You can have it cheap.
You can have it fast.
You can have high quality.
PICK ANY 2....

My pop used to tell me that. When you do it for yourself the same rules apply - I wanted high quality and cheap - It took forever to do it right.
So I had -2- high quality and cheap - so it wasn't fast...

Today it is ALL about fast - so if you want cheap and fast - you don't get a quality job...



I was raised in a home where you fixed things yourself. So inevitably I learned my way around the tool box. I've been wrenching on anything that needed fixing pretty much my whole adult life. This is the first motorcycle engine that I had to get this deep into. Until you do something there is an apprehension of the unknown. I was apprehensive to say the least before I attempted to work on my baby. Now that I have her back together and the stress is relieved. I really think I would enjoy doing this as a profession. I can say that there is a certain amount of challenge that goes into the first time but once you get your hands dirty it's just another machine, the parts fit together and you just have to connect the dots...

The thing is - I make a horrible employee. So I'd have to have my own shop. That's easy enough - spend money. The customers tho - that I don't have.

I've always liked mechanic work - it's cool to see how things work.

I have to conduct a short meeting every week day on days with a mix of upper management and my co-workers. I printed out your tagline above a while back and put it on the whiteboard I have to use for the meeting. It’s a good saying to keep things in perspective. And to what you said about it is so true.



What you said +1… I feel the same way. That’s why I am moving towards a change in careers. And that’s why I am looking at starting a shop. I do not relish the idea of starting from the bottom being the shop bitch, but I think I need some of that to get seasoned a bit. I have went back and forth on whether to go to MMI or just start a shop and start rebuilding bikes and gaining the knowledge that way. Or go to MMI and work on bikes on the side… then start the shop. I duno… how ever it rolls… it’s going to roll.

Right now, I sit in front of 14 computer screens (1 24 inch, 12 20 inchers and one 52 inch) for 12 hours a day… about 3000 hours a year… Packed in a city like sardines… I want clean mountain air and a few acres… a bike shop… and above all else, time with my family.

The Ol' Man would have gotten a kick out of your story.

I can tell you from experience - you can be the best mechanic in the land - with out customers you starve. You / I would be better served by buying an existing shop or partnering with an existing shop and then branching out to a custom shop with high quality is the norm, I can't do a half vast job - its not how I roll. I really think to get the job I did would have been pricey to say the least - thats why I did it myself. Watch the thing fall apart now...

I agree, the best way would be to buy or buy into an existing shop. There seems to be more indie shops now than I remember in the past. I have been looking at what shops are for sale out there. One shop listing seemed to have some holes in their financial statements. They can't verify their cash flow claiming to be a cash only business, they own no real estate, and they have no inventory to speak of, but they want six figures for their business. There is one shop in all of them that I saw that I am really interested in... but the timing is off at this point. I am not a seasoned mechanic. A true professional takes years to develop their skills and get the feel of the equipment. Some other cool business's I saw were a couple of guns shops, a motorcycle safety school, a hardware store, and a couple I can't remember.

Someone could stay busy with just doing oil changes. Most guys take their bikes in to a shop for that because they don't have the tools,equipment or confidence to do it. Or a motorcycle detail shop its cost a pretty penny to have a bike detailed. Even better if you make it a mobile bike detail and oil change business. Theres no overhead of a business location. Get an enclosed trailer with a small power washer,bike stands etc and you've got a business. I use to have my car detailed by a guy that had a mobile detail shop while i was at work.

BI sounds good for the mobil shop except for the power washer, I have seen power washers do a lot of damage and cause electrical issues, you don't want to cause more work that you are responsable for. DEERSLAYER

I could see how that would work. I know a lot of folks that hire those things out.

Don't really need a pressure washer just a water tank with a water hose hookup on it. If you have no access to water. With the correct nozzle you can take a 5000 psi washer and drop it to 90 psi which is about the same as come out of a garden hose. I use to sell commercial pressure washer rigs and chemicals for years.

Got the last of the pics ready.
As I was looking everything over I thought I'd take some pics of what got damaged and what went wrong.

Here you can see the failed lifter/tappet in the guide block.
the lifter on the left is the one that went bad - you can see the results on the roller of the metal fragments getting run over by the roller


Scratches on the wall surfaces of the guide blocks


You can see the pin / roller bearings in these lifters - they were still good


Here's a close up of a good one - you can see the pin bearings


Look closely - there are no bearings left in the roller that went bad
Here is a close up - no bearings left

Hey RK - Congrats on a job well done! Your bike looks great!