Compact Upright Bicycle Stand Made From Bed Frame Rails

Many of us struggle to find a good way to store a bicycle where the floor space it occupies is minimal, while being quick and easy to use. I have seen several examples of a simple stand that stores the bike standing vertically. Nothing is hanging over your head, and the bike occupies half the space of a bike standing on its wheels. When I looked into simply buying one, prices averaged around $70, but reviewers of the products averaged only 2.5 out of 5 stars, most criticism being that the stands were very thin and flimsy. So I thought, with a few lengths of angle iron, it would be easy to make one from scratch.

If you happen to have a pile of 1.25" angle iron, you would be off to the races. My solution was to use the ubiquitous scrap bed frame rails. They aren't as thick as angle iron, but the bedframe thickness is perfectly adequate for this application. People give away these rails for free on Craigslist, or just drop them on the curb for the scrap metal gatherers, so I pick them up when I see them, and usually have a few on hand for the various reuse/upcycle projects I come up with.

Supplies:

• 2-3 full lengths of bed frame from at least a full sized bed (or 4 lengths at 29", and 1 length of 31")
• used bicycle tube (does not need to hold air)
• bungee cord or similar strap
• spray paint (purely for aesthetics)
• Stick-on furniture "feet" (if the stand will be used indoors)

Tools:

• Safety goggles, work gloves, welding hood, welding gloves, welding compatible clothing
• clamps, work bench, vise
• Metal cutting device (hack saw, angle grinder, metal cutting band saw, cutting torch, or hand held port-a-band--which is my choice)
• Welder (I use a 125 amp wire welder)

This is a simple stand and requires relatively simple tools. I prefer to use a hand held port-a-band style metal cutting band saw, as it does not throw sparks, and makes a clean cut. An angle grinder, or bench grinder can still be handy to burn through rivets, clean up welds, or deburr the cut ends of bed frame. It is a matter of how fine a finish you want to put on this stand. I use mine in the garage, so was not worried about smoothing and painting.

This write-up assumes that you have a working knowledge of safety considerations when using metal cutting tools, grinders, and welders. I will not go into detail about how to use these tools safely.

The design I am showing here was built to fit (a rather old-school at this point) 26" mountain bike with 2.1" width tires. I expect that you could store a more modern larger wheeled bike on it as well. The places where you are going to custom fit the design are the height of the seat post support, and the width of the channels, as the tires should fit snuggly into them.

Essentially, this stand has only three parts:

• Rear cross support (first pic) that is 31" in length
• Upright channel composed of two pieces of bed frame, 29" in length
• Bottom channel composed of two pieces of bed frame 29" in length each

Most bed frames have some kind of bracket on the ends. Cut these off first, leaving as much useable length as you can. Sometimes the end pieces are held on with rivets, and by grinding/cutting the rivets, you can get the full length of the rail.

Some frames also have a short length riveted to the main rail that rotates out to meet a corresponding piece from the other frame. These are best removed by cutting the rivet. These short sections (cross-rails) can also be used in the construction of the stand. Do not worry if there are rivets that facilitate the mating of these cross-rails, just cut/grind them off. Also, do not worry if there are holes in the lengths of cross-frame, they are plenty burly.

Start by determining how wide your lower channel needs to be. Put the two pieces of bed frame together, overlapping them as needed, so that when your bike tire is placed in the channel there is a snug fit. Proceed by clamping the two overlapping angles together on each end using metal C-clamps. Tack weld the two pieces together every 6 inches or so. It is overkill to weld the entire length on each side.

For the upright channel, simply fit it over the lower channel to make a 90 degree angle. Clamp the two pieces that make up the upright channel together and weld them together as described above.

Find the center of the single piece of angle that is 31" long. Install the lower channel and clamp in place. Next, install the upright channel into the back piece so that it overlaps the lower channel. Clamp this in place as well. Next, weld the two channels to the back piece and to one another as shown in the pics.

See the first picture above. Depending on your bike's geometry, the rear wheel may rest in the lower channel, but not engage the upright channel. This is OK, as the vertical stability is still delivered by a notch that is cut into the middle of the top of the upright channel, that supports the seat post. Mine is fairly simple and crude, just two vertical cuts, and the resulting tab of metal bent back and down. For my project, the height of the notch is about 27.5" from the bottom of the upright channel. To determine the proper height, place the back wheel in the lower channel and flip the bike upright. You want it to just barely break vertical so that there is weight on the seat post when is sits in the notch.

I habitually keep retired/broken items around to be used in future projects. So when I have an inner tube that is not repairable, I toss it into the scrap pile/junk inventory. In this case, I want to pad my notch so that it doesn't scratch my seat post. I achieved this by cutting approximately 8" of tube, and then cutting two slots into it. The slots engage with the upright parts of the seat post notch. I cut another short piece to cover the bent back "tab" of metal, and then two additional short pieces to double up on the uprights. Is it clean looking? Well, could be cleaner, but this is a "trash to treasure/upcycling" writeup, so it seems bogus not to use what I have on hand.

By now, you should have a working stand, and should be able to place the bike on the stand in an upright position. You may notice right away that the front wheel tends to flop left or right. The simple solution is to attach a bungee cord to a spoke, wrap it anound a frame member, and then to another spoke on the opposite side (see the pic above). Alternatively, you could use webbing with buckles or velcro to achieve the same function.

My stand lives in the garage, so I left it rough. But, for completeness, assuming you want yours to be presentable/allowed inside the house, I would suggest the following to pretty it up:

• Use a grinder or file to debur the cut ends of the bed frames
• Grind the welds to flatten them and make them prettier
• Prime and paint the whole assembly
• Install stick-on felt pads on the bottom of the back piece and lower channel so that the stand does not scratch floors.