By Todd McCune Bray, Riptide Correspondent
Ever come across a new business that made so much sense that you said to yourself, “Why didn’t I think of that?” Well, here is another one. Let me introduce you to Moto Shop, a DIY motorcycle repair shop that offers fully equiped maintenance workstations complete with pneumatic motorcycle lifts and carts full of tools as well as classes in the basics like oil changing, tire changing, and air filter cleaning, not to mention WOMEN-ONLY classes in all levels of maintenance. Non-mechanical beginners are encouraged and are a large portion of Moto Shop’s new business.
Moto Shop offers motorcycle enthusiasts a clean, well-lit place to come and do regular motorcycle maintenance as well as long-term modifications to their machines at a fraction of the price a traditional motorcycle repair shop or custom bike builder would charge. All this and more are eight short minutes from Pacifica in South San Francisco, just behind Tanforan Shopping Center.
Several months ago, Pacificans Wilder Grippo (a mechanical engineer) and his wife Aleksandra Grippo (a visual designer) opened Moto Shop as a place where Wilder says, “Anyone can come and work on their motorcycle (street, dirt, or scooter), with or without help. We also offer classes in just about anything you need to know to keep your bike well maintained and are happy to give individual instruction while you are here if you run into a snag.”
The story of how Wilder and Aleksandra thought up and created Moto Shop is an interesting organic tale of romance, friendship, and organized motorcycle rides that spans eight years, tens of thousands of miles, and hundreds of scraped knuckles. Wilder, after four years of marriage, convinced Aleksandra to take a basic motorcycle training course, the kind that allows you to get a motorcycle license without having to submit to a DMV driving test.
Aleksandra aced the course and started riding on weekends with Wilder and his buddies. They started a riding group, the Bay Area Moto Group (BAMG), together organizing weekend rides hither and yon for BAMG’s eventual 300-plus members. Some rides were nothing more than a backyard BBQ while members worked on their machines.
One fine day Wilder and Aleksandra decided there was a market for a DIY maintenance shop, and took their lifestyle one step further and made it into a business by creating Moto Shop. The process was an organic progression from pure enthusiasm to realizing they could marshal that energy into doing something they both loved for a living. Opening Moto Shop was the end result of a four-year journey neither knew they were taking until they arrived.
Wilder’s mechanical-engineering background is an enormous plus as an owner, and his expertise really comes in handy, especially when helping customers new to tinkering with their own machines on complicated things like synchronizing carburetors or electrical modification. He’s generous with his knowledge, which in turn builds confidence in his customers. Wilder and Aleksandra consider Moto Shop a community center of sorts, and they hope the shop becomes just that for motorcycle enthusiasts of all shapes and sizes, a place to hang out, learn, fix, and ride.
Visiting Moto Shop is like walking into Santa’s workshop if Santa were a friendly biker. First, you are greeted by Tracker, the shop dog, a chocolate brown Labrador with a deep bark. But don’t let that scare you because Tracker’s tail is wagging so hard and so fast he can barely walk up to you for a welcome scratch. Looking to your right, you see a beautiful wall-to-wall mural done by seven Bay Area graffiti artists. As your eyes focus to the left, you see a 1980 factory works small-displacement Yamaha road racing machine up on a table, which transports you back to when you first fell in love with motorcycles and your mom tried, in vain, to warn you to stay away from them, just like “those types of girls.” Sorry, mom, no can do.
Walking farther into the 4,000-square-foot facility, you start to see the workstations, the bike lifts, and big red rolling tool chests stuff full of possibilities, just like on those motorcycle reality shows, but this time those lifts and tools are for you, not some pampered biker's son or some overmedicated, self-absorbed biker legend. Those trays of socket wrenches, that oil changing station, that welder and wheel balancing machine are all yours.
If you haven’t experienced working with a pneumatic bike stand before, where everything is made easily reachable, instead of a cold concrete floor, you are in for the treat of your life. No more bending over into an awkward pretzel to get to that freakin’ screw, no more reaching up and around for that spot that can’t be got to. No, with a pneumatic lift, you simply raise and lower your bike as needed to reach exactly where and what you need to adjust, remove, or replace. That alone is worth the insanely reasonable price of taking your motorcycle to Moto Shop. And if you haven’t had the pleasurable experience of changing your oil and filter while sitting on a stool as you foot-paddle around an elevated motorcycle lift, lazily humming fancy tunes to yourself as your bike drains its expired elixir, brothers and sisters, I’m here to tell you that it is the most amazing sense of freedom from cold, dust, and dampness you will ever have.
To contact Moto Shop, visit the website http://www.bayareamotoshop.com/, It has a complete description of services, classes, and pricing. You will find schedules for upcoming classes on the basics, as well as advanced instruction on rebuilding your carburetors and calipers. There is also information on upcoming seminars and lectures (usually free) by well-known authors and innovators. Moto Shop wants to promote the idea of community, a safe haven where enthusiasts are encouraged to engage one another as they tinker with their machines, just like in the old days when Wilder, Alexsandra, and their BAMG friends talked and worked on their bikes. Moto Shop is a new kind of motorcycle shop, one made just for you by a couple of people who are just like you, where it’s okay to ask a question and get hands-on experience.
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