Very sad to tell the group I lost my shop yesterday.

I was working on tuning a Royal Enfield that I had just completed rebuilding the engine on.

It was running and backfired out of the carb and started on fire. I tried to put the fire out and my sleeve caught on fire. By the time I got the fire out on my clothes the bike was engulfed in flames. I had no choice but to bail out. I was up the driveway a minute later when it exploded right where I had been.

 

Crikey matey , what a disaster, every thing that was meaningful to you, I know you had a lot of pride in your retreat and I feel for you, got a lump in my throat just looking at it, glad your OK physically but its heart breaking nontheless, So sorry

 

Thanks. I’m depressed and sad but alive. Trying to salvage some hand tools. Everything else is a total loss. I may be able to salvage the Norton but will require a complete tear down and rebuild and no place to work on it.

 

I'd put the Norton aside Dennis and throw a cover over it, it cant get any worse, I'd concentrate on the Building and at least get part of it done so you can bring the Norton and the other bikes in , but what a load of work you have in front of you, I know its easy to say , but if I was local to you I'd be round to give you a hand

 

All of what’s left of the bikes are in my barn so protected.

 

Oh my word friend. I hate to hear this. Not to sound trite, but the important thing is you made it out. Your bikes are/were works of art. And you had a dream shop. But they are just things. There's only on Dennisgb and he can't be replaced. I do seriously hate this for you though.

 

Thanks. Your not trite at all. For one second before I ran out I cried. Then I realized I had no time. In retrospect there were a couple of things I could have done but it happened so fast and the flames were on the tank. The fire extinguisher was on the other side of the bike and would had to go through the flames and further into the shop. And possibly been trapped. I had to save myself. Bikes can be replaced. The shop is another story. 50 years of tools and specialty equipment. We are talking about a garage where the shop was...maybe with a smaller shop on the end.

 

You are here to tell the tale so you made the right choice.

To guys who use them, tools are more than pieces of metal. They are extensions of your hands. We find great value in them. I mark some of my most cherished tools by guideposts in life. "I got this one before my oldest one was born," etc.
A good tool helps you build memories more than anything.

But soon enough you can start gathering up an arsenal of new memories.

 

Here's hoping you get back to somewhere near the place you were at

 

Thats a damned shame man I feel for ya.

Thank god it was a detached shop separate from your home.

Some how looking at how much worse something could have been , doesn't really make it easier to accept.
But by the sounds of it , a few seconds/ minutes later and your family would have lost much more than belongings.

Good luck rebuilding man. Hopefully your insurance company doesn't mess you around too much.