So sadly it looks as though my wife and I will be downsizing from our lovely big duplex with a garage, to a nice sized apartment building with no garage

This really pisses me off because of all the work I do on motorcycles... but you have to do what you have to do I suppose... were doing it to save money rather than just break even every month.

It just sucks for me because I have nowhere else to store my friends motorcycles when I work on them, and now have to put mine in s parking lot, and lord only knows what can happen to it there....

so i need your suggestions on keeping my bike safe, and well guarded...

as well as possibly some cover suggestions....

on a more positive note I do have somewhere to store my bike inside during the winter months which will be nice...

Im very upset about all of this, my wife thinks its a joke and stupid that im upset about it... :'( which doesnt help any

 

my grandma will be nice enough to let me put all my tools and such in her garage, and im sure she will let me put my bike there as well.... its just a bummer that idk what ill do about working on other peoples bikes as of yet

 

If you get a first floot place the living room makes a great garage. haha

But in reality ive always had my bike in a apartment parking lot. There is normally one or two other people with bikes and we will split the cost for covered parking. Plus you mae new friends and have other people to help watch your bike.

I pay for coverd parking becase there is a huge pole holding up the awning which i wrap a chain around a secure it to my frame everynight. Then i lock the steering. and there is a camera watching the parking lot. So i feel pretty safe.

You could get a scorpio alarm so you know if someone is near your bike. That would help with peace of mind atlease. Or look up what full coverage insurance would be. Dont let this be a downer though. In the long run the money you save will help you aquire more toys and be less stressed when unexpected bills come up.

 

Z, I didn't want to butt in on some of your last post but sounds to me like your wife is right. Some of your friends take advantage of you to store there bikes, and on top of that you do there work for free. A friend of mine use to do that for his friends and after it gets old you have no friends left. If you charge for your work and storage you would be in better shape. Family first Z, the wife is really the only friend you have and if you don't have kids yet when you do they come first. Just some words of wisdom Z not meant to offend you. Johnnyh

 

I never even thought about how all their bikes are in there. Ya you should definetly charge a few bucks a month for storage.

Im sure you already have some profit margin in working on their bikes as well but if not you need to make sure you make one.

 

Dont get it twisted boys... my friends bikes I have in my garage are paying me to work on them lol....

I dont put hours upon hours of labor into bikes for free... haha Im just not expensive

 

Buy an old Box van to store everything in. Now you can charge your friends for pickup and delivery.

Seriously, tho, what about using a little of your profit margin to rent a self-storage building or something? I see apartment dwellers using those as workshops/garages all the time.

 

Well thats good. If the apartment your looking at is nice and maybe gated i wouldnt worry that much about it. Just buy a huge length of chain so you can chain them all together. Let your friends now there bikes will now be outside and jack a parking spot you can see from your living room.

 

Maybe renting some space would be a good idea, especially if you can find something that will fit the bill. When I was looking for some shop space for my college auto club group I found a lot of fairly cheap crap that was way too small for cars but that might work for bikes.

Go search craigslist, might be surprised what you can find.

 

Park a couple of bikes in the living room.