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@Velocio
I love problems, and I love thinking up solutions.
This thread has got me thinking.
What about a hammock?
Now what I mean by that is this: Imagine two large square tiles hinged fully along the bottom side. Now imagine a piece of strong but thin fabric about 1.4 times the height of the square tiles but same width... affix one end fully to the top side of each of the square tiles such that when the tiles are closed it hangs 0.7 of the length vertically inside the two tiles (closed hammock).
You should now have a hammock the width of the tiles, upon which a top tube could be placed for a side hung bicycle. When the rack is closed it would be a flat white tile (perhaps with design on), and when open it would expose the hammock for the bike to rest upon. When the bike isn't in the hammock it could open quite far so that it's easy to put the bike on it, and once the bike was on it the weight of pulling the centre of the hammock down would close the rack so that it held the bike snugly against the wall. The hammock also guarantees that nothing would scratch the paint of the bike as only fabric touches it.
Second variation is precisely the same as the first except the front tile and the fabric is sliced into 3 even vertical columns. This effectively gives three hammocks 1/3 width. Which now provides the "Hang by handlebars" scenario that this thread started on by closing the centre hammock. But as the support is fabric it would handle slightly different configurations of bars and accessories on bars (my Rohloff shifter). Mounting a bike by top tube is still possible by opening all three hammocks.
As the whole thing is based on two square tiles hinged at the bottom, it would collapse to being fully flat when not in use as well as provide space for some nice design on the front.
Also, as the interior tile is to be covered by the exterior tile, you can go overboard on the wall mount to ensure it can take the weight of an average to heavy bike without exposing the bolts and wall mount the majority of the time.
Anyhow, that's my dreamt up solution to the rack, offering two configurations of use, hidden away when not in use, and a fabric point of contact with the bike to ensure it's never scratched, and an ease of hanging the bike as the hammock would open wide when no weight is on it. It's also extremely simple to construct as well as to mount on the wall. The biggest questions are: What is the material for the fabric? What size are the square tiles?