Motorcycle Dream Garages – Book Review

Some owners buy a motorcycle strictly for the ride, the thrill and adventure of the open road or the track, others pursue their own special version of the biker lifestyle, but, quite a few of us have an attraction to all things mechanical, especially those of the self propelled variety and we want to take them apart and make them our own. Motorcycles, because they expose so much to the eye and offer so many opportunities for wrenching, are particularly satisfying, but that requires tools, and a workspace, room to work and contemplate, … a garage.

Motorcycle Dream Garages takes us on a tour of 16 garages, some you would expect (Jay Leno’s Big Dog Garage) and many you might not. From well heeled enthusiasts able to spend as they wish to smaller, well used and very functional spaces. Each has a character all its own but they all focus on the motorcycle.

How many times, when working on your bike, have you imagined a shop with everything you need, all of the tools, benches, lifts, the dream garage? The examples in this book are the result of those thoughts turned into reality. Garages deep in the city where enthusiasts share space off the beaten path in warehouses known by very few. There is the fellow who uses several airplane hangars to house his collection and another with a packed garage filled with motorcycles and cars, a genuine AC Cobra among them. In the house, however, he’s placed an immaculate Cyclone board track racer in the dining room and a V8 Moto Guzzi with a dustbin fairing in the living room. Haven’t we all?

In stark contrast are the working garages that just evolved, ex racers or mechanics that took a lifetime to gather tools, parts and old motorcycles and brought them all together in a workspace that looks and feels right. They’re the kind of place you would immediately find comfortable if you’re familiar with a wrench and like old bikes. This book is more than an endless parade of high dollar motorcycle shrines, it also shows places where bikers of all sorts can do serious work they’re passionate about.

This book is not a “how to,” there are no plans or parts lists, the point is to show you how other motorcyclists have built space or found space to work on their rides. Sure, some of these garages are beyond what most of us will ever have, after all, they are called “dream garages,” but the ability to peek inside spaces you would never otherwise see makes this book pretty cool and it just might give you new appreciation for some space you do have, you only have to pull out all of the junk that’s in there now and fill it with tools, lights and your bike. It might be small or a bit crowded, but with a little work and a vision of the possibilities, you, too, could have your own version of a motorcycle dream garage.

Link: Motorcycle Dream Garages