Just got call to go to Police station and see about building a small building to house a bike they are adding to the fleet. Probably will not be a bid situation, cousin is community policing coord and friend of chief.
Anyone build such a structure or have any leads on design? I googled motorcycle garage and got all kinds of fabric and junk.
A bunch of things come to mind, concrete pad, wash area/apron, ride through, storage lockers, for starters.
Bob
Edited 5/10/2007 11:19 am ET by rasconc
Replies
If they have room, I'd suggest a one car garage, 10X20 or larger. I've been riding motorcycles most of my life and that's what I'd build for myself. It offers the option of using it for a car. It leaves room for several more motorcycles. There's plenty of room for work benches, shelves, etc.
If they want to do their own maintenance, they'll need enough room to move around the bike, sit on a chair or short stool. All that adds up to a one car garage sized space.
As a selling point, a garage of that size won't cost much more to build than a smaller structure.
Good points! Brother-in-law has bike shop, builds custom bikes and maintains Harleys, has big lathe, mill, and Mazak cnc. Makes some really neat stuff.
http://www.machineheadcustom.com/
Come to think of it, I'd put in a header to allow for the installation of a second overhead door. That way, if the get more bikes, they could each have their own entry. A single car garage with opposing overhead doors would hold four bikes comfortably.
Thanks for advice. Met with Chief. They are getting a new BMW R 1200RT-P. Will be maintained by dealer, bare bones budget, lots of constraints. Probably 10x10 or maybe 12x12 max. City fathers do not want any metal, not roof, not doors.
I wanted to do semi-flat roof, min pitch with some quality metal roofing. No electricity or other utilities. Need to check with insp but believe will not require permit at this size and no power.
Thinking Hardie sheet siding, stain to get close to the adjoining brick. Roll up door probably out of their price range. Looking at double door, 48" door a bit tight for 36" wide entry on daily basis.
Of course they only need a shed for their new $23,500 motorcycle. Why protect it any better than that?
Here's a fun article I just came across on modern police pursuit vehicles.
http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/sedans/112_0704_police_car_comparison/sidebars.html#Scene_2
They really are asking for a little more than a shed. About 10k worth of goodies on the little beast. They do not have the room for much more than the size I mentioned.
This is a very small town of around 4k I think.
They really are asking for a little more than a shed. About 10k worth of goodies on the little beast. They do not have the room for much more than the size I mentioned.
I'd sell an overhead sectional garage door with an automatic opener, if I were you. It's just so much easier to access the space and the bike when you can push a button, on the bike or off. And tell them 10X12 as a minimum. Just so the officer can walk around the bike without brushing against the tires and getting dirt on his uniform.
I think they are way off on many things in this deal. I proposed what you said when I met with him yesterday and got "we probably can't afford". Starting to add up to too much of a pain. Started to work up materials list last night. I think I will feel out my source to see what range they are working in. Think at least 80 hrs to do what all they want to do, small driveway/sidewalk from existing walk/curb ramp.
They have access to free prisoner labor that has done some pretty nice work but he said he could not wait, the town has street maint dept that could do pad but it is like they are different countries. Said inhouse help no an option.
I know how I would do it for myself and believe the two are pretty far apart.
It strikes me a little funny that they can afford to buy a new BMW police bike, but don't want to spend the money for a decent shed to park it in....
They probably got a state grant for the bike but have to come up with the other end of the budget, locally.
Post 13 probably hit the nail on the head but hey, he is a carpenter!
If you can't do a ride through, some sort of lazy susan arrangement would allow for ridiing in, parking, spin around and ride out.
What would you call that? A Lazy Sheriff?
That bike is fairly heavy but it shouldn't present any problem to walk it out backwards, as long as the pavement is decent. I have one of similar size, a Suzuki Bandit 1200, which I manage to pull out of my garage OK.