DIY PVC Bike Rack

I was tired of the bike and scooter mess in my third garage.  I had been shopping around to see if there was any kind of small bike rack I could use in my garage, but they were a little out of my price range.  So, I searched on the internet some, and came across a few plans to make a bike rack out of PVC pipe.  I recently used PVC pipe for a sign project for Bountiful Baskets, and it was really easy to work with, so I decided to give it a try.

I used these sites to help with my plans: Project #4 – DIY Bike Rack Made from PVC Pipe, Make your own Bike Rack, and PVC Bike Rack

My supplies that I purchased at Lowe’s:

40′ of 3/4″ Schedule 40 PVC pipe, cost $8.12 for 4 10′ sections of pipe
34 Tees, cost $8.74 for 3 10 count bags and 4 single tees
6 90 degree elbows, cost $1.86

Total = $18.72, plus tax

You may opt to use PVC cement to hold it together, but I did not use any at this point.  It is staying together well, plus, I want the option to adjust, add, or take away as we get new scooters or bikes.

You also will need a way to cut the pipe.  There is a pipe cutting tool available, shown below.  This one was $9.97 at Lowe’s.  I bought it, but will probably return it since I was able to use my tree cutting tool, also shown below, with success.  You can also use a small hacksaw to cut the pipe.

How you cut your pipe will depend how many items you want to store, and on the size your bike tires and scooters.  For the scooters, I made it wide enough so most of the scooter could fit in.  For the bikes, they have 2″ wide tires, so I cut the pipe to have a 2″ wide section in those parts.  Here is a picture with my dimensions:

I ended up with the following:

20 8″ sections
10 12″ sections
12 10″ sections
3 5″ sections
6 3.5″ sections
6 1.5″ sections’

If you decide to use 1″ PVC pipe instead of 3/4″ PVC pipe, you may need to adjust the measurements slightly, and the cost will be a little higher, but shouldn’t be too much more.

This was a really fun project for me.  It took a little trial and error to get the openings the right size, but after that, it went pretty smoothly.  This turned out to be the perfect size for the opening of my third garage, so we can easily open up the garage and get the bikes and scooters out right away.  I also made sure to get my kids involved.  My older daughter counted out the number of tees and elbows from the plans I drew up, then both my daughters helped me count out the items we needed at the store.  I did all the cutting, but they were able to help with the assembly.  I have found some other neat PVC ideas online, so we may be doing more projects like this in the future!

Tags: DIY, organization, PVC