# Ok to hang?



## rboseley99 (May 6, 2010)

Doing some work on my storage area. It is OK to “hang” a carbon fiber bike - like by the top bar? I recall a day when I would hang my old cruiser by the front wheel. I live in Florida, so storage means for a day or so between year round rides. The answer probably is obvious, but I have to ask.


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## kbwh (May 28, 2010)

Yes. It won't assplode.


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## velodog (Sep 26, 2007)

Whatever you do, Don't hang it by the wheels!


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## kbwh (May 28, 2010)

I haven't brought the calculator out, velodog, so I have problems seeing how hanging a bike from a wheel should unload the spokes or pull a rim out of vertival true. Enligthen me?


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## 32and3cross (Feb 28, 2005)

velodog said:


> Whatever you do, Don't hang it by the wheels!


Hang it by the wheels


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## Marc (Jan 23, 2005)

velodog said:


> Whatever you do, Don't hang it by the wheels!


This!!!


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## Aggdaddy (Jun 18, 2010)

I've been hanging my bikes by both wheels on the ceiling with some 99 cent hooks from walmart for about six years or more. No issues.


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## JCavilia (Sep 12, 2005)

Poor guy wants a straight answer, and he gets all this funny stuff ;-)

Hang it, by wheels (or wheel), or a frame tube, or handlebar, or whatever. A scratch is the worst that can happen, and if the hook is padded that won't happen.


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## vautrain (Mar 1, 2012)

You can sit on the bike, but don't hang it, the frame will surely crack in a thousand pieces.


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## Marc (Jan 23, 2005)

vautrain said:


> You can sit on the bike, but don't hang it, the frame will surely crack in a thousand pieces.


A bike frame after all is designed to withstand compressing forces not stretching forces.


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## JCavilia (Sep 12, 2005)

Marc said:


> A bike frame after all is designed to withstand compressing forces not stretching forces.


Yeah, I can't count the number of times I've pulled a bike frame apart with my bare hands. No telling what horrible consequences will result from the tremendous force of an 18-pound bike hanging from the wheels or frame.



A bike frame withstands all kinds of forces: compression, bending, shear. Even tension (stretching). If you're sitting with your weight on the saddle, the seat tube is mostly in compression, the top tube and seat stays are experiencing both compression and bending stress, and the down tube and chainstays are under tension.


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## Marc (Jan 23, 2005)

JCavilia said:


> Yeah, I can't count the number of times I've pulled a bike frame apart with my bare hands. No telling what horrible consequences will result from the tremendous force of an 18-pound bike hanging from the wheels or frame.
> 
> 
> 
> A bike frame withstands all kinds of forces: compression, bending, shear. Even tension (stretching). If you're sitting with your weight on the saddle, the seat tube is mostly in compression, the top tube and seat stays are experiencing both compression and bending stress, and the down tube and chainstays are under tension.


Hanging a bicycle by either the frame or the wheels will void your warranty and unnecessarily stress components. I read so on the internet.


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## Favorit (Aug 13, 2012)

Sure, it's fine. Just think of the forces inflicted on the frame while riding, compared to just resting gently on the rack. I've been doing this for years, and unless there's something I've overlooked, I can't see what the big deal is.


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## JCavilia (Sep 12, 2005)

Marc said:


> Hanging a bicycle by either the frame or the wheels will void your warranty and unnecessarily stress components. I read so on the internet.


Oh! On the internet. Why didn't you say so? That changes everything.


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## Erion929 (Jun 10, 2010)

Marc said:


> Hanging a bicycle by either the frame or the wheels will void your warranty and unnecessarily stress components. I read so on the internet.



Not only that, if done by the wheels, you have to have a drip pan in place underneath to catch any oil leak :mad2:

**


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## vautrain (Mar 1, 2012)

JCavilia said:


> No telling what horrible consequences will result from the tremendous force of an 18-pound bike hanging from the wheels or frame.


My bike weighs 18.5 pounds, with fenders and my Garmin Edge 800. Will it explode if I hang it?


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## velodog (Sep 26, 2007)

Favorit said:


> Sure, it's fine. Just think of the forces inflicted on the frame while riding, compared to just resting gently on the rack. I've been doing this for years, and unless there's something I've overlooked, I can't see what the big deal is.


I think this is bad information substantiated with a photo-shopped picture.


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## velodog (Sep 26, 2007)

vautrain said:


> My bike weighs 18.5 pounds, with fenders and my Garmin Edge 800. Will it explode if I hang it?


Most likely!


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## vautrain (Mar 1, 2012)

velodog said:


> Most likely!


What if I hang it from hooks that are suspended gently in the air with multiple helium balloons?


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## Favorit (Aug 13, 2012)

velodog said:


> I think this is bad information substantiated with a photo-shopped picture.


 Ruh roh, I've been caught!


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## JCavilia (Sep 12, 2005)

vautrain said:


> My bike weighs 18.5 pounds, with fenders and my Garmin Edge 800. Will it explode if I hang it?


I think hanging it with the GPS installed can cause the satellites to crash. But I won't turn you in.


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## velodog (Sep 26, 2007)

vautrain said:


> What if I hang it from hooks that are suspended gently in the air with multiple helium balloons?


This might work, but I think that a better idea would be to pump the tires full of that helium, allowing the bike to be gently suspended from the hooks.

But the satellites crashing to the ground that JCavilia mentioned has me worried. With any luck the crash will happen before they get a reading of your whereabouts.


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## pmt (Aug 4, 2009)

vautrain said:


> What if I hang it from hooks that are suspended gently in the air with multiple helium balloons?


Hydrogen works better. Put it in your tires also.


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## mtnroadie (Jul 6, 2010)

Hang you road bike any damn way you want. I go front or rear for road bikes, front wheel only for mtb. For some reason my fork got stuck once after hanging by rear wheel for a while. Probably makes no difference but just to be safe I hang it by the front.


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## Mr. Versatile (Nov 24, 2005)

Top tube, seat, bars, one or both wheels - no difference at all - it's perfectly safe


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## yoshirama (Oct 18, 2012)

JCavilia said:


> I think hanging it with the GPS installed can cause the satellites to crash. But I won't turn you in.


THIS. You know how the spec ops assassinate terrorists in drone strikes? They secretly hang garmin gps devices under the cars of jihadists they want to target. Hanging up your Garmin 800 gps equipped bike has the same effect. You don't want to be there when a missle lands in your garage.


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## nolight (Oct 12, 2012)

velodog said:


> Whatever you do, Don't hang it by the wheels!


Exactly! The wheels can take the 190 lbs weight of bike + rider but cannot take the 19 lbs weight of just the bike.


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## Lije Baley (Jun 8, 2012)

This is so much fun.


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## freezin_is_the_reason (Feb 5, 2004)

What I have learned from this thread. If I hang my CF bike my the top tube, it won't assplode. But the frame and wheels, while able to withstand the forces of me riding it, are unable to withstand the forces of gravity pulling on the frame while hanging. If you do hang your bike from some sort of hooks, suspend them with a lighter than air gas, and it negates the negative effects of hanging. It is possible to pull apart your frame with your bare hands. 

And most importantly, NEVER hang your bike upside down with the GPS attached. It will either cause the satallites to crash, or call in a missile strike on you. Neither of which you really want.


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## Oasisbill (Jan 15, 2011)

pmt said:


> Hydrogen works better. Put it in your tires also.


Tell that to the pilot of the Hindenberg Blimp. He should have hung that thing by the basket and we wouldn't have had all that trouble...


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## Ripton (Apr 21, 2011)

freezin_is_the_reason said:


> And most importantly, NEVER hang your bike upside down with the GPS attached. It will either cause the sattalites to crash, or call in a missle strike on you. Neither of which you really want.


This is pure urban myth.

If you find your Antipodal Point, create a segment from there to your garage and leave your GPS on, every time you take your bike down and turn it the right way up, you will record immense speeds over the segment.

The satellites crashing/air-strike myth put out there by the guy who is worried that you may be able to take your bike down quicker than he can thereby recording a higher speed than his, which is obviously the record speed for Strava.


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## curlymaple42 (Sep 13, 2012)

This thread is a riot. I have learned so much! Lol. It sort of reminds me of the conundrum of loading AR15 mags and storing them and whether the springs will work properly, except way funnier! All these myths running around that just make no sense. I think back to a 60miler i did this summer and some of the roads were horrible. My elbows were beat from the pounding, and someone is trying to tell me hanging my 20# bike is going to ruin it? Just silly. I will have to look into that drone strike issue, as i keep my bike in my man cave with a bunch of guns and ammo and gun powder. That could be bad...


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## JCavilia (Sep 12, 2005)

Oasisbill said:


> Tell that to the pilot of the Hindenberg Blimp. He should have hung that thing by the basket and we wouldn't have had all that trouble...


Just to be precise here, the Hindenburg was not a blimp. It was a rigid airship. A blimp has no frame -- the shape is maintained by gas pressure.

You're probably right about the hanging thing, though.


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## AndreyT (Dec 1, 2011)

freezin_is_the_reason said:


> And most importantly, NEVER hang your bike upside down with the GPS attached. It will either cause the sattalites to crash, or call in a missle strike on you.


Satellites and missile. Not "sattalites" and "missle". Sat*ell*ites and miss*i*le. In all other respects you are right on the money.


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## AndreyT (Dec 1, 2011)

JCavilia said:


> Just to be precise here, the Hindenburg was not a blimp. It was a rigid airship. A blimp has no frame -- the shape is maintained by gas pressure.


"Dirigible" is the word the world is using.


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## JCavilia (Sep 12, 2005)

AndreyT said:


> "Dirigible" is the word the world is using.


I recently was corrected after long mis-understanding that word. "Dirigible" refers to all powered, steerable, lighter-than-air craft: rigid (like the Hindenburg and other zeppelins), non-rigid (blimps like Goodyear's), and semi-rigid (like the new Zeppelin NT craft being built in Germany). "Dirigible" in fact means "steerable."

So the HIndenburg was a dirigible, but a blimp is also a dirigible, but the Hindenburg was not a blimp.

I'm such a nerd.


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## freezin_is_the_reason (Feb 5, 2004)

AndreyT said:


> Satellites and missile. Not "sattalites" and "missle". Sat*ell*ites and miss*i*le. In all other respects you are right on the money.


I don't see any spelling errors, you must be mistaken.


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## cyclebycle (Nov 19, 2012)

Favorit said:


> Sure, it's fine. Just think of the forces inflicted on the frame while riding, compared to just resting gently on the rack. I've been doing this for years, and unless there's something I've overlooked, I can't see what the big deal is.


ah, old school. love the downtube shifters!


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