FAQs

Please visit our Delivery Information page!

Our Love Thy Ply kit is a good place to start when cleaning and caring for your bike rack!

To clean the laminated (e.g. black) surfaces, use a microfibre cloth to remove fingerprints, smudges, or other marks. For more stubborn marks, slightly damp the cloth or use a small amount of Sticky Stuff Remover.

To clean the aluminium ‘v’-sliders, remove them from the rack before gently washing and rubbing clean with warm water and a drop of dish-soap. Do not use a scouring-pad or sponge, as these will scratch. Rinse clean with water and thoroughly dry before re-inserting into the rack.

Plywood is a fantastic material to both work with and look at. However, being a natural product, it must be looked after properly!

We use robust exterior-grade birch plywood, so using bikes with wet tyres or occasionally placing the rack on damp grass is absolutely fine. That said, our racks should not be exposed to periods of damp, rain, or humidity.

If you want to add a layer of protection, apply the Beeswax Polish found in our Love Thy Ply kit along the exposed plywood edges to help repel moisture. Alternatively, Osmo Polyx Oil or other wood sealer can provide heavier duty protection.

Due to high demand, it is not uncommon for our products to be out-of-stock. We’re a small team making our racks in the UK – sometimes things take longer than expected!

If you want an out-of-stock item, sign-up to our Waiting List to be the first to find out soon as we’ve manufactured more!

We CNC machine our racks from sustainable birch plywood in-house in our unit here in Stourbridge, UK. We then carefully hand-finish and assemble each unit before boxing it up and sending out to a customer!

For any components we can’t manufacture ourselves, for example the aluminium v-sliders, we always endeavour to use local companies with the same attitudes as ourselves.

As a general rule of thumb, if you can fit your bikes in your van or space with both wheels on beforehand, then our BikeStow Original racks will fit.

Large vans, such as VW Transporters and Ford Transit Customs typically work with all Original sizes (Two, Three, and Four). Non crew-cab vans can be SWB or LWB, however, crew-cab vans must be LWB.

Smaller vans, such as VW Caddys and Ford Transit Connects typically work best with the Original – One or Two. These smaller vans normally have to be LWB. Occasionally SWB vans of this size do work, but always check your bikes fit (length, width, & height) in your van first!

If your van is too small, short, or you’re looking to fit more bikes into your space, then our Tilting Fork Mount might a better solution.

Being a family of multi-discipline cyclists, we designed the BikeStow Original to work with as many bikes as possible (e.g. road, track, cross, XC, enduro, downhill, electric).

If you have a multiple e-MTBs or fat bikes, then we recommend the Original – Three Plus as it’s a little larger and wider!

As standard, the Original will accept standard wheel diameters such as 700C, 26″, 27.5″, and 29″. For smaller diameter wheels, like kids or BMX bikes, use our retrofittable Small Wheel Adapter to bring the minimum wheel diameter down to 20″.

In terms of tyre-width, the Original can take up to 3″ wide tyres on 26″ or 27.5″ wheels, or 2.6″ wide tyres on 29″ wheels.

All dimensions can be found here.

Original racks arrive pretty much fully assembled – just insert the v-slider thumb screws! Instructions for doing so can be found here.

Some occasional TLC will help your BikeStow Original look and perform the best for longer.

• Regularly clean the laminated plywood surfaces with a microfibre cloth. This will remove fingerprints, smudges, or other marks.
• Regularly check all bolts are tight.
• Every 6-12 months apply a small amount of anti-seize grease to the thumb-screws. We recommend Fenwick’s PTFE Anti Seize.
• If your aluminium v-sliders become loose and droop under gravity, you can loosen the slider guide bolts and push the slider guides inwards to sandwich the v-slider tighter.

Full details on how to perform the above tasks can be found in the instructions.

Our Tilting Fork Mounts have several pins on the back of the green hubs which locate into a series of holes on the front of the grey fork mount base. A screw then locks the assembly together. These pins give you a range of tilt positions, to best suit the geometry of your bike, without the risk of mount ever slipping or moving.

Please note: never adjust the tilt angle when a bike is attached to the mount. This can make it difficult to line up the pins with the holes and you risk damaging the mount!

Our Fork Mounts can be…

• Fixed to our BikeStow Rail with our Fixing Kits.
• Fixed to other Rail systems with your own hardware.
• Screwed directly to any surface using coach or wood screws.
• Bolted from underneath using M6 screws with the M6 holes on the bottom of the mount.

Remove the front wheel from your bike, put the axle back in your bike, and measure the two dimensions in the image below!

Listed below are the most common axle types:

• 20 x 110mm Thru-Axle – MTB (Downhill)
• 5 x 100mm QR – Road
• 12 x 100mm Thru-Axle – Road & Gravel
• 15 x 100mm Thru-Axle – MTB (XC / Enduro)
• 15 x 110mm Boost Thru-Axle – MTB (XC / Enduro)
• 15 x 110mm Boost Thru-Axle Torque Cap – For SRAM / Rockshox forks with the larger 31mm hub end cap diameter – info here!
• 15 x 150mm Thru-Axle – MTB Fat Bikes

• Replacement Hub Adapters to suit different axle sizes
• Rail to fix multiple Fork Mounts neatly in your vehicle.
• Fixing Kit for fixing the Fork Mount to our Rail
• Front Wheel Strap for secure your front wheel during transport

When fixing our Tilting Fork Mount to a Rail or surface, we recommend using Nord-Lock wedge-locking washers. These help prevent any bolts fixing the Fork Mount in place from loosening due to vehicle vibration. We offer these as an option with our Fork Mount Fixing Kit, or they can be purchased from many online hardware stores.

If the tilt lock bolt is loosening on your Fork Mount, we recommend Vibra-Tite VC-3. This is an adjustable and reusable threadlocker which prevents the lock bolt from loosening due to vibration, without permanently locking it in place so you can still loosen and adjust the tilt of your mount if needed. We now send out each Tilting Fork Mount with this pre-applied to the lock bolt.

The Flip is compatible with most adult Road, Cyclocross, MTB, leisure, and e-bikes (up to 25kg).

It fits 26″ – 29″ wheels (including 700C) with up to 3″ wide tyres. If you need something for fat bikes with up to 5″ wide tyres, take a look at the BikeStow Up.

The Flip can be used to aid transporting a bike inside a van or vehicle. To do so, ensure you securely strap the Flip down to your vehicle using the cut-outs on the front panel. You may also need to strap your bike down for extra stability. We sell tie-down straps for this purpose here.

Your bike must fit in your van or vehicle beforehand, with at least 14cm length clearance (for the Flip).

The number scales found on the Cradle and Cross-Brace allow you to quickly set the Flip for different bikes by simply remembering the numbers which work for each bike. For example, my mountain bike uses Cradle Height: 5 and Cross Brace Position: 1.

When folded up for storage, the Flip measures 40cm (width) x 92cm (height) x 12cm (depth). When un-folded and ready to use, it measures 40cm (width) x 55cm (height) x 75cm (depth).

The Stance will take 20″-29″ wheel diameters with tyres 0.5″ – 4.8″ in width. This means road, kids, track, cross, mountain, electric, and fat bikes are all compatible!

No. The Stance is designed for static bike storage only, and not for transporting bikes in a vehicle. If you need the latter, look at our BikeStow Original.

As plywood is a natural material, it can shrink and swell overtime. For the Stance, this means the sliding action when adjusting wheel sizes can become a bit tight!

To keep the sliding action smooth, use our Love Thy Ply kit. It comes with sandpaper to loosen up the joint, and Beeswax Polish to create a smooth surface for a nice glide!

As with our Original, the Up is designed to work with as many bikes as possible.

The Up will take 26″-29″ wheel diameters with tyres up to 5″ wide. This means standard road, track, cross, XC, enduro, downhill, electric, and fat bikes are compatible.

No. The Up is designed for static bike storage and not for transporting bikes in a vehicle. If you need the latter, look at our BikeStow Original.

• Pannier racks are not compatible with the Up.
• Rear mudguards may be incompatible, contact us for advice.
• Saddle-bags, rear-lights, or other seat-post mounted objects can interfere with the seat-post cradle which allows the bike to rest upright. If this is the case, they should be rotated around the seat-post or removed.