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I have two road bikes I want to mount on a basement wall. I have the mounting hook, which is something along these lines. Two screws (and whatever variety of plug/anchor), and the hook holds the bike from the top wheel. The bikes weigh about 19 and 27 pounds.

Space is limited, and because of that I want to mount the hooks as close to a corner as possible, and as close together as possible (so there's enough room for the handlebars in between. The ideal distance from the corner to the first hook is 10", and about 19" from that (29" from the corner) to the next hook. I don't have a stud finder (I can pick one up tomorrow though), but if they're 16" apart, clearly this won't line up.

I'm looking for any common techniques for scenarios like this - I assume mounting to the drywall is out of the question with that load (I've confirmed the drywall by drilling in a couple places, there's also 4" of insulation behind the drywall between studs). I also want to avoid destroying the wall with more than 4 holes if possible, it's a rented apartment.

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The standard advice is to use the stud finder, mount the bike hooks on studs, and make do with a few lost inches. But if you must get those extra inches, you can mount a 2x4 on the wall horizontally, with at least each end anchored into a stud. And then you can install your bike hook on the 2x4.

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This is the only thing I could think of.. Unfortunately mounting on the studs means losing about a foot extra, and that's too much for the space. Even then, the bars would be too close together (I need 19" in between mounts, not 16) and the bikes would hang oddly. A 2x4 would be pretty ugly (well, I could of course go for something other than pine), and I do need a minimum of 6, preferably " of vertical height on the mounting bar for the mounting hardware, where the screws are 5" apart. I'll see if I can find something half decent looking to mount on, perhaps... – Gavin Nov 8 '11 at 2:55
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I find 1x6s to be better looking than 2x4s in uses like this. They may not have as much strength, depending on how exactly they're being used. You can also go up to a small piece of plywood, depending on what your needs. Will the handlebar space work better if you turn one bike around? Car bike hangers get bikes about 8" apart that way. – Scivitri Nov 8 '11 at 7:26
Ah, that's a really good point RE: turning one around.. don't know how I hadn't considered that. That would get it down to certainly <16"... I might just consider that. Buying a stud finder today and I'll double check the studs' actual positions this evening. – Gavin Nov 8 '11 at 16:45
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You could get a couple Craftsman VersaTrack™ Vertical Bike Hooks (~$9.00/each).

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and a Craftsman VersaTrack Trackwall piece (~$10.00)(5.5" x 48").

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The VersaTrack™ piece is 4' long, so you shouldn't have a problem hitting a couple studs when hanging it. It would also allow you to easily adjust how far apart the bikes hang. You should be able to find other types of hangers for the system, so you could hang some of your other gear as well (helmet, gloves, etc.).

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Interesting, I'll check that out. Thanks! – Gavin Nov 8 '11 at 16:46

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