A very fuggin sad day is coming. November 30th will possibly be the last day of an' awesome bike shop. I have been going there as a customer and part-time wrench for 30 years. He has been at this location for 33 yrs. New building owner,with new management doesn't want a bike shop...answer...evict our asses. Kick us to the curb. I am furious
he is bigtime upset. 
A lot of great memories here. Met my 3rd wife there. She came in for a starter motor for her Honda CBX550 and she didn't know how to install it...being the gentleman that I am...I did it for free.
Anyway,that kind of thing for me...much much more for him.
I will miss wrenching the bikes,helping out the riders. The cost of doing business these days makes it near impossible for a small shop to be big in profit. The cost of square footage for an' operation such as this is astronomical. Its a sad day for all the bike owners that get turned away daily by the big swanky shiny fancy dealerships. When a person tries to get parts or service for old bikes they are turned away and given our shop's name/number as a go to.
In a thread the other day a VMax was mentioned and I joked that I was working on one. A plastic model. Well,the next day,guess what...the real thing rolled in and I did the carbs on it. Nobody will touch this stuff any more.
VMax/Venture basically the same motor...
Some turds that need MAJOR work...
Folks with brand new that dont want to pay dealership rates for easy bolt-ons like sliders,etc...
Folks that have tried to do their own work...LOL...
Classics that need the finishing touches...
Folks resurrecting old classics with our help...
Most of my bro's "collection" are being sold off super cheap. This R1's powerplant is going into someones mini race car...
This was our original hill climber/dirt dragger that was replaced by a Gixxer 1100. It took some ballz to pin this,dump the clutch and hope for the best. Jim hillclimbed with it and dragged it in knobby and paddle-class tire.
6 or 7 old classics sold last week. Ya never know whats going to roll in the door for work.
Jim may keep one or 2 to restore for his own use...
He's considering that one ^ I may be doing up this old Zook Intruder for a girlfriend...
I'll tell ya boyz...it's a cryin shame. We have 33 years of collected bikes and parts. 99% of it will likely end up in the scrap metal bin. For the folks that need that bank of carbs from a 1960's whatever and need them back in perfect running order...well that's what we do. We also do new...pretty much anything. Not much HD or British,KTM,Aprillia,MV etc...but we will take on anything.
Also gone...and its shiddy and a bit self centered of me, is my own personal shop. Free to use anytime I wanted for years. I can weld,fabricate just do my reg. maint. and tunes...and those for friends and family. Access to welders,hydraulic press,lathe,sandblaster,ultrasonic,tire machine,all the usual tools...uhhggg...I hate this. Its been his life for 33 years and I've been involved for a long time too. Last week we had a Victory in for a clutch rebuild. Neither one of us had done one before.The basket and hub come out together as one...then you sepparate with a special tool...we built that tool together. Fun shi7 nlike that.
We need to find shop space in a hurry for a reasonable price (that we pass on to customers) or else we're dead in the water. We're attempting to try and get funds together,maybe buy land...and build. Everything is so expensive these days. Hard for the small business guy to make a buck. I'm broke so I can't help with cash,just labor.
The clock is ticking...my shop is about to be...no more.
Rubb.
A lot of great memories here. Met my 3rd wife there. She came in for a starter motor for her Honda CBX550 and she didn't know how to install it...being the gentleman that I am...I did it for free.
Anyway,that kind of thing for me...much much more for him.I will miss wrenching the bikes,helping out the riders. The cost of doing business these days makes it near impossible for a small shop to be big in profit. The cost of square footage for an' operation such as this is astronomical. Its a sad day for all the bike owners that get turned away daily by the big swanky shiny fancy dealerships. When a person tries to get parts or service for old bikes they are turned away and given our shop's name/number as a go to.
In a thread the other day a VMax was mentioned and I joked that I was working on one. A plastic model. Well,the next day,guess what...the real thing rolled in and I did the carbs on it. Nobody will touch this stuff any more.
VMax/Venture basically the same motor...
Some turds that need MAJOR work...
Folks with brand new that dont want to pay dealership rates for easy bolt-ons like sliders,etc...
Folks that have tried to do their own work...LOL...
Classics that need the finishing touches...
Folks resurrecting old classics with our help...
Most of my bro's "collection" are being sold off super cheap. This R1's powerplant is going into someones mini race car...
This was our original hill climber/dirt dragger that was replaced by a Gixxer 1100. It took some ballz to pin this,dump the clutch and hope for the best. Jim hillclimbed with it and dragged it in knobby and paddle-class tire.
6 or 7 old classics sold last week. Ya never know whats going to roll in the door for work.
Jim may keep one or 2 to restore for his own use...
He's considering that one ^ I may be doing up this old Zook Intruder for a girlfriend...
I'll tell ya boyz...it's a cryin shame. We have 33 years of collected bikes and parts. 99% of it will likely end up in the scrap metal bin. For the folks that need that bank of carbs from a 1960's whatever and need them back in perfect running order...well that's what we do. We also do new...pretty much anything. Not much HD or British,KTM,Aprillia,MV etc...but we will take on anything.
Also gone...and its shiddy and a bit self centered of me, is my own personal shop. Free to use anytime I wanted for years. I can weld,fabricate just do my reg. maint. and tunes...and those for friends and family. Access to welders,hydraulic press,lathe,sandblaster,ultrasonic,tire machine,all the usual tools...uhhggg...I hate this. Its been his life for 33 years and I've been involved for a long time too. Last week we had a Victory in for a clutch rebuild. Neither one of us had done one before.The basket and hub come out together as one...then you sepparate with a special tool...we built that tool together. Fun shi7 nlike that.
We need to find shop space in a hurry for a reasonable price (that we pass on to customers) or else we're dead in the water. We're attempting to try and get funds together,maybe buy land...and build. Everything is so expensive these days. Hard for the small business guy to make a buck. I'm broke so I can't help with cash,just labor.
The clock is ticking...my shop is about to be...no more.
Rubb.
The other brought in her old classic. 1986 XV750. I used these,and Zook VX's,Honda Shadow's,Ninja's and others when I was building and selling custom choppers,bobbers,streetfighters,etc for folks that wanted something cool,one -of-a-kind but reasonably priced. 2-3K. Anyway she needed her brakes rebuilt and after finding out that her and her buddy have a business that has warehouse space and they might be nice enuff to maybe share some with us...I offered to be their new best friends. I'm hoping there will be a lunch date soon and some chit chat. (maybe talk business too...
)...
The tank amazingly has no rust in it (sometimes you get lucky,this bike was left with a full tank) so i won't have to coat it. Time consuming and RedKote isn't that cheap really. I'll clean up the injectors using my new MotionPro unit that came in the other day,do some test pattern sprays for you guys (rate the machine) run some of that German fuel injector cleaner I love thru it to clean-up the lines and rails and prolly call it good. O ya...she'll get one of them 80 dolla' Chinese battery's. I've actually had good luck with them. 
I wanna know if I'm working on my new bike.
