The Sights And Aroma Of Your Motorcycle Workshop!!!!

Since the weather here in the mountains of Arizona is starting to get a bit cold., I took a few blasts on a couple of my bikes today before I put them away till next spring. Got the fuel out of the carbs, and the cylinders all oiled up in all three bikes now. One thing I have noticed is when I open the door to my garage is the combined scent that is lingering thoughout the garage. The combination of high octane fuel, the rubbery odor of sticky race compound tires, the solvents used on the bikes, and if you have a two stroke the disincentive aroma of bean oil!!! God, I love that smell in the morning!!!!!!

Today I got to sit back and take in the sights and aroma in my little garage. I am really going to miss not being able to build or improve one of my bikes this winter. The cold or snowy weather was always building season to me. Accumulate all the needed goodies for my next killer motor, or the upgrade of something that would be better than what I had run the year before.

Here are a few photos of what I have for my work area for my bikes.


The Gamma up on the lift.


The parts department!!


The Kz1000 motor parts shelf.


The nuts and bolts parts collection.


The work bench that I have been building motors on since back in 1981!!!


D.W. King Kenny, and Steady Eddie photos.

I just finished having a new shop built. It's 14 by 24. Walls are 2 by 6 with R20 insulation. The large door is also R20. The ceiling is R40. 60 amp electrical service and a 2 kw electric heater. Overhead rail for heavy lifting. Right now it still smells of sawdust and paint.

Today I built workbenches but still need some bracing and then paint with oil/carb cleaner resistant paint. Tomorrow is shelves day. I see you have lots Dr Gamma. That's my plan too, although one wall will be entirely pegboard for tools and a large Z1 electrical diagram. My eyes aren't good enough anymore to see the one in the book.

Look into a couple of Formica countertops. They seem to be resistant to anything I have spilled or sprayed on them. Plus they got a nice raised edge so nothing can roll off the edge of them into the unknown!!! They do scratch when you slide a KZ bottom end across them!!!

I found mine at one of those big box stores as a "second" It was dirt cheap!!!

LOVE your white painted walls!!!! The older you get, the more light you will need. I am almost blind in one eye, and can't see out of the other!!!

Dr.Gamma I can relate to you regarding your vision problems, seem the older I get the less I see and remember. My garage is nowhere as tidy as yours, it seems unorganized and a mess in peoples eyes, but I kind of know where to look if I need something, however if my kids or wife have been in there and moved things around I can end up looking for what I need forever..

Yes, I've had two cataract surgeries and have a lot of floaties in my eyes. The white paint was a deliberate choice to brighten things up. The lites are 4 ft florescent LED (5000k) with two over the work bench and four over the floor. The floor is treated but the original concrete shows through. I may put a paint on it to brighten it up as well.

I'm currently hunting for a few "accessories" including a lift and a compressor.

Will probably put our bikes in today after the shelves are built.

you guys make me ill.
my garage scares people who walk in for the first time. just about every bench and shelf and all the ceiling drywall was re-purposed. my s-k sockets were a graduation present from 1961, a lot of the tools were donated by the usaf. i still have a dwell meter.
i have to back out my truck to work on the bikes. ...and i too, only have one good eye thanks to a dwarf car flip 20 years ago.
and it's true, i know where everything is (except for the 2.35 valve shim i dropped earlier this year)

I suffer from Macular Degeneration and have for years. Really screwed up my depth perception big time. Especially at night!!! No more riding real fast at night anymore. No brake markers on the corners on the street!!!! Its no fun coming into a corner 20 or so MPH faster than you can take the corner at!!! Been there, Done that in the past!!

Hey Ned37. Verde Valley, you are right over the mountains from me!!! I used to live in Lake Montezuma a few years back. Glad to be away from all the tweakers around there!!!

I installed pegboard today. Will use it to hang tools, plus I have a 4 ft by 6 ft print of Z1 wiring that I refer to quite often. If you look carefully at the top right side you will see the perfectly level 1x2 backing. This was because my Sweetums "helped" me put the pegboard up a little crooked. I told her it was fine....not building a church here.

Ned, in our previous house the "shop" was a car port with four bikes stuffed into it along with all our tools and workbenches so I know what you mean. If you dropped a small part you didn't worry about it until spring cleaning!

The shop/basement smells like WD-40 and polish today
Tomorrow it's back to sawdust .

Is that a M-66 Ural 650 on that bike workstand?

I'm all about the mess too! Too small of a garage! ( I know where it all is at!! ) No space or money to build or rent. I'm stuck. Me too, I'm old and worn out!
But this is my sanity. I have ADD - ADH or whatever? I seem to start stuff and never finish! Got 10 projects going?
Whatever? Loud Blues music, bright lights and a 100,000 BTU oil furnace in a small garage. Plenty warm in the cold!
I'm smelling lacquer fumes today stripping a GS1100 aluminum swingarm? (heat only runs 2-3 times) no thinner out when that is on.
2 sets of HD FLH tanks to paint. Cut up a small KZ front fender, shortened it! Unique, will fit Z1-KZ900-1000. I might even use it myself.
Have a real clean KZ900 front set of forks to finish. Just got the AllBall seal & wiper set. Waiting on a friend to surface grind 2 - KZ 4 hole discs to finish.
Beer and opiods help. Hey edible states! NY sucks. I'll send you my address! :woohoo: