Mount Your Bicicleta

This edition of TCDIY brought about great frustration along with some key learning moments.

My boyfriend’s sister was staying at our apartment for the summer and she recently packed her bags and left us to reclaim our second bedroom. We shared a pleasant few months filled with an array of Milwaukee adventures but that went by so fast, and we needed to figure out what to do with our newly acquired bed in our guest bedroom.

We tackled the room and created a nice clean space where we can invite weekend visitors and family, while also being able to utilize the area as a workspace. All of this redecorating got us focusing on a few problem areas in our apartment. My biggest pet peeve to date are the four bicycles standing in the space between the back of our couch and in front of the record player. I go in phases with listening to records—right now I’m digging the turntable and all I want to do is browse the collection and dance where those silly little bikes are resting instead.

I started searching for bike mounting solutions in small spaces and found a few worthy DIY options. Some of the more stylish mounts would be absolutely ideal but were incredibly overpriced, so we decided to head to the hardware store and see what we could find.

We ended up at the Home Depot on Holt Ave., and they actually had bicycle mounts mixed in with the heavy duty garage and storage hooks. The frustration came into play when we began drilling holes into our sad, weak walls.

We tried to get started and then noticed I’d lost my battery charger for my power drill; then we had weak screws; then we picked up some much-needed toggle bolts but the screws were too short; then we took out a decent sized hole in the wall. After all the upset, we managed to get one bicycle mounted and it hasn’t fallen down yet. And I’m on my way to dancing in front of my record player while listening to the sweetest tunes.

How-to Notes: If you live in an older apartment building like we do and are working with drywall, pick up a few toggle bolts from your hardware store—these things work miracles. Make sure you map out exactly how you want your bikes to fit into the space. Test the weight before you commit.