Store Your Board Heavy Duty Bike Hoist Review | Up, Up, & Out Of The Way

Assembly is simple. Once you’ve located a ceiling joist (stud finder time), line up the main bracket (the one with the frame strap), mark your holes, drill with a 3/16” bit, and run in the included screws and washers. Do the same for the second bracket that houses the brake pulley as the spacing is taken care of for you. The system works whether your joists run parallel or perpendicular, so placement is pretty flexible, just pick a spot with ample room on all sides for loading up and suspending.

After that, mount the wall cleat or anchor point in a stud (or use a drywall anchor), and you’re essentially done. Make sure the rope runs smoothly over the pulleys and leave yourself enough slack for operation; the excess can be knotted off as a simple stopper.

One note from my experience: when you raise the frame strap all the way to its upper limit, there isn’t much weight left in the line, so it doesn’t always drop back down without a little encouragement. If you’ve got tall ceilings (the system work for up to a 14-foot max height) you may need a broom handle or similar tool to grab it it on occasion. If you leave it a few inches off the top, gravity returns it more often than not though.

As for build quality, everything feels solid for a hoist in this price range. Most of the hardware is black powder-coated steel, and the rope is a durable 100-foot nylon line, and the frame strap has rubber padding to not mar your frame. Because it’s pre-threaded through the pulleys from the factory, there’s no guesswork; once you bolt the brackets in place, the system is ready to lift.

As a bonus, Store Your Board has a lifetime warranty on the materials, so it should last the long haul or there will be help if something comes up.

Getting a bike lifted is basically a two-step process. Wrap the main strap around the top tube or the downtube on some step-throughs (more to come on this) and then loop the wheel strap through the front rim and spokes. If your bike has fenders, make sure you stay inside the fender arms so you’re not bending anything out of shape. Once everything’s snugged down and the front wheel can’t turn (nor the handlebars, by extension), you’re ready to lift. The contact points use rubber pads or soft materials, so you’re not risking scratches or frame damage.

If you’ve ever raised or lowered a set of blinds, this isn’t drastically different. Pull the rope at an angle to raise the bike and lock it into place, then tie off the extra slack at the wall cleat. To lower it, pull down at an angle directly beneath the brake to release the lock and let it glide back down. It’s simple and intuitive, just watch your hands to avoid any rope burn.

With the 4:1 mechanical advantage, you’re effectively lifting only 17.5 lbs at max capacity—less effort than picking up my toddler.

The main detail here for e-bikers is respecting the weight limit. Many e-biks exceed 70 lbs, but can make weight by ditching the battery (not a bad idea for winter storage anyway to bring it out of the cold garage), or fenders and racks.

Since the bike is hanging in the air, it may sway a little. It’s harmless, but some folks online crank the system all the way up to pin their handlebars against the ceiling. I wouldn’t recommend that with most e-bikes, as their displays, buttons, and control panels can get banged up if you’re stuffing them into drywall. I’d just live with a little movement, personally.

Here is the main limitation: step-through frames. With no top tube to strap to, you’re forced onto the downtube. On many e-bikes, that tube is either oversized to house a battery or just beefier in general to support the extra weight of a motor and pack. In my testing, half a dozen step-through e-bikes either had tubing too large for the Velcro strap (which has about 6″ or 150mm of circumference size max that it can accommodate) or were so rear-heavy (hub motors) that the hoist shifted until the bike wanted to hang vertically.

It might work for certain ST bikes, but in general, I’m not sure I recommend it.

Outside of that caveat, the system works exactly as advertised with a top tube to grab onto (including mid-step frames with top tubes at a steeper angle that I tested). It’s an easy, low-cost way to clear walking lanes.