A funny thing happened over the weekend. I posted a picture of the “view from my desk” that included four of the six bikes in my office racked up and everyone on Facebook seemed to share a similar story…keeping our bikes inside the house.
That got me to thinking.
Most of the comments were from single men or couples that rode together. So how does the married guy (or gal) get their bikes inside the house when the other member of the partnership does not share the same obsession? Here are some tips to get your bikes out of the cold garage and inside of your house.
Disclaimer: Bike198 takes no responsibility for any arguments, domestic disturbances, house repairs or injury to self or bikes through the use of these suggestions. Use at your own risk.
How To Get Your Bikes Inside The House
Here are some tips you can start implementing to get your bikes inside the house in 7 days or less.
- Start With The Cleanest Bikes First – It is always easier to get a road bike or two in the house before you bring the muddy mountain bike through the kitchen. Try not to bite off more than you can chew at once. Start small and bring in the clean ones first.
- Get A Good Looking Stand – Get a stand that looks pretty good in the house and keeps the bikes off the floor. The Ultimate stand we reviewed helped get my rides in the house by keeping things looking good and organized.
- Make Your Bike A Work Of Art – Buy the craziest looking frames and parts to make your bike part of the ‘art’ inside the house. It is much easier to get a Wolfhound in the door than an 8000 Trek hard tail. Of course, this does mean you are going to have to spend more on bikes and parts…but which rider doesn’t want to do that?
- Find A Place Where The Bikes “Fit” – Look around your house. Is there an area of the house that seems to be “almost made” for the bikes? Move the stand and bikes into the house and then show your other half how perfectly they fit there. Follow that up with the line, “It is almost like it was made for this.”
- Bring In Friends for Backup – Post the picture on Facebook and bring over friends to back up your idea. Have them relay to your other half how great the bikes look in the house. You can also have them follow up with the “it is almost like” line but be careful and have them use their own words. This needs to look unplanned and random…not scripted.
- Make Up Maintenance Problems – If your wife or husband does not know much about bikes, you can always make up maintenance issues that justify getting the bikes in the house. “Honey, if I leave them in the garage, the fork oil will freeze and dry up the seals. You don’t want to have to spend more money on a new $1,000 fork do you?” But…use this one carefully. If your significant other has friends that ride, it could backfire quickly as she tells them how great she is for letting you put them inside and then they explain that your maintenance excuse is a bunch of BS.
- Play Dumb and Bribe – Move your bikes in during the middle of the night. When you wake up in the morning and she asks why the bikes are in the house, politely explain that they have been there for a long time…how did you not notice? You must be too stressed. At that point, hand her the massage you bought her.
- Make Life More Difficult in the Garage – This one is dangerous but known to work. If you can make your garage more cluttered and harder for her to get in and out of her car, you can slide in the “maybe we should just move the bikes inside so there is more room to move around in here” move. Be forewarned…you could lose your garage spot in the process if you both park inside.
- Illustrate Alternate Uses – Bikes in the house can also be used as coat racks and other more productive means than just decoration. Be sure to highlight that feature.
And there you have it…the top tips to getting your bikes inside the house and out of that cold garage. Are there any other ways you have gotten your bikes inside the house?