to do it in the same fabric as the boat covers... :D
 
Bought the kids bicycles for the summer cruise last season. Strapped them to the foredeck, admittedly with no covers though. Within 2 weeks they were rusted up and gear / brake cables seized. OK, cheapish Halford bikes but the foredeck idea even with cover is probably going to disappoint. Worst of all the tyre rubber left black marks on the deck that took another two weeks scrubbing to remove!

20160823_145911.jpg
 
Strapped them to the foredeck, admittedly with no covers though. Within 2 weeks they were rusted up and gear / brake cables seized
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Same thing happened to us on a 2 week cruise many years ago. We stored 2 bikes on the foredeck of our Turbo 36 and they were scrap after 2 weeks. I have also had bad experience with storing folding bikes in the engine rooms of previous boats too. I had to chuck away a Blasi folding bike after just one season because there is just too much salt laden air drawn into a typical engine room so anything not marinised corrodes very quickly

The fact is that bikes are simply not built to resist the salt water environment. FWIW I've recently bought 2 folding Brompton bikes which I intend to keep on board for me and the SWMBO this season. The reason I bought Bromptons, apart from the fact that they are good bikes, is that they are small and light enough when folded to be stored inside a cabin and IMHO thats the best place for them
 
Useful points about corrosion.

So the foredeck option is no-go. But maybe in a covered aft-cockpit with the bikes in some sort of bag as mentioned by Magnum could be the way to go? I don't think we'll have the room below.
 
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Orange said:
Useful points about corrosion.

So the foredeck option is no-go. But maybe in a covered aft-cockpit with the bikes in some sort of bag as mentioned by Magnum could be the way to go? I don't think we'll have the room below.
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We stored our two electric bikes on the aft deck last season (1500 miles cruising) and only suffered superficial corrosion of the chains and spokes. They weren't in stored in bags. However, we always cruise with the aft deck covers down so limiting the amount of salt air flying around. We only put them on the fore deck when in harbour and wanting to use the aft deck space for entertaining.

On a previous boat we did store two Dahon folding bikes in the engine room but they were kept in bags and didn't suffer appreciable corrosion over three seasons.
 
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