Thursday, May 15, 2014

Reader mailbag: Where's a good place to house a bike?



So an EVG reader just bought a new bike, which is all good. But lugging it up many flights of stairs to a small apartment isn't the best option. The reader met a cyclist from another neighborhood who pays $40 a month to store her bike in a parking garage.

To the reader, who did some research:

"The thing is, I haven't found a garage in the East Village that has anything near those prices. The garage on East 11th between 1st Avenue and 2nd Avenue charges nearly $140. The one across from Whiskers on East 9th Street is $90+ and the one under Bowlmor is a whopping $175/month. The only place that's reasonable in our neighborhood is the Edison garage on Lafayette and Grand, which charges $20/mo and $1/day for storage outside."





So, anyone have any suggestions on bike-storage options … that don't include taking your chances and locking it up outside?

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We often get reader queries ... asking for help with, say, donating clothes or books ... or finding an East Village-based caterer... If you have a question for the masses, then try the EV Grieve email...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reader mailbag: Places to eat that have that old East Village vibe (45 comments)

Reader mailbag: What do I do about my new neighbors who smoke pot all the time? (52 comments)

Reader mailbag: Where is a good place to get a cup of coffee in the East Village before 6 a.m.? (25 comments)

Reader mailbag: What has happened to the Cooper Station Post Office? (41 comments)

Reader mailbag: Can the landlord 'drill' the lock to gain access to my apartment for simple repairs? (15 comments)

Reader mailbag: Should we receive a rent abatement for having sporadic heat and hot water?

12 comments:

Gary Greenblatt said...

why is a bike charged a garage tax?
it seems like the city should encourage more bikes
not treat them like cars

wow $137 PLUS 8.8%

you could just buy a new very good used bike every two months
and leave your old one on the street for someone to take

Anonymous said...

Or join a neighborhood garden and see if they'll let you leave your bike inside.

Brian Van said...

On Edison Parking lots, like the one on Essex just south of Houston, daily bike parking is $1 and monthly is $20. The accommodations are near appalling, but it is indeed somewhat-secure bike parking.

A lot of these garages by the other parking chains, the prices are out-of-control. The city makes them offer bike parking if they have a lot/facility of a certain size, but the city doesn't set pricing at all. Thing is, you could rent a car parking space at one of these places for $400/mo, and you can store 8 bicycles in a single car parking space (more if you go vertical)... so they're looking to mark that up by 3x just because we don't know any better? Citibike, at $100 per YEAR, is obviously a steal compared to these parking arrangements.

Anonymous said...

If you don't like $400 a month bike parking you should move to ...

Seriously though, whatever you do, don't leave it outdoors in the same spot for more than 24 hours at a time. You'll get good'n thieved.

Anonymous said...

I know this is exactly what the reader doesn't want to hear but my opinion a good idea is to spend no more than a couple hundred on an inexpensive used bike, a steel frame from 80's/90's preferably, invest in one or two heavy duty kryptonites, lock the thing up outside and get on with life. Leave the rest to God, knowing what a larcenous, dishonest place this is.

Anonymous said...

Can you please repost this every time some stupid Citibike-hater commenter says "Durr why don't you just BUY YOUR OWN bike for $100..."

Shawn said...

1. Why do you need to store your bike in a storage unit? That's absurd. If you bought a really nice bike then you're doing it wrong.

2. Get the New York Fahgettaboudit Mini lock. Or two. I have two on my bike.

3. Lock it to any city-built bike lock station.

This is what I do and I never have any problems.

In winter I store my nice bike in my storage and get out the winter beater. The unit is $150 a month and I put everything in there - not just my bike. It's right in Alphabet City, too.

I don't get why people make everything so hard on themselves.

Anonymous said...

I hang mine upside-down from two hooks (one for each tire) screwed into the ceiling. It takes up space I wouldn't use otherwise and only cost me about $10 for the hooks. There are other contraptions (varying in price and complexity) designed specifically for storing bikes in small apartment spaces on the market too. I'd look into whether any of those would work in the apartment before paying a monthly fee for storage somewhere.

Anonymous said...

I'm the new bike owner who asked evgrieve this question.

My building actually has a bike room, but since I'm a small-ish woman, I have a hard time lifting the bike over my head to fit it into our racks. I also had a scare where I lost my footing on our stairs while carrying the bike. I want to get good use out of it, so for now, we banished some furniture and it's parked in the living room. We're on the first floor, so I only have to get it up our front stairs.

Real bike parking would mean that I don't have to keep my new bike in the living room. Since I'm new to owning a bike, I'm a little bit paranoid about having someone steal it and you'd think someone around here would be willing to take my money. I did ask the guys at Nice Park to match the deal at Icon Parking and they promised to ask their boss, but he never called me back. Two different employees there told me that their boss wasn't interested in having bike owners as customers and the price was set to scare people away.

I know this isn't something everyone with a bike wants, but you'd figure that people who own garages would want to make money off of space they are legally required to set aside. *shrug*

Anonymous said...

My building has a bike storage in the basement and one night. All the good bikes were stolen, so just keep that on mind...

Skenflin McGinty said...

What's with all this bike riding? What do you think this is some suburban neighborhood where you can just ride your bikes around wherever you want?

Mark Hand The Catchman said...

$137 to park a bike... lol, for 13$ more I park my car [way] uptown.... and the price recently went up from $100