The Bike Room

Up until 6 months ago, I lived with bikes. If my foot wandered out of the bed in the middle of the night, my toes were likely to get wrapped around a spoke. When I had guests over for dinner, I had to move my road bike out of the dining area. I cleaned my drivetrain at the kitchen table, washed parts in the kitchen sink and did major overhauls in my living room with a beach towel under the work to catch the grease

When I decided to become an adult and purchase a home, having a bike room in my condo was a priority. Though the condo is small, it came with an adequately sized storage space that I have been slowly converting to a world class bike room. My 450 square foot condo feels huge, since I am no longer living with my bicycles underfoot.

The bike room is still a work in progress, but since getting it, my bicycle life has never been so organized. I know where all of my spare parts are.





My spare wheels are no longer getting scuffed from storage and my tools are readily accessible.



I no longer have to think about how I am going to store my working bicycles or worry about them banging together and chipping each other's paint.




In the short time that I have been in the new place, the level of cleanliness and maintenance on the bikes has improved markedly. There is no excuse for no cleaning my bike after a sloppy ride when the bucket of soapy water is sitting right there.



It is easy to lube the chain and top off the tire pressure if the lube and pump have a home that is near the bikes.






Cleaning a cassette is a breeze when the freehub tool, chainwhip and 25 mm wrench are all hung on convenient hooks.



Buying a home established my adulthood to the rest of the world, but setting up a space specifically for bicycles demonstrates my commitment to the sport and represents a benchmark in the maturing of me as a cyclist.

(please note that all of the photography in this post are inspired by the groundbreaking work of Yasushi Katsumi)