No, your bike doesn’t need its own personal garage. We mean, just install a rack on the wall of your garage or living room if you need a place to keep it. Still, if you’d rather keep the bicycle in an open area without exposing it to the elements, we guess the Alpen Bike Capsule would make for an ideal mini-garage solution.
A storage rig, the device consists of a pod capsule that’s sized to fit a single bicycle. No, it won’t quite accommodate two-wheelers of ridiculous dimensions, but it should handle most any standard bike, from time trial racers and MTBs to commuter bikes and everything in between.
The Alpen Bike Capsule is, basically, a pod that measures 79 x 53 x 32 inches (length x height x width), so it should handle most any type of bike short of circus bikes, custom cargo bikes, and Guinness World Record holders. Just to be precise, it’s designed to fit bikes with a maximum length of 75 inches, a maximum seat height of 46 inches, and handlebar widths of up to 32 inches. According to the outfit, you’ll need to remove the front wheel if you want to store a bike with handlebars longer than that, so this is probably isn’t the best option if that’s your case. Aside from stashing your bike, the capsule can also accommodate other gear, with optional hooks that you can install to use the available headroom as hanging storage.
It’s made from roto-molded polyethylene plastic, which is the same material used to build plastic kayaks and YETI’s indestructible coolers, so this should hold up to all the bumps, hits, and impact it’s bound to experience while stationed in the yard, garage, or anywhere else in your property. Since it’s designed to withstand outdoor use, it’s completely waterproof, ensuring your bike will stay dry even in the middle of the harshest rain, all while shrugging off sun, dust, and all the elements it’s exposed to.
The Alpen Bike Capsule has a door that slides back to allow access to the compartment, making it easy to both put your bike inside and take it out to ride. Ball bearings ensure smooth door movement whether you’re opening or closing the capsule, while an anodized aluminum hub ensures the door is duly reinforced for frequent use. An integrated lock on the door allows you to restrict access to anyone without a key, so you can put an end to your friends grabbing your bike off the rack and crashing it without your permission.
Empty weight for the capsule is 130 pounds, so while it’s pretty heavy, two people can probably pick it up even with a bicycle inside. As such, it’s designed to allow bolting securely to the ground (it’s bolted from the inside to make the bolt heads inaccessible without a key), so you can install it just outside your front door without worries of having someone steal the entire pod.
Available now, the Alpen Bike Capsule is priced at $899.