Indoor bike storage is no doubt the cause of many domestic arguments, and for those with rentals and/or limited floor space, it can become an even greater concern. How do you get the bikes off the floor if you don’t (or can’t) drill into your walls? The Velo Column offers a solution, from a brand best known for its portable workstands.
The Velo Column adjusts to fit ceiling heights of anything between 2.1 and 3.0m (7-10ft). It requires some minor assembly and setup: with a spring loaded rubber pad at the top, you install the Column by measuring your ceiling height and replicating this in the device's adjustable length, then adding 15mm to account for spring compression.
A twist-knob adjusts the length of the column to the ceiling height
Once set, you simply pop the column into place. The whole operation took 20 minutes before we had two bikes stored neatly.
The soft rubber-covered arms holding the bikes are independently adjustable with a 3mm Allen key and slide freely along the fixed part of the Velo Column. This allows for proper height and angle adjustment to cope with various top tube shapes and angles. The shape and construction of the arms alleviated any concerns we might have had over storing very lightest, most fragile and most prized rides.
With a solid ceiling, the column holds securely whether you set it up on carpet or hard floors. It doesn’t lock in place to the point that it’s safe to swing on – a solid bump can move its position – but it would take intent to make it fall. The spring mechanism and rubber surface pads secure it to handle a claimed capacity of 18kg (40lb) per bike. In other words, the rack should be good for anything except E-bikes and over-built downhill rigs.
With a load capacity of 18kg per bike, most road, commuting and mountain bikes will fit without issue
We did experience an issue with the column in an office with ceiling tiles. While an adaptor plate is given for open joist ceilings, this didn’t work in our unusual application. In this situation, the lack of a solid ceiling means Feedback's floorstanding Velo Cache model represents a better option.
Straight from the box the Velo Column holds two bikes. If you own multiple bikes the price may seem prohibitive, though additional cradle arms can be bought, which enable up to a total of four bikes on the one column.
With an alloy construction and anodized silver finish, the Velo Column is a modern and stylish storage solution that blends into its surroundings. Its easily adjusted and non-permanent design makes us feel far more comfortable about the price too.