Looking for garage/workshop space for bike restoration Wellington

[catatonicChimp]

I am in the middle of restoring 2 MZ ETZ 250's in different levels of disrepair, but I live in an Apartment in the city which is not conducive to doing restoration work as I can't just take everything apart and leave it sitting in the garage. so I am looking for somewhere I can store and work on the bikes ideally in the General Wellington City area. Does anyone have and leads? I don't mind sharing space if anyone wants to join in renting a place or would like to share their space...

Cheers

Andrew.

[smmudd83_1999]

Your flat is likely warmer than most garages in the Wellington City boundary as a lot aren't integral and don't even have power for heating and lighting. So you're probably best off doing it in your flat anyway!!

Not directly helpful, but back in the day my brother was in a similar situation with a BSA B44.
He had the bought the bike in bits in wee crates.

1)He taped tarp to the walls and floors like a serial killer about to chop up a dead body.
2)He went up the lift with his boxes of bits. It took several trips/most of an afternoon.
3)He undertook dry build no.1 in that spare room to make sure it was complete. This is bike restoration 101 yet I'm amazed by the gung ho attitude of restorers not bothering with this first step. He did his research and ordered the bits he thought he needed (down to the bolt) from UK specialists. You can't do this without doing the dry build first. It only took him a couple of weeks.
4)He took photos of every subassembly during the strip down and sent boxes of stuff to powder coaters, platers, wheel rebuilders, suspension specialists, painters, carbs were stripped and rebuilt by someone. All with specific instructions taped to each labelled and bagged part etc.
This is the UK about 15 years ago when motorcycle restoration sub specialists who were bloody good at knowing their product and their art were ten to a dozen.
5)Meanwhile he started on the technical stuff. He only had an engine, gearbox (which was the bit that needed work and he sent that off to get fixed too), headlights, tail lights, indicators, seat, footpeg and brake rubbers, throttle grip, little bits and pieces left over. That was it.
6)Stuff started to trickle back from specialist service providers after a few weeks.
7)As a sub assembly came back complete he would put it together, otherwise he would wait until all the bits came back. So gradually parts of the bike started to come together in that room.
8)Once everything came back he did dry build no.2 to doubly make sure he had everything for a final build. He didn't. He ordered more parts. Doh!
9)When the bike was all there in the spare room and fully built up and looking bootiful, he stripped it down into chunks (handlebars too wide to fit in the lift. After that the bike actually fitted in the lift with just the forks removed and the bike sat on a wee trolley!)
10)He did the final build (no.3) now that the bike was complete in the car park space under the apartment block. And then did all the other stuff you have to do to finish a resto job, like tweaking the carb set up from factory standard, something to do with his ignition set up was out, the powdercoater had coated over the earthing point, new battery, new oils, greased everything, torqued everything up to the manual etc etc.
11)And then fired it up after some huffing and puffing (and remedial electrical work!) and went for an "MOT", (which is like a British WOF) after pootling around on it for a couple of days.

He didn't have a work bench, just a really heavy vice which was loose! When something needed to be held upright (like the engine in the frame to fit either end) he mounted the unit on wood blocks.

I think it took him about 8 intense months. He had a job, but no girlfriend at the time. Or hobbies. Yes, he is committed, single minded, fastidious and methodical. But that should be true of anyone doing a quality resto job. And it cost him a lot more money than the bike is worth, which is always the case if you're doing a proper job.

And my dad once did a top end rebuild on his older brother's Trumpy T90 in the hallway, back in the day.

I once helped a chap with his Indian Scout. I told him to do the dry build and his attitude was "no, we'll just go ahead and as we find we need bits we'll get them". That was a year and a half ago and he still hasn't got all the bits so the project keeps stalling. Also, he is assembling the bike in his shed, which is at the bottom of his garden down a STEEP slope. I said "how are you going to get it out of here when it's built?" and he said "we'll just ride it out." And he meant it. Neither of us are Dougie Lampkin, so eff that. In some recent heavy downpours that shed has flooded twice. He is losing interest in the project, I tell you.

A nice warm garage with good lighting and easy access is one thing. But in Wellington there's not so many of those so you might do better in a spare room in a flat!!

[catatonicChimp]

Thanks smmudd, but its not really possible for me....

If the:
a) apartment was my own
b) there was a spare room or just space in general in the apartment
c) there wasn't a specific strata bylaw about not doing any vehicle maintenance in the building
d) there wasn't a rental inspection every 3 months.
e) the bikes would actually fit in the lift to get it to the 7th floor
then maybe* I would...

but yeah it isn't really an option... :crybaby:

Cold weather doesn't really bother me, I've already restored my car here in wellington working in one of those cold damp dark cramped garages... though it did have power... but that was when I was living out in Karori and had my own garage...

I really wish that NZ/Wellington had something like Rising Sun Workshop in Sydney, at least that was my original plan for my 1st MZ ETZ 250... https://www.risingsunworkshop.com/

[sidecar bob]

Here's a thought, move to a shire that has properties that fit your lifestyle.

[jellywrestler]

Here's a thought, move to a shire that has properties that fit your lifestyle.

Gore springs to my mind Steve, at least with bikes like MZ's...

[BMWST?]

prolly an expensive way to do it though

[Akzle]

ind a nigga with a crane (surely there's still a few kicking round wgtn)

put bike and gear on roof. boom. storage and anti-theft all in one. be a fucken determined cunt pushes a bike down 20 flights of fuken stairs.

[jellywrestler]

prolly an expensive way to do it though

yip maybe, but if one in the middle is used as a workshop then that's a whole new set of rules, fire protection requirements, power supply issues and insurance so probably not a happening thing.
give barrys garage a ring, he may know a facility

[Crasherfromwayback]

Get hold of Barry New.

[catatonicChimp]

Here's a thought, move to a shire that has properties that fit your lifestyle.

I am pretty sure central wellington suits my lifestyle just fine with the exception of the space to work on bikes... I ain't moving anywhere that doesn't have 7 breweries within 1km walking distance...



yip maybe, but if one in the middle is used as a workshop then that's a whole new set of rules, fire protection requirements, power supply issues and insurance so probably not a happening thing.
give barrys garage a ring, he may know a facility

Get hold of Barry New.

Not sure what your referring to at the start of your message @jellywrestler?
Will give Barrys a call and see if he has any ideas

[jellywrestler]

Not sure what your referring to at the start of your message @jellywrestler?
Will give Barrys a call and see if he has any ideas was reffering to storage units, they are that, not workshops, they'll be very gunshy about working in them especially after one burnt down in mirimar or thereabouts a year or two ago
barrys garage, 0212633724

[catatonicChimp]

ah yip I know the place well... I already have a unit there with all my spare parts for my Trabant...
I should probably check with them as well since I do have some spare space there and there is a power socket on the outside which I could run a lamp to...

[jasonu]

I ain't moving anywhere that doesn't have 7 breweries within 1km walking distance...





s

ya can't argue with that logic!!!:2thumbsup:2thumbsup:2thumbsup

[catatonicChimp]

spoke to Barry, he can't allow work to be done at his site due to insurance and didn't have any other additional advice...
asked storage place where I am storing spare parts and they are also a no...

[sidecar bob]

I am pretty sure central wellington suits my lifestyle just fine with the exception of the space to work on bikes... I ain't moving anywhere that doesn't have 7 breweries within 1km walking distance...



Buy a fridge, you can have 7 brews within ten metres, and you won't have to pay retail & hang out with pretentious arty types while you drink them.

[Grumph]

You own an MZ and a Trabant - and live in Wellington. Damm lucky not have been expelled as an undeclared Russian agent....

Are there any "mens sheds" in a suburb handy to you ? If the wife has her way, that's probably what i'll be reduced to in a few years....

[Voltaire]

Check out the Vintage Car Club in Wellington. The Auckland one has a workshop with a sheet metal folder and other useful tools. I can go there once a F/N when its open, probably could get key if I needed it.......and......and...they have a bar with beer for just over cost, however not of the standard of the Te Aro valley:rolleyes:

I restored a 1959 Triumph T110 in a conservatory in Clapham London in the early 90's, had to dress up in ex Nato gear to keep warm.
Its sitting on shelves in the shed now :(

I recall in my 1990 elefantreffen trip I rode my BMW sidecar up to what was then Karl Marx Stadt to stay at a guys place I met in Hungary.
There were MZ's, Trabbies and other weird and wonderful stuff everywhere. The place ran on coal and gas and was like being on the set of WW2 movie. It was freezing and the BMW would not start, he got his mate to tow start it with a Trabant, rode back to Blighty in the snow and never went on winter rally ever again.....other than the 1993 Brass Monkey and the cold kiwi where my mate who was learning to ride the outfit ran it off the road on the Rarimu Spiral.

In a fit of Austalgia I bought a ETZ 250 that would not select 3rd, got it running for a test ride, did the numbers and put on TM.

Good luck.

[catatonicChimp]

Looks like I might be sorted, found a place on oldschool.co.nz....



Buy a fridge, you can have 7 brews within ten metres, and you won't have to pay retail & hang out with pretentious arty types while you drink them.

you do ready seem to want to push this extreme option of moving house at huge expense... and all I want is to find a garage to do some work in....
Also I like those artsy types and drinking expensive beers in the company of others....


You own an MZ and a Trabant - and live in Wellington. Damm lucky not have been expelled as an undeclared Russian agent....

Are there any "mens sheds" in a suburb handy to you ? If the wife has her way, that's probably what i'll be reduced to in a few years....

Trust me the russians wouldn't want to be seen dead driving a Trabant... they left those horrible cars for the east germans to make and drive... MZ's are actually not bad though...


Check out the Vintage Car Club in Wellington. The Auckland one has a workshop with a sheet metal folder and other useful tools. I can go there once a F/N when its open, probably could get key if I needed it.......and......and...they have a bar with beer for just over cost, however not of the standard of the Te Aro valley:rolleyes:

I restored a 1959 Triumph T110 in a conservatory in Clapham London in the early 90's, had to dress up in ex Nato gear to keep warm.
Its sitting on shelves in the shed now :(

I recall in my 1990 elefantreffen trip I rode my BMW sidecar up to what was then Karl Marx Stadt to stay at a guys place I met in Hungary.
There were MZ's, Trabbies and other weird and wonderful stuff everywhere. The place ran on coal and gas and was like being on the set of WW2 movie. It was freezing and the BMW would not start, he got his mate to tow start it with a Trabant, rode back to Blighty in the snow and never went on winter rally ever again.....other than the 1993 Brass Monkey and the cold kiwi where my mate who was learning to ride the outfit ran it off the road on the Rarimu Spiral.

In a fit of Austalgia I bought a ETZ 250 that would not select 3rd, got it running for a test ride, did the numbers and put on TM.

Good luck.

Hahaha awesome.. thanks for that I'll have to check them out...

[sidecar bob]

Looks like I might be sorted, found a place on oldschool.co.nz....




you do ready seem to want to push this extreme option of moving house at huge expense... and all I want is to find a garage to do some work in....
.

Rent a house, if you can call a place with nowhere to work on a bike a house, rent further premises far away from comfort of own place, spouse & comforts of home to perform hobby.
Add two rents together, plus inconvenience of not being able to nip out to the shed for a quick tinker, add fuel to & fro second premise, add another insurance policy, add another power bill. Factor in lack of security, or a monitored alarm because not having said toys under your roof at night. Yeah nah, you're right. Far cheaper your way.

[Voltaire]

Rent a house, if you can call a place with nowhere to work on a bike a house, rent further premises far away from comfort of own place, spouse & comforts of home to perform hobby.
Add two rents together, plus inconvenience of not being able to nip out to the shed for a quick tinker, add fuel to & fro second premise, add another insurance policy, add another power bill. Factor in lack of security, or a monitored alarm because not having said toys under your roof at night. Yeah nah, you're right. Far cheaper your way.


Rent a house in Wellington..... you make it sound so easy as in the olden days.
Don't forget to add, by forgoing smashed avocado on toast, flat whites, $12-14 a glass Hopped Sour beer and Sky TV he could have his own house paid off in no time.....:lol:

[sidecar bob]

Rent a house in Wellington..... you make it sound so easy as in the olden days.
Don't forget to add, by forgoing smashed avocado on toast, flat whites, $12-14 a glass Hopped Sour beer and Sky TV he could have his own house paid off in no time.....:lol:

Don't you start. I had the misfortune of parking on your awesome "motorway" for over an hour each way from Barry's Point Rd in the beating hot sun on a bike yesterday.
Cool carpark bro.

[Voltaire]

Don't you start. I had the misfortune of parking on your awesome "motorway" for over an hour each way from Barry's Point Rd in the beating hot sun on a bike yesterday.
Cool carpark bro.

Why would you do that to yourself.
They are trying to make it better but the previous govt left the door wide open and no one goes to AU any more.

The pub at the Viaduct where I sometimes work from has over 15 craft beers on tap, and great restaurants so reluctant to move just yet.

[sidecar bob]

The pub at the Viaduct where I sometimes work from has over 15 craft beers on tap, and great restaurants so reluctant to move just yet.

So everyone can sit around wistfully discussing the fruity hint of oats that have been through the horse, with the slightest aftertaste human fecal coliforms?
It's a bit like the story of the king who had no clothes. The sooner someone fronts up & says it tastes like shit, out loud, the sooner they can get back to stocking Heineken.

[jellywrestler]

So everyone can sit around wistfully discussing the fruity hint of oats that have been through the horse, with the slightest aftertaste human fecal coliforms?
It's a bit like the story of the king who had no clothes. The sooner someone fronts up & says it tastes like shit, out loud, the sooner they can get back to stocking Heineken.

fuck i thought you were gonna say steinlager, or as it's known as here, bulimia in a bottle

[BMWST?]

So everyone can sit around wistfully discussing the fruity hint of oats that have been through the horse, with the slightest aftertaste human fecal coliforms?
It's a bit like the story of the king who had no clothes. The sooner someone fronts up & says it tastes like shit, out loud, the sooner they can get back to stocking Heineken.
if thats what turns you on thats fine but i like having the choice of different brews.Sometimes i enjoy a heineken too.

[Voltaire]

So everyone can sit around wistfully discussing the fruity hint of oats that have been through the horse, with the slightest aftertaste human fecal coliforms?
It's a bit like the story of the king who had no clothes. The sooner someone fronts up & says it tastes like shit, out loud, the sooner they can get back to stocking Heineken.


On one trip to Munich in 1992 in the trusty BMW sidecar went around Spaten, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbrauhaus, Paulaner and lowenbrau. I have a great set of beer glasses, much like you now get here.
Lowenbrau put on a tour and a spread in the boardroom afterwards.
Beerfest is a good event to go to once in your life.
Passed on going to the Heineken Factory ( would hardly call it a brewery) in Amsterdam.
Wellington has some great brew pubs, you should call in and try one, you probably don't need a Puns N Goses :whistle:
But as the guy at one winery once said, " If your happy with $5 wine thats good too"

[catatonicChimp]

On one trip to Munich in 1992 in the trusty BMW sidecar went around Spaten, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbrauhaus, Paulaner and lowenbrau. I have a great set of beer glasses, much like you now get here.
Lowenbrau put on a tour and a spread in the boardroom afterwards.
Beerfest is a good event to go to once in your life.
Passed on going to the Heineken Factory ( would hardly call it a brewery) in Amsterdam.
Wellington has some great brew pubs, you should call in and try one, you probably don't need a Puns N Goses :whistle:
But as the guy at one winery once said, " If your happy with $5 wine thats good too"

München beer tour on a BMW, sounds perfect...though I would rather be in the sidecar drinking then having to be in control and missing out on drinking lots of everything..

Puns N Goses... good choice, had one on Monday at F&B... Not that F&B is my favourite brewer or bar, but it is my closest (approx 20m door to door)

[AllanB]

Hmm I am quite partial to the craft beer or less mainstream brewers. I'll have a Panhead Supercharger over one of the global greats any day. There is a local brewery that makes some really good beer - and they will fill up a rigger :woohoo:

[Voltaire]

München beer tour on a BMW, sounds perfect...though I would rather be in the sidecar drinking then having to be in control and missing out on drinking lots of everything..

Puns N Goses... good choice, had one on Monday at F&B... Not that F&B is my favourite brewer or bar, but it is my closest (approx 20m door to door)

The BMW was parked up, Munich has great public transport.

[Swoop]

I had the misfortune of parking on your awesome "motorway" for over an hour each way from Barry's Point Rd in the beating hot sun on a bike yesterday.

Huh????????????????????

There's no such thing as "sitting in traffic" on a bike.

[rok-the-boat]

Way back when, I rebuilt an RD400F in my mum's kitchen. And a Montessa 348. More down in the ole cellar - had to carry everything down, in bits. Later helped a friend rebuild his 750 Vulcan in my apartment - a spare room. When I finally got a garage I had ten projects going on at any one time. Now, divorced. Back to the apartment ...