Motoshop SF

I needed a place to start working on the XS850, but I don't really have the space to do much at home. After bringing the bike back to the Bay Area, there was nowhere to put it, and it wasn't registered to keep on the street - so I put it the next best place... The Employee Parking Lot.

Corporate Parking Lots are black holes for abandoned vehicles - with the high vehicle turnover, crazy night shift workers, and plenty of vacant space, they are ideal places to stash project motorcycles. I found a great spot behind one of the buildings, next to another squatter's boat trailer.

For a few days, I would go visit it during lunch - turning it over, listening to it cough and sputter - adjusting things, brainstorming. There were a few other motorcycles in the work parking lot, but mostly recent sport bikes - my least favorite category. My plan at that point was the leave the bike out back, and work on it after hours - bringing tools in, and counting on the 260 sunny days per year in Mountain View to keep the bike dry.

One day, one of my coworkers caught me with the bike, and struck up a conversation. He said that he had an older bike (well, from the early 2000s...), and did a lot of work on it himself. He told me about a shop up in San Francisco that is a sort of community motorcycle garage - a place that has all of the tools that you need, mechanic stations to do the work, and classes to teach you things along the way. Like many things in San Francisco, it sounded like some sort of Utopian place - and it is.

Motoshop SF has been the temporary home of the XS850 ever since, and it's been great. All it takes is an online reservation, and the bike's up on a lift getting rehabbed. Specialized tools and specialized mechanics are all over the shop, helping folks achieve their two-wheeled dreams. I highly recommend checking them out if you're working on a bike in the Bay Area. The XS850 is there, and will be, until the next build...

The XS850 at Motoshop SF - December 2014