So I’ve been enjoying riding a motorcycle for about month so far, and tonight I rode it to run by Best Buy after work. As usual, I looked for a nice parking space in the lot, dismounted, and went about my business. As I got near the front door, I spotted a Harley Sportster whose owner had apparently made some effort to ride farther down where there was handicapped access to the curb and then driven up onto the sidewalk so that he could park his bike by the front door.
It’s nothing new for me to see motorcycles parked on the sidewalk, but for some reason, I just don’t seem to have the huevos to do this myself. I’m always worried that either someone’s going to call me an asshole (yes, I’m sensitive to these things), someone’s going to silently think I’m an asshole and knock my bike over, or I’m going to get a ticket or be towed.
So I have some questions for both bikers and non-bikers:
**1a) Bikers, do you normally park on sidewalks/curbs/non-designated parking spaces just because you can?
1b) Have you ever had your bike ticketed or towed or had any other problems as a result of doing so?
Non-bikers, do you take offense or have any issues with bikers who park in a non-designated parking area, assuming their bikes aren’t in anyone’s way? Why or why not?**
Park it all the time on the sidewalk. Never towed, although a WalMart employee got snippy with me once, saying something about how he didn’t “want kids touching it and stuff”. Whatever. Reason #29804 why you shouldn’t go to WalMart.
If companies don’t want motorcyclists to park on the sidewalk, they’ll get their shit together and set aside two or three compact spaces for motorcycles.
Find a spot where you’re not impeding pedestrian traffic and you most likely won’t have any trouble. In 40+ yrs. of driving a bike I’ve never been towed or ticketed.
There are a lot more parking spots for bikes now than when I first started driving so now it’s more habit than anything else
Many moons ago I got my tank keyed, in a legitimate parking place, quite a distance from the store in a mall parking lot. If I had any qualms before then, I overcame them quickly. Parking close to an entrance, out of peoples way, provides a constant stream of babysitters for your baby.
1a) Bikers, do you normally park on sidewalks/curbs/non-designated parking spaces just because you can?
Parking on the sidewalk is not really tolerated around here in my neck of the DC area. I do park in out of the way places in some places and in a regular spot at other times.
1b) Have you ever had your bike ticketed or towed or had any other problems as a result of doing so?
I haven’t but there have been people who have been ticketed. Here in Montgomery county in October they forced motorcycles to pay for parking, where before we would park in the nooks and not worry about it. No one ever said anything, then one day they said next week you pay or get a ticket. I wrote a letter and went to a meeting and they have reversed it, but we still have to pay for now. So around that time they started giving out tickets, at $50 a pop, where the car tickets were $35. That really pissed some people off. They did give us motorcycle spots, but no one uses them because they are oily and we pay full price for a spot that barely fits the larger bikes.
1a. Not very often. Usually I park in a normal space, especially when I’ve got my saddlebags on (my Tiger’s almost 4 feet wide w/bags).
1b. Never. I got a little static from the community college I took night courses at once; the designated motorcycle parking (formerly concrete) had been repaved with 2-3" of asphalt. My Norton didn’t have a sidestand at the time, so every time I got out of class, the center stand had sunk into the fresh asphalt, putting 2 2" diameter holes in it. What kind of moron paves motorcycle spaces with asphalt?
This is my viewpoint, I’m not trying to start and agrument, but:
If, as a motorcyclist, I insist on the same courtesy and respect and space as an automobile on the highway, them I feel somewhat obligated to play by the rules when parking. So, I park like the cars. Hopefully, it will keep the occasional person from holding a grudge against bikers that is carried out to the highway.
I guess that could work the other way, too. Someone could resent a bike taking up a whole parking spot when it would fit on the sidewalk.
I don’t have a motorcycle, but I do get around a lot on my bicycle, which probably has many of the same issues. I would say that if there’s a designated place to park bikes, it’s only polite to use that, but if there’s not, then just use your own judgement and pick some place which is relatively unobtrusive. Of course there are perqs to having a smaller vehicle; why would anyone expect otherwise? And one of those perqs is that you get to park where a larger vehicle might not be able to.
I doubt if parking any motorized vehicle on a sidewalk is legal, but IANACop. I park my scooter on sidewalks all the time, but I try to find a spot out of the way and I am banking on the small town atmosphere where I live. If a cop stopped me, I would probably be acquainted with him, for one.
I don’t think I would try it with a standard or hog-sized bike. But then, parking around here isn’t a problem, anyway. They took the meters off the street 30 years ago, and there are no pay parking lots within 50 miles.
I regularly park my bike at the front of the parking aisles. Usually, with diagonal parking, there is a little triangle at the front between the perpendicular lanes and the parking lines (does that make any sense?). I usually park there as it is right in front of the store.
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As long as I’m not infringing on handicap acess, I don’t see it as a problem and have never been ticketed. As for parking on the sidewalk, I never have and don’t forsee ever doing it. Of course, my bike is over 600 lbs - I don’t see a problem parking scooters or mopeds on the sidewalk.
I have to admit, on the contrary, I like when bikers park their bikes on the sidewalk - provided they’re neatly out of the way - since it gives me a chance to check out the wheels. I do worry about kids playing on them, though. And I agree - around here, everyone pulls out their bikes as soon as it gets a little warm and rides them consistently until it snows. So make some damn bike parking spots!
First, I don’t park on sidewalks. I saw a lot of that in San Francisco, and there’s a smoke shop on the corner of my block that frequently has a motorcycle or two parked on the sidewalk next to it. But if there are proper places to park (and there always are IME), why park on the sidewalk?
Anyway, the argument. I agree that it’s good to play by the rules. After all, the rules (in CA) let us split lanes! But I have a feeling that some cagers get very upset when they see a parking spot in a crowded lot, only to find it occupied by a motorcycle. So I often use ‘alternative’ spots, such as row ends as mentioned by brewha. I’ve received the occasional dirty look, but parking in nooks and crannies saves a full spot for a car.
On the other hand if I pay for a spot (many places let motorcycles park free; others – Disneyland, off the top of my head – charge car rates), I’ll use the whole spot in the hope that the management will see that motorcycles don’t take up as much space as cars and shouldn’t be charged the same as cars (or at all).
Question: If you park your ride on a sidewalk and a child gets burned, who’s at fault? What if you park in a car space and a child touches something hot? Is it different because a motorcycle on a sidewalk might be an ‘attractive nuissance’?
I tended to park my bike in regular parking spaces if no suitable alternative was available. Such as that little triangle of space mentioned earlier.
I also kept a small piece of wood under my seat so my kickstand would not sink.
I also got bitched out for “taking up a whole space” by morons on occasion. Motorcycles are allowed to take up an entire parking space. We try not to to be courteous to regular cars, but if we must, don’t be a dick.
I did often park my motorcycle on the back patio of my apartment. It was far safer there and fun to drive around the building. The one time I took advantage of being able to go around traffic to get to the turn lane, I got pulled over.
When I used to be a manager for Best Buy I always parked my motorcycle on the sidewalk (off to the side, out of people’s way). It was our store and the store manager never had a problem with it.
Then when I transferred to another Best Buy and did the same thing a co-manager tried to tell me that it was illegal in their town and I was going to get a ticket. In reality it was she who didn’t like it but wouldn’t say so and instead made up the story about it being illegal. I would just shrug it off and tell her “oh well, then I’ll just have to pay the ticket.” She would get really mad and leave in a huff and I’d continue to park there.
1a) Do you normally park on sidewalks/curbs/non-designated parking spaces just because you can?
Usually I park in a regular parking space or a motorcycle specific one. Thinking about it, the only time I routinely park up on the sidewalk is at the gym. Basically for two reasons: 1) it opens up a spot in a crowded parking lot for car and 2) it keeps me from getting rear ended by someone running late trying to park while yapping on their cell phone.
1b) Have you ever had your bike ticketed or towed or had any other problems as a result of doing so?
Nope, in fact, just the opposite. I’ve had several people with kids come up to me while I’m peeling off my gear wanting to see the bike. Kids love motorcycles
I usually park in regular spots, although I prefer motorcycle parking and make a note of places that offer it. I park in the little spaces at the ends of the aisles in parking lots all the time. In parking garages, I’ll park in the lined off areas.
I’ll park on the sidewalk from time to time if the spot is sufficiently out of the way and there aren’t any real good alternatives. It’s definately not a habit.
I’ve never had a problem with parking tickets/towing.
Slight hijack:
If I’m in an area with limited parking and I see a spot with a motorcycle in it, I’ll sometimes go ahead and park in the spot with the other bike. This is, of course, provided that there’s plenty of room to do so safely, say street parking where the other bike is backed up to the curb, 90 degrees to the spot. It seems that you can fit 2 or three bikes in a space like this, provided they’re not full tourers or stretched out choppets.
Motorcyclists: How would you feel about coming back to your space and finding another bike parked with you?
It depends. Right now we still have to pay for parking, the lots are usually full and I still don’t know why they started charging us. So in that case I want to take a full space, it’s my form of protest, and would get upset if someone parked with me. Usually, if you didn’t block me in, then I probably wouldn’t care.
Choppets? Is that a chopper for a women? Or maybe just a real small custom bike?
Parking with other cycles? I’ve done it and had it done to me. I see no problem at all with it. It seems to me like a “brothers of the road” kind of thing.
Local big stores in the warm weather have many bikes in the triangles all the time. No deal.
Been on the side walk only a few times.
It is much harder to screw with a bike that is right near the entrance to high the traffic and can be seen from inside.
I have a couple of choppers and they seem to collect jealous damage more than old dirty crotch rockets. Also up front makes folks nervous about when the owner will come out as he is in plain sight.
I have found that motel folks will usually let me park in the covered drive through right in front of the main door or the bullet proof glass depending on where I am.
Of course I have never had ANY trouble when I have my colors draped over the headlight.
At one tourist town I go to that has a lot of bike traffic, they pack 3-6 bikes in one car space and on the days weekdays that the meters are used, who ever is handy pops the quarter in the meter and does not whine about it. Do you share and all will be well. The locals and the tourist all love for the bikes to park in all the odd little places because due to the terrain, there is very little parking for the hordes of tourist that show up.
