Working on a motorcycle becomes easier when you can see what you’re doing

We love to ride our motorcycles and we love to keep them clean, shiny, and in perfect working order. Riders know that a well-maintained motorcycle is a safer and more dependable ride—not to mention a more fun one.

Motorcycle maintenance

Motorcycle maintenance lets you spend time in the garage working on your beloved bike. For a lot of riders, the garage is a special place—far more than an indoor parking place. So, we do things like decorate the walls with motorcycle memorabilia or maps for route planning and probably play some music. It all adds up to making it our personal rider cave.

It can also be the place we retreat to in the depths of the winter for a motorcycling fix and do some off-season maintenance, customization, or work on a motorcycle restoration project. But none of it can be done without the proper lighting.

Good light makes the work easier

There’s no doubt you need good light to see what you’re working on. Lighting products have come a long way in the past several years. We no longer need to struggle and squint under humming fluorescent ceiling lights or get burned by portable shop lights with incandescent bulbs in hot metal cages. Thanks to the growing selection of new LED lighting products, we can work with cool, bright lights that also save electricity.

Recommended lighting for motorcycle maintenance

Before you modernize your motorcycle maintenance lighting, it’s important to define what type of lighting you need. Garages have three basic lighting needs:

• General garage lighting: Overall lighting useful for basic cleaning, polishing, and inspection
• Work bench lighting: Light specifically for table jobs—including lighting for fine detail work
• Mobile work lighting: Movable and adjustable lights for working on and around a motorcycle

The range of shop lights available 

Just wander into the lighting department of your local home improvement store and you’ll find a dizzying array of lighting options. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the options, so here are some suggestions to help:

• General garage lighting: Consider daylight color temperature LED ceiling fixtures. These will help you see your motorcycle as it looks outside, which is helpful when doing things like touching up paint.
• Work bench lighting: Choose workbench LED lights with adjustable chain mounts for general workbench light. Clamp-on or desk LED lamps are available with flexible arms to highlight detail work.
• Mobile work lighting: Battery-operated LED lights are available in many brightness levels and configurations, ranging from floor and stand mount to handheld and magnetic mounted. Best of all, there are no cords to get in the way when you work on your motorcycle.

These are just some of the ways you can shine some light on your off-season motorcycle maintenance and be ready for sunny rides in the spring!

Till next time, ride safe!

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At Dairyland, we feel strongly about your safety and promote it through our Rider Training Course discount. Check it out.