The author, Shinichi Sawada, owns one car and two motorcycles.
The car is a first-generation Daihatsu Copen, and the motorcycles are a Suzuki Glass Tracker Big Boy and a first-generation Suzuki SV400S. Since this fleet of three vehicles is by no means new, maintenance costs are naturally high. Then, the other day, the SV’s electrical system gave out, and I ended up having to take it to a repair shop…
I’ll explain the symptoms later, but let’s just say it ended up being a pretty painful expense.
Damn it, my allowance for this month! That’s it—I’ll blow off some steam with a motorcycle repair simulator!
“Biker Garage: Mechanic Simulator,” where you can start painting right from the tutorial
The SV is a half-faired sport bike, so it doesn’t have a kickstarter.
If it had a kickstarter like an off-road bike, you could still manage to start the engine even if the battery was weak. But with a sport bike, where the only way to start it is with the electric starter, things can get pretty tricky. My SV wouldn’t start with the electric starter either, and I was told it was time to replace not just the battery, but the starter relay as well.
The SV’s twin-cylinder engine itself has a reputation for durability, but the battery is, after all, a consumable part…
So, I decided to dip into my limited disposable income to get my SV repaired. When I told the GameSpark editorial team about this, they said, “Since you’re already doing that,” and suggested I play the following two motorcycle repair simulators.
First up is *Biker Garage: Mechanic Simulator* (hereinafter *Biker Garage*), released in November 2019.
Sport bikes are equipped with fairings—exterior parts made of synthetic resin or fiberglass—that give the bike its streamlined shape. These are highly likely to be damaged in the event of a crash. In the case of the SV, even a simple tip-over can cause the base of the front turn signal to crack.
If you’re serious about repairing this, you’ll need to fill the crack with body filler and then repaint it. And in “Biker Garage,” you can actually paint the fairing as early as the tutorial stage.
The garage features a surprisingly impressive paint booth where you can take parts and repaint them with a spray gun in any color you like.
What’s even more interesting is that this game incorporates the concept of “repairing a customer’s bike parts and storing them as spare parts rather than reinstalling them on the bike (while providing brand-new parts for the customer’s bike).”
Why go through such a hassle? It’s because once a part is damaged, it can’t be fully repaired, and in some cases, it may not meet the customer’s expectations. This is a particularly prominent issue with older sport bikes like the SV, as manufacturers no longer produce fairings for them. Your only options are to purchase a fairing in good condition through an online auction or somehow import a Chinese-made replica part yourself.
Additionally, *Biker Garage* features a function that assesses the extent of damage (displayed as a percentage) before repairs, which quite realistically—or rather, ruthlessly—recreates the “reality of a repair shop.”
“Motorcycle Mechanic Simulator 2021”: A Realistic Simulation of Heavy-Duty Motorcycle Repairs
Next up is *Motorcycle Mechanic Simulator 2021*, released in November 2021.
Whether it’s a four-wheeled vehicle or a motorcycle, the mechanics are extremely intricate and complex. It’s often necessary to temporarily remove one part just to access the part you’re trying to remove.*Motorcycle Mechanic Simulator 2021* recreates the process of removing and installing heavy-duty parts, truly projecting the “mechanics of a real motorcycle” onto the screen.
While you experience the meticulous process of manually turning each bolt, opening covers, and removing internal parts, the game also features scenes where you operate tire-mounting machines and wheel balancers—demonstrating a deep understanding of “what a motorcycle really is.”Since motorcycles run on front and rear tires, you must also adjust the wheel’s center of gravity. The fact that the developers of *Motorcycle Mechanic Simulator 2021* didn’t cut corners on this aspect suggests they truly love motorcycles.
Also, in *Motorcycle Mechanic Simulator 2021*, you can take the bike for a test ride after repairs. You can ride the customer’s bike recklessly, sometimes crashing into walls or utility poles and sending the rider flying. Hey, are you trying to wreck someone else’s bike?!
So, that’s it for this time—I approached this with the mindset of “Let’s blow off some steam from motorcycle repairs with a motorcycle repair simulator.”
Motorcycle repair sims are less prominent than car repair sims, and there aren’t that many of them out there. That’s exactly why it feels like this genre is developed by “people who are truly passionate about it.”
So, why don’t you all give motorcycle repair a try on the other side of the screen?
