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Monday, May 23, 2011

How To Build a Wood Bike Rack

This took me a few hours...


It's basically two 8 foot long 1x2s with a bunch of cross pieces to hold the tires in place.

You can use 2x6's for the cross pieces and save yourself a bunch of time (cut a bunch of 24" long 2x6 sections, screw them in, done),  but stores were closed to I used what I had around.  I created a bunch of 6" long pieces of 2x3 and 2x4, and attached it to 24" long 1x6" sections.  The key was just to make sure the height of the cross-pieces was at least 6", anything less and the bikes didn't want to stand up all that well.

Main things to note:

  • Tire width - they're all different, so check your bikes as you go, and adjust the spacing 
  • Sand the wood - you wouldn't want a splinter causing a flat 
  • Handlebar width - again, I put my bike in each successive slot before I set the next one to make sure the handlebars didn't overlap
  • Use screws instead of nails - you might want to move some of the cross pieces to accommodate different tire widths or bike widths down the road
That's really it!  Feel free to comment if you have any questions.

11 comments:

Heather Shearer said...

Very nice. I like how simple, sturdy, and inexpensive it is. If I get one more bike, I'll probably need to build a second rack, so I might copy this one!

The rack that houses most of my bikes is a similar idea, but sort of upside down... I used some as-is IKEA MDF slab table-tops and screwed pairs of 12 inch deep MDF flaps to the undersides of the tables to create angle-parking down one side of my garage. The table tops are, of course, covered in bike junk, too. :)

Citizen Rebel said...

After trimming the trees, I made mine like this out of branches. Thanks for putting this up.

Anonymous said...

Very good idea...gong to have a go tomorrow. Did you screw it down to the floor? Adele

Jon P said...

No, it's loose... heavy enough with bikes in it that it mostly stays put.

JMags said...

Just built a two bike holder, perfect and simple.

Ron said...

Excellent idea. Took about two hours, holds six bikes, made out of 2 x 6 cedar from our old deck. Thanks for the info. Ron, Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for this. I built a 5-bike rack just like yours using 2x6 as you suggest. Just what I wanted.

Unknown said...

Perfect for my little boys three bikes out in front of their play house. I'll probably have one in front of the garage as well.

Unknown said...

Thanks, built this with 2 x 2 and 2 x 6 as suggested, worked out great.

Unknown said...

Great idea. Thanks. Instead of sanding the sides, is there any harm in covering the wood with duck tape where wheels go?

Jon P said...

Sanjay - no harm whatsoever, that's a good way to do it.