I have a couple of reasonably expensive bikes, so I don't want to keep them in the shed or garage. I also use them regularly, so want to be able to get at them easily.

I used to keep them in the living room, behind the sofa. The problem with that is they take up too much room, and are easy to accidentally knock over.

This is where the bike tree comes in. An easy (to make and use) bike stand that stores the bikes vertically to take up less room. Plus it's completely free standing - you don't need to make any holes in the wall or ceiling, and can be moved at any time (though I'd take the bikes off it first and remove the ballast). :)

Step 1: Parts

Parts:

I bought all the following from a UK DIY superstore called B&Q for under 35GBP.

2x square wood decking
1x 1.8m fence post
1x bolt down fence post support
2x bike hooks (bought from Halfords)
2x stone coping (ballast)
bag of bolts for the post support
bag of screws for the decking
2x bags of sticky back felt (to use as feet)

Tools:

1x electric drill and wood drill bits
good screwdriver that fits the screws you have bought
spanners or socket set for the bolts

Step 2: Decking and Post

Place one bit of decking upside down on the floor and place the other on top of it. Make sure to orient the decking so as to create two tunnels. This is where you are going to slide the ballast in later. Next line up where you want the fence post support to go. Make sure it overlaps two different bits of wood as the stress from the bikes may be too much for one bit of wood. We also put some extra screws into the decking to reinforce it. With the bikes hanging off the front of the fence post, there's going to be quite a lot of force focused on the support, so make sure it's nice and tight.

Step 3: Rear Wheel Support

To stop the bikes from hanging over the back of the base, we put a piece of wood across the back at rear wheel height.

Step 4: Hooks and Wheel Guides

Add the hooks to the top of the post. We had to put ours on diagonally to get a little extra height for my singlespeed. It's frame has slacker geometry than my racer, so has a longer wheelbase, so therefore is longer. To stop the bikes from moving about or hitting each other, we put in wheel guides on the decking.

Step 5: Feet

I have a wooden floor in my living room and don't want it scratched. As such we added felt pads into the corners of the base. Be sure to check for any protruding nails and hammer them in if you find any, as we did.