Garage stories

[andyvh1959]

Way back in 93 I'm riding to the BMW Pure Stooge Iowa City rally with a member from our BMW club. About an hour from Iowa City, out in the middle of eastern Iowa, Steve's bike spins out the clutch hub teeth, and he's going nowhere. He hops on my bike and we get to the rally. Steve gets a U-haul and through member's contacts finds a guy near where he bike failed to help.

Steve gets his bike, gets to the guys house out in the middle of nowhere, simple raised ranch house with an attached garage underneath. Guy says he has parts to fix Steve's K100RT, and if Steve helps out can get his bike on the road later that day. He opens the garage and it is a PIT of ****, parts, junk, debris, and Steve is thinking "OMG no way!" But the guy walks to doors deep at the back of the garage, doors into the basement of the house.

There is a spotless, pristine, organized fully equipped shop complete with machining equipment. In goes Steve's bike and six hours later he is at the rally with a complete new clutch installed in his bike.

 

[bdbecker]

Reminds me of one a house one of my good friends used to live in. There were 4 or 5 guys renting this big old house together and they were all into motorcycles, mainly cafe racers. The house was on a sloping lot and had a double stall garage in the backyard that connected to the walkout basement. Open the garage door and all three walls were lined with bikes. Walk through the door into the basement and there were three lifts in the middle of the room with equipment and workbenches lining the walls. Each guy had his own work area and workbench and they shared the lifts. It was jaw droppingly cool.

A few years later, after my buddy had moved out, I was talking with him about how cool that place was. He agreed that it was a pretty awesome setup, but not long after he moved out it things turned sour. Two of the guys got into a disagreement about something and it divided the house, everyone eventually parted ways. Great things never last I guess.