Garage For Rent: Motorcycle Workspace

When I started this post, I (mistakenly) centered it around personalizing your motorcycle's rental workspace. As I researched the topic, it became quite clear that many of you are desperately seeking such space so I'm shifting gears to help you find it. I've been lucky in that I've never had much difficulty isolating industrial buildings with open-minded landlords, so hopefully my approach will prove useful to you.

Resourcing is the most important of efforts and beyond word-of-mouth communication, the typical online go-tos remain what they were ten years ago. Activity on Craigslist, for example, is always bustling with garage rentals being posted and removed at random. If you want notifications for new listings that fit your specific needs, first perform the search on the Craigslist site, then use the resulting RSS feed in your preferred reader.

One surprising alternative to the C-list effort is your local self storage, which, if privately owned, might be open to placing you in a more obscure (and hopefully oversized) locker. I did this for a short stint on Chicago's north side and it worked out quite nicely, though I did eventually upgrade, making new friends with landlords who were happy to host. This just goes to show that if you're uncertain about your best immediate option, ask for the shorter lease.

Other outlets for your search include LoopNet, EveryBlock and the oh-so-beautiful GaragePointer (looks promising). Putting each of these, as well as the aforementioned wheels, into motion will return an impressive collection of possibilities when you filter "garage for rent". There's also the option to *cough* buy *cough* and rent to those of us in need.

Whether you're after single parking size, two-car or even the complete home package, the only boundaries you face are budget, security and common ground with your landlord. I'll take this opportunity to mention our rental house headquarters being not only affordable but also having an attached single-car garage that's motorcycle-friendly. The only sacrifice we made meant abandoning inner-city living for the suburban outskirts.

Industrial features and safety protocols are also worthy of observation, in that you might get lucky and find space in a machine shop. What a great place to rub elbows and talk wrenching, where, if you mention what you're up against, someone might just have what you need to solve the problem! It's in this environment that you're most likely to have sprinkler systems and fire extinguishers in place but should that not be the case, solutions are out there.

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Personalizing your garage-for-rent is another feeler gauge as to whether a longer lease is in order. For our home, I went to what others call "a lot of trouble" (it wasn't) to insulate and drywall an exposed side of my workspace. With one good friend on hand, it took all of thirty minutes, a six-pack of snoopy juice and a good many laughs to make an otherwise vampire cave into a well-lit and pleasantly maneuverable moto-zone complete with decorative posters and license plates of bikes past and present. Seriously ... when it comes to making your space yours, go for it, especially if you finally land that elusive garage for rent.

How Did You Go About Renting A Garage As A Motorcycle Workspace?

Finding agreeable landlords isn't always easy. Please share your tips with our readers and invite them to weigh in. Your input is invited. Leave a comment and/or write an article!