The rise, fall, and revival of DIY motorcycle garages

Did they ever rise? They were built. Tons of money was spent on advertising. Did they ever have sufficient DIY clients to be remotely viable? I highly doubt it.
 
GreyGhost said:
Did they ever rise? They were built. Tons of money was spent on advertising. Did they ever have sufficient DIY clients to be remotely viable? I highly doubt it.
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There were a couple here in the 416 - what happened to them ?
 
TK4 said:
There were a couple here in the 416 - what happened to them ?
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I know they existed. I'm not sure they ever had sufficient customers to be remotely viable. Wasn't flying squirrel on that program for a bit?
 
Aens said:
Number of clients would never outweigh the cost of insuring liability. As long as a DIYer can legally hold responsible anyone other than themselves makes this venture a great while it lasted.
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On that note, something as simple as a torque wrench can be a huge liability. You use shops wrench and something goes wrong. Shop can show they got it calibrated 11 months ago but given that a bunch of random and untrained people have touched it since then, was it still in spec when you relied on it? That's a solid maybe.
 
Unfortunately the fear of liability has killed so many things, and prevented many more.

Given as how some people will sue at the drop of a hat over the dumbest things, and insurance against any and all possibilities like that costs an arm and a leg, yeah, it's not surprising that anything DIY like this struggles.
 
Shame, very good idea. Would love to do it myself. But as stated above, just takes one incident to ruin everything.
 
The thing with DIY is that most people, certainly me, putter at it when doing work on the bike (or most DIY projects for that matter........) . Bike gets warmed up, goes on the lift, oil and filter gets changed, in the afternoon, or next day, pull the wheels, clean up the brakes, change tires, etc..... If parts need to be ordered post inspection then there can be a 2 - 3 day, or more , delay waiting for them to come. Bike sits until parts arrive. No issue for me.

Going to an offsite shop would complicate this work, for me anyways, and put me under time pressure. I have the time, the space and the tools to do things at my own pace.

If you live in a condo or apartment somewhere, have no lift, no tools to speak of, aren't permitted to do mechanical work on vehicles in your garage area, then I see a significant potential benefit to DIY garage / tools availability.
 
Interestingly enough, this series just started with Jason Momoa
www.imdb.com

On the Roam (TV Series 2024– ) ⭐ 8.1 | Documentary, Adventure, Reality-TV

On the Roam: With Jason Momoa. Jason Momoa travels across the country to meet the extraordinary individuals blazing their own path - from craftsmen, to motorcycle fabricators, musicians to athletes.
www.imdb.com www.imdb.com

I took a quick look, it's not very deep though, lots of poser shots. I'm sure though there will be some interesting bikes, and places.
 
It’s definitely the fear that insurance companies go by, in reality frivolous lawsuits are not as common as people think. Once they realize how much lawyers cost, which way the judge will lean, etc etc
PrivatePilot said:
Unfortunately the fear of liability has killed so many things, and prevented many more.

Given as how some people will sue at the drop of a hat over the dumbest things, and insurance against any and all possibilities like that costs an arm and a leg, yeah, it's not surprising that anything DIY like this struggles.
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Too many people are like goats. They destroy what supports them.

It's the calibration of the torque wrench (Was it the operator going past the click, or a half stripped part or????)

The expectation that a bike can be left on a lift for a few days "I don't want to put the wheels back on"

What: You don't have a 21.7 mm Dornwhacker socket for my 1933 Shlitz twin?

I toyed with renting out space in my shop but I worried about abuses of privileges. It's a workplace, not a social club with beer bar and friends dropping by.

If it was a commercial operation being hard nosed is easier but liabilities are hard nosed as well.
 
I doubt liability is the reason these thinks don’t work. Waivers and organizing as a member’s club are easy ways to mitigate risk

I suspect it’s simply a biz model that doesn’t work.
 
Mad Mike said:
I doubt liability is the reason these thinks don’t work. Waivers and organizing as a member’s club are easy ways to mitigate risk

I suspect it’s simply a biz model that doesn’t work.ear
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Expectations. My place cost about $0.60 a square foot per month to keep, tax, maintenance fees, insurance, utilities.

Someone wanted 200 square feet of space to store their boat for six months.
$0.60 per sf X 200 sf X 6 mo = $720

He suggested a third of that.
 
nobbie48 said:
Expectations. My place cost about $0.60 a square foot per month to keep, tax, maintenance fees, insurance, utilities.

Someone wanted 200 square feet of space to store their boat for six months.
$0.60 per sf X 200 sf X 6 mo = $720

He suggested a third of that.
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Your number seems low 3x it seems reasonable.

Sent from the future
 
Scuba Steve said:
Your number seems low 3x it seems reasonable.

Sent from the future
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His number was the breakeven number with no profit, capital cost considerations or allowance for the hassle of a boat in the way. 3x his number is probably a reasonable number to account for those other factors.
 
Scuba Steve said:
Your number seems low 3x it seems reasonable.

Sent from the future
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Our shops are outside Toronto, nothing swanky, we’re about 1.65/sq’ before insurance and utilities which add another .20/sq per month.
 
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