Fernando Adianto, 27, is a motorbike rebuilder, seller and racer in Denpasar. He shared his day with The Bali Times’ Laurane Marchive

I live at my own rhythm.

Every day I wake up at seven, sometimes in my house, but sometimes in my shop, as it is more convenient for me: when I do so, I can sleep longer. Then, at eight, I open the shop, clean it and start waiting for customers to come. Still, even when there is nobody, I keep myself busy, because I don’t want to get lazy. That’s why from early morning, I begin fixing motorbikes or rebuilding Vespas, which is the thing I like the most.

As I am the only one working there, I don’t have any schedule, which is good, because I can live at my own rhythm. But it is also a problem, because as soon as I open it, I cannot leave the shop, and sometimes, if it’s a busy day, I don’t eat until evening.

Before opening this shop, I had a warung, as I also like to cook. But I was sharing it with a friend, who cheated on me, so now I feel better alone.

A lot of the customers who come to my shop are looking for small things, like petrol or fixing a flat tire. I have around 10 customers a day, and some come for bigger things, such as buying a motorbike.

One of the most important aspects of my job is buying broken motorbikes, such as Vespas, finding spare parts and rebuilding them. It takes a while to find what I need. I buy from friends, or in other shops. I like to work on old Vespas but also on new ones. A lot of people like Vespas in Indonesia, and there are numbers of fan groups; people gather to share this passion.

Everyone buys from me: tourists, locals. They like my work because sometimes I can do original things, such as painting motorbikes in extreme colors, or with original designs, such as tribal. I like to play with colors. It’s more expensive than plain, for sure, but real fanatics can spend a lot on a bike if they like it.

One of the things that takes a lot of my day is training. I am an autodidact, so every day I learn a little bit more about how to paint on motorbikes, and in the future, I would like one of my friends, who is a painter, to set up in front of my shop to sell his works. I would also enjoy sharing our knowledge; motorbike painting is unusual work, and that’s why I find it very interesting. Sometimes, I even go to other places, other shops or galleries, just to see, to learn and find new ideas. And I also can do modifications: installing big speakers, lights and everything. That way, I never get bored, because my job has a lot of different sides.

I am from a racer family, so even if I never officially learned, I was born among people who know everything about motorbikes, and I started doing motocross when I was 12 years old. At that time I lived in Java, where there are a lot of competitions – I won some, which is good because I got money, and some oil companies wanted to sponsor me, or to pay me to be in a club. I never became professional and I would like to, but know I think I am getting too old.

I like racing, but I also like to fix engines, because fixing means understanding, and for a racer, it is primordial to understand how the engine and the whole motorbike works.

What I like most in my work is that I can stay free. I spend my time fixing motorbikes; then I go and see some friends to buy parts, but I don’t want to schedule my days. For example, most of the time I don’t think, “I have to buy this or that part now.” I just go, and then I follow my feelings.

Most of the time, I close the shop at 11 or 12pm. During the first month, I was open 24 hours a day, but I had someone working with me. Now I cannot do it anymore, so I close the shop when I am tired, and then I go out, meeting friends. But it also happens that I stay in the shop very late, just in case customers have problems.

When I’m falling asleep, I feel peaceful, because this job pleases me, and with the increase in the price of petrol, people are buying fewer cars and more bikes. So every night I can close the shop without worrying, because I know this place is going to work, and maybe one day I will be able to open a bigger one.