WORKSHOP

My first workshop tip was concerned with what to do when you didn’t have a workshop; in other words, when you were out on your bike and found yourself stuck by the roadside.

- Harry Fisher

So, this month, I thought that it might be a good idea to actually talk about a workshop! More specifically, what are the basic ingredients of a good workshop; the essential bits and pieces to get you started. After all, it’s all well and good me giving you motorcycle maintenance tips but if you’ve got nowhere to carry them out or nothing to carry them out with, they’re not much use.

First, if I may state the bleeding obvious, you need a space, be it a shed at the bottom of the garden or part of your garage. It doesn’t have to be enormous, but it would help if you could swing a spanner in it. You don’t necessarily have to be able to fit a motorbike in there, but it is convenient to have somewhere to keep your workbench and all your tools and all the other stuff you’ll accumulate. Also, it’s good to have somewhere out of the elements where you can work on bits of the bike you’ve taken off.

The really good thing about setting up a workshop is that you will genuinely love everything you buy for it so it will never feel like a grudge purchase. I have to admit that I can spend hours going through the Adendorff Machinery Mart inserts that come with Bike SA from time to time, mentally equipping my workshop to a ridiculous degree with equipment that I’ll probably never use but that I just have to have!