My attached 20 x23 garage / motorcycle workshop

[Bob in Az]

Edit: I’ve figured out how to post full size photos, the next posts get better.

Hello everyone,
I’m a new member here, I live in Arizona and retired a little over a year ago.
About 6 months ago my wife and I left a larger two story house with a larger garage and we downsized to a small two bedroom house with a smaller garage, I also lost an outdoor shed that held all of my lawn equipment. To say the least, space at my new home is at a premium.

Here is what I need my garage to do for me.
1. Park two small cars
2. Park two vintage motorcycles
3. Have a workshop space for my hobby, working on old motorcycles.
4. Storage for lawn maintenance equipment
5. Storage for garage supplies
6. Hold some overflow storage for household supplies

That’s a pretty tall order for a 20’ x 23’ garage. But I’ve already started on it and I consider it a work in progress.

So here is the garage I left, it was not only longer and wider, but it also had a raised 5’ wide sidewalk space running the length of the garage on one side and across the front.

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And here is where I’m at now.

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It was a blank canvas, with nothing but some rickety wire shelves on one wall.

Moving day, a long way to go....

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Coming up....starting to get organized,
Stay tuned,
Bob

 

[DynoDave]

Congrats on the retirement and new place!

 

[driftpin]

Guessing you like the XS650's? You have a gallon of stuff and only 3 quarts of space. I want to see your work to make it work! 'Carry-on, Garth!'

 

[Bob in Az]

Edit: wrote a post and the photos didn’t show. Gonna have to do over

 

[Bob in Az]

Guessing you like the XS650's? You have a gallon of stuff and only 3 quarts of space. I want to see your work to make it work! 'Carry-on, Garth!'

Boy you said it. It’s the garage version of tiny house. But I’m making it work.
Yeah, I do like the XS650’s, this is the 3rd one I’ve owned, the first was new back in the 70’s. My last two have been restorations. My avatar photo was more than a year long total build up, a 1972 Yamaha XS2. I’ve also restored a ‘77 Triumph Bonneville, and a ‘76 BMW R100/7, and I have owned a few modern bikes as well.

 

[Bob in Az]

Ok, I’m back, a little bit of a learning curve on the photos, but I think I’ve got it!

So back to my garage. The first thing I did was to take down all of that wire shelving.

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Then start filling holes in the Sheetrock and paint the entire garage.

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[Bob in Az]

Next up was to get some organization going on one of the walls. I wanted to try a versatile track system. I got this from Walmart and it is very similar to the Gladiator system but at a fraction of the cost. I’m very happy with it. The rails are not pre drilled, so you locate your studs and fasten them directly to the studs. The hangers just snap on and can hold a ton of stuff, close to the wall, and very strong. Winner winner chicken dinner!

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They make all sorts of specialty hooks for it.

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I liked this system so much and it is so versatile that I later went back and picked up some more of it and extended this run.

 

[Bob in Az]

Next up I wanted to add some wire shelving units. What I like about these are they are super strong, they assemble quickly, they don’t take up a lot of floor space and can be moved around to reconfigure your space as needed. I bought two of these, again from Walmart and a real affordable option.

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I also bought a shop sink which I think is indispensable in a working shop. It will get tied into the laundry room plumbing directly behind it.

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So things are starting to come along pretty well , but let’s turn the camera around and take a look at the other side of the garage shall we?

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Time to turn and face the new threat! Coming up.....built in garage cabinets.

 

[Bob in Az]

I need real storage. At this point I had a 1972 Yamaha 650, completely broken down and stored in dozens of big plastic storage tubs and small plastic food storage containers, I’ve got a frame on the floor and the motor on my work bench. All of my tools are packed away in moving boxes, in fact all of my shop supplies are in boxes and I want them out. So I called up a local cabinet company and had a 12’ long x 2’ deep x 7’ high set of cabinets custom built with adjustable internal shelving.

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And the finished result. Not a huge amount of cabinets, but a good usable amount for my small garage.

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At this point , I had a couple contractors come out to the house. One , an electrician to add some much needed power outlets, and a plumber to hook up my shop sink.

Up next......create a peg board space above my work bench.

 

[driftpin]

Did you ever read the story about Jay Leno and his XS-1, or XS-650, not sure which, but pretty-much the same thing... . He was working in MA in a foreign car shop as a mechanic, and had the bike for his transportation. He came-to hate that bike, and it almost made him swear-off bikes, I guess the way a bad relationship could sour you on all women, at-least for awhile. Fortunately for us, he got over-it.

I had an XS-650 Special II I bought from the original owner, a LEO who worked at the same city I did, as a firefighter/paramedic. I didn't keep it long, I sold it to some guys from the UK who bought that, and a KZ1000 from me, and shipped them from Miami back to England, where they rebuild them and sell them.

I like the Gladiator Geartrack, that's what I have over my workbench in my 2-car garage, which never sees a car inside, unless I have to work on it. The Geartrack has a lot of flexibility, and the Craftsman hooks for their similar product I prefer to the Gladiator, because the Craftsman brackets have a cam-lock to hold them on the Geartrack so they stay-put. I made a bracket each for my chargers, they hang on the wall above the workbench on the Geartrack so the benchtop (2' X 8') is clear. Or, as-clear as it's gonna-be, given the work I do on it.

 

[Bob in Az]

No, I never did read about Leno’s XS650 experience. There’s not much that guy hasn’t owned. Wouldn’t you love to have his garage?


Next up, time to get cracking on the pegboards. There is this recessed spot in the front of my garage that will be a perfect space to put my work bench and my pegboard.

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First thing to do is get the frames up on the wall, then paint the panels and get them installed. This will give me a 2’ x 8’ run of pegboard , a little less than I had at my other house, but I will also be buying a tool chest to help make up.

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So my pegboard is up and I can now unpack my tools. Time to get some extra light going. There was a pre existing fluorescent fixture in the middle of the ceiling , I added three LED 4’ long fixtures. The one that is over my workbench is motion activated , so that every time I open the door entering my garage it just automatically goes on. I really like it.

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Coming up......new tool box and unpacking my tools

 

[Stefan S]

I don’t see your pictures

 

[Bob in Az]

I don’t see your pictures

Ok thanks, let me try something.

 

[Bob in Az]

Thanks for the heads up. Hopefully they show now?

 

[Stefan S]

Thanks for the heads up. Hopefully they show now?

Yep! Very nice progress!

 

[driftpin]

Until today I wasn't able to see any pics, your fix worked. Yes, good photo-documented progress, let's see more.

Those wire rack shelves aren't going to be stable-enough if you decide to put wheels on them. They are tall & narrow, and would be 'tippy.' Not what you want for safety and vehicle protection from tipping-over damage. You could secure them to the wall, but you lose your portability, though you could come-up w/some-sort of removable anchor.

I've bought the Costco wire rack shelves which are deeper, and they come w/casters, unfortunately, they really aren't capable of supporting the weight the loaded shelves are capable of bearing. The caster posts which insert into the tubular legs (attach 1) will bend when you load the shelving, and try to move it. I tried using 2x4's to make the replacement stronger casters better-anchored, due-to them having 4-hole mounting plates, and that seemed to work OK. I used the wire rack tubular inserts (attach.4) which are threaded for the adjustable feet, when you want a stationary rack, and stronger, heavier-rated casters w/4-hole plates (attach, 2 ,3) for mounting. Only one threaded insert/per 4-hole plate. That seemed to work well-enough, and replaced and solved the collapse of the OEM caster threaded stud.

 

[nicholam77]

Here is what I need my garage to do for me.
1. Park two small cars
2. Park two vintage motorcycles
3. Have a workshop space for my hobby, working on old motorcycles.
4. Storage for lawn maintenance equipment
5. Storage for garage supplies
6. Hold some overflow storage for household supplies

That is a tall order for a 20 x 23. (Trust me, I have an 18 x 20 and the struggle is real).

Looks like a great space to work with, though, and I am liking what you've done with it so far. Limitation of space often forces people to get creative and "smarter" about their designs and workflow. That isn't necessarily a bad thing I think.

I don't do bikes myself, but my dad and brother do, and I have witnessed first hand how they tend to "explode" during a build with parts everywhere.



Good luck, excited to see how it progresses!

 

[Bob in Az]

Driftpin,
Yeah I actually looked at those exact shelves at Costco and I agree, they look very nice.
In the end I chose these, because they hold a surprising amount of weight and they have smaller dimensions. As you will come to see, space is a real issue, it will be a game of inches.

Nicholam,
Thanks! It’s tight, but efficient. You’re right I have to make some hard choices as to how to use it.

 

[Bob in Az]

Now that my peg board is up, I can start unpacking my tools, but first, I need one more thing, a tool cart for extra storage space. It’ll hold my larger wrenches and sockets and power tools.

So...I ran up to the happiest place on earth, Harbor Freight! Yeah ok, I know, tool snobs look away. I’ve got lots of their tools and they work perfectly well for my needs.
I got a humongous power strip to go across the front of my workbench, because you can never have too many places to plug stuff in. And a new tool cart.

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Along the way, I painted my garage door grey and the curb red.

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Sink all hooked up and ready to go

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More pics coming up, these were high def photos but the forum resizes them automatically and they got grainy looking. Oh well......

 

[Bob in Az]

Garage photos continued. Note: these photos were taken before I had my other motorcycle assembled, so most of those big tubs you’re seeing on top of the cabinets are no longer there, they were full of parts. Also when these photos were taken , the insides of the cabinets had just been thrown together, they were not organized yet and one whole cabinet inside was entirely filled with small tubs of rebuilt parts waiting to go.

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As I said earlier, I want to be able to park my cars in here also. These photos show the tight fit and why I was so concerned about things being smaller in scale and space efficient.

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And I will still be parking another motorcycle in here soon!

Coming up..... the work continues.....making this space a place to work on motorcycles.

 

[driftpin]

Yep, looking like an optimal space utilization. It should be a good place to get stuff done. Why no bike lift? After doing without one for so-long, my Handy-Lift is one thing I can't do-without. It makes work so much-more pleasant. You could jury-rig something like using a home-built 2x4 bench, and using a cherry-picker to get a bike up-there, but I'll never give mine-up. I use it as a workbench too, if I don't have a bike on it. You could use an electric winch to stand it upright against a wall when you weren't using it.

 

[Bob in Az]

Why no bike lift?

That would be really nice to have, if I had a larger garage, I probably would have one. I make do with a roll around hydraulic bike jack when I need to get both wheels up in the air. I do have another trick up my sleeve for lifting which I will be posting here soon.

 

[Bob in Az]

Next up, I want to install a lifting ring in my ceiling , that I will hang a chain hoist on.

First I went up in my attic and added support straps , lumber , bolts and angle iron to support the lift ring.

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Next up, I needed a fire extinguisher.

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[Bob in Az]

And now, you can see a few photos of me using my shop as I had intended.
Working on my 1972 Yamaha XS2 650

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[Bob in Az]

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[Bob in Az]

A few comments about some of my stuff.

My workbench I’ve had for 37 years, it was surplus from Honeywell electronics , who used to have a plant here in Phoenix. I love it, it’s not the biggest but it’s very sturdy.

My motorcycle jack / hydraulic lift, what I really like about it is it’s compact size and it’s wheels. While I’m working on the bike, if I’m done for the day, I simply roll it back into a corner out of the way, and when I’m not using it, it leans up against the side of my shelving, out of the way.

Whenever I want to work in my garage, I move the cars out to the driveway and the garage has lots of room to work. When I’m done for the day, I park my two bikes sideways across the front of the two cars.