Biking is an excellent way to exercise and spend time with your family. But it can get to the point where it is just too hot during summertime or too cold throughout winter to go cycling on a regular basis. And if you live in an apartment, you may not have much room for storing several bicycles in the same place for an entire season. This is when you should rent a storage unit until the following season. But it is important to protect your bikes, as you do not want to come back to your bike facing repairs or replacement parts.

Treat the Bikes for Rust

While you can easily damage or destroy your bike while riding, the risk is much lower in storage. However, you can still experience substantial wear and tear to a bicycle when rust develops in storage. The first thing that you want to do before putting any of the bikes into storage is to get rid of all signs of rusting. If you have sand paper or steel wool lying around the house, you can use it to eliminate rust on the surface. Since the bicycles will be in storage for a few months, prioritizing rust protection is just as much of a necessity.

Making sure the entire frame is painted and without any chip marks will help to deter rusting. You should also apply a protective grease on the metal parts to keep them from getting rusty.

Elevate the Bikes

Storing your bike for a few hours or a day does not require too much care. But, when you intend on putting bikes away for several months, you have to put more thought into the whole process. You do not need to go out and buy an expensive bike rack, especially because it can add up in costs for multiple bikes. But, you should consider making your own storage solutions to keep the bike tires off of the ground. A great example is mounting a strong shelf to a wall and attaching each bicycle with a Velcro grip and hook. This will prevent the bike tires from getting warped while they are sitting in storage.

Prioritize Climate Control

Temperature is not that big of a deal with bikes because you can ride in freezing or blazing temperatures and be perfectly fine. The main problem is prolonged exposure to moisture, which happens in high humidity. So you need to prioritize storage units that have climate control as an option. This will maximize the effectiveness of your efforts to prevent rust from developing on the bicycles.

Following these tips before putting bikes into storage facilities will ensure they are rideable after picking them up.