Well it looks like I will be working on old bikes full time now.

Not the way i imagined it but anyways ill be working out of my garage from now on. I went into work today my new boss called me into his office and said to pack up my tools that they were letting me go. Someone new had bought the bike shop 4 or 5 months ago and it has steadly gone down hill since. I asked them why i was being let go and he just said they need to cut pay roll because the sales are not there. And i was making the 3rd most out of everyone there, so i got the boot.......bullcrap:( :ohmy: . So if anyone in the chicagoland area needs anything done to there bike please let me know i will be happy to do it for you at a good price. But hey i look at it this way now i can do a bunch of things i have wanted to do to my bikes for a long time but have never had the time. Tommorow im gonna tackle the rear fender eliminator on the z1... :laugh: :silly: :lol: :woohoo: . Thanks for lisining guys, i needed to get this off my chest.

Dont worry the best things come at the hardest times, Why not start your own place?? You could!!!

If you are not going independent, then there has to be plenty of motorcycle shops/dealers in Chicago...

Sorry to hear that. Have a go at running your own shop - do you have any contacts with customers at the old place - give 'em a call. Work out of your garage until business is steady enough to rent a small shop somewhere.

Around here I am certain you could do a decent trade working on "any" bike make - or age - at a rate cheaper than the dealers charge. There are a lot of older bikes on the road right now - and the dealers won't touch them. I wish there were such a shop around us - I know a number of folks that would use their services!

Good luck!

Well that sucks, but things happen for a reason, and sounds to me like you have a good plan, start out small and build from there

Bike mechanics with experience are VERY RARE. I have been looking for the right person for quite awhile. When I got sick, the guy that was working for me quit. He wasn't all that great but it did help to have someone do parts cleaning. Anyway, I think I have found someone new who will start Monday and truly hoping he will work out. Wish you were down in my area as I would would like to have someone else to help out.

As far as the comment about lots of independent shops in a big city, take San Antonio... there are perhaps four places in the WHOLE city that will work on a vintage bike. One is not very sharp... One is a crook who does very substandard work and the other two are filthy hole in walls where the mechanic can't speak English and only has a crescent wrench.

I get called ALL THE TIME to work on bikes but keep in mind that there are insurance issues. If you have home owners insurance and they find you are working on other folks bikes in your garage, your insurance WILL be cancelled immediately. This is one of the reasons I don't have folks drop by and don't work on local folks bikes. The main thing is the customer's bike coming onto your property... If you open a shop, best to lease or rent a space and check with an insurance company before signing anything.

Very good advice,George.

Best of luck to you,Jim...hope you do well,bud!

That phuking sucks!
Best to you...

With that said, you want to make a good business for your self... Offset Counter Sprockets for KZ900 and KZ1000's. 520 & 530 pitch!

Basically this provides more options in chains (higher tensile strengths with new techonologies), colors and sprocket options as well as a weight decrease. There seems to be only two services, PMFR and Kosman and they don't carry nor offer what is required in most of these modifications (wider swingarms) for KZ's.

Both these bikes are 630 pitch drive chains, OEM 15 tooth counter sprockets. We (KZ owners) have had issues with these offset counter sprocket conversions... The need for a KZ splined offset 1/2"- 9/16" @ a 530 (18 tooth) pitch is huge... They simply don't exist! 530 pitch sprockets are available but only in 15 tooth all of which led the chain to hit the pivot tube of the swingarm....

They have 5/8" offsets but now the chain hits the frame... The one I bought at www.americanclassix.com/kawa_improvements.html is a 13.5mm (just shy of 9/16") but 630 pitch. The 13.5mm threw me off at first, why not 13 or 14mm but 13.5mm... That was until I realized what the German engineers had measured out. Anything larger and the chain hits the frame! They also provide a wheel hub 9/16" spacer for aligning the chain back with the new offset cc sprocket.

The 520 pitch chain is narrower (~ 1/8") than both the 530 and 630... With this 1/8" shavings, all these KZ owners would jump on this for now their chains would not hit the frame with the 5/8" offset cc sprocket. Trust me or look it up yourself through forum "cc offset sprocket" searches, this would be huge!

You could easily sell these for $100 plus for they simply just don't exist!

Just a thought for you...

OMR

Here is an idea....

If you are interested in starting up your own place then you could go at it a couple of ways...

1) To raise capital, make house calls and fix clients bikes at there place, gas is not cheap...but it gets you around the insurance issue.

2) Call the insurance companies and research for a working location.

3) You could open your own business place as a garage / sales depot for old bikes. Vintage bikes are becoming more and more popular all the time so sell the bikes and get them to come back for service. Newbies would be a great source of income.

4) You could offer tutorial sesions to newbies for a fee.
Minor tune up work.

Just doing some brainstorming for ya bud... a lot of time change is good and it gets you heading in another direction.

KR

Thanks for all the great advice guys. There are a few people that i worked on there bikes at the shop and had mentioned how they have old bikes that they wanna get running. So im gonna dig up there numbers. It's kinda funny i am kinda dating the receptionist there so im sure she can get me the numbers i need. I would definatly do the work at there house, kool ryder i think your right about the newbies getting into older bikes, and not being able to get them going. I will let you all know how this goes. But if anyone around the chicagoland area needs there bike worked on let me know. I think im gonna put up a bunch of flyers saying, Do you have an old bike in the garage that is just collecting dust? Let me get it running for you. Plus i can advertise for jeff at Z1

I did not have the misfortune of losing my main breadwinning job- but I do MC repair and customization damn near full time now- in fact, I need to head out to the shop right now, got a 12 hour day ahead of me!

Your timing could not be better- there is a gas crunch and it is driving MCs from the "toy" category to the "got to use it to commute to afford to go to work"- this summer, there was a point I was doing over 2k per day, with 3 employees, including myself! it has slacked off now, and it is me and one other- but it has been steady still!

AS for insurance- shop that around- state farm insured my house, my business, my car, my bike, and my wife's business dirt cheap. Just tacked it on to my mortgage and it is so low, I don't even notice it. I have a detached shop though- and that was State-farms insistance- they would not insure it if it were attached! :blink:

Just offer a service of removing painted Harley parts and repacing them with chrome "RIDE TO LIVE, LIVE TO RIDE" parts covered in skulls. Sure money maker!