Triumphrat

Trident85596 · 07-08-2006

O.K.,O.K. you know he stayed there 2 hrs,and 2 drinks.
So it was out of his system. when he road off.
Was that Jack Black or Green?Ha.Ha.
Ride safe FatRat.
Jeff

Ridge · 07-08-2006

I'm with you Dawgfan.

Motorcycles deserve parking upfront. Period. If a store/restaurant doesn't offer motorcycle parking, then up on their sidewalk we go. (of course, I refer to private sidwalks not the public ones.)

Parking lots are dangerous places for bikes. I think it is RUDE and INCONSIDERATE for a place of business NOT to provide us with designated parking.

Besides, if they want our business they can deal with it.

Rant off.

[ This message was edited by: Ridge on 2006-07-08 16:06 ]

sweatmachine · 07-08-2006

I'm right in line with the rest of you. I first look for the inaccessable-by-car odd corner of the parking lot that I feel safe leaving my bike at, or park on the sidewalk.

I think sidewalk parking is perfectly acceptable.

FattRat · 07-08-2006

Quote:

"(...it is) a serious risk to be mixing alchohol and motorcycling. You need every bit of focus and balance to ride motorcycles..."

True, true that.

Bhakti-rider · 07-08-2006

I would say that like everything else, it depends on time, place, and circumstanaces. But it's a good idea to know whether the law prohibits parking on the sidewalk before you do it. Some cities do prohibit it, SF being one.

Ridge · 07-08-2006

From my understanding, parking on public sidewalks is prohibited nearly everywhere. If it's a sidewalk, walkway or concrete pad on private property, you probably aren't permitted to park on it either- per the property owner's rules. However, as Copper (who has been mysteriously absent lately

) told us, law enforcement won't do anything about it unless the property owner makes the request.

So chances are pulling up on Best Buy's sidewalk won't get you a ticket. As long as you're quick!

I think we should all make a habit of this practice. Maybe then the store owners will think about providing designated parking up front where it belongs.

MES · 07-08-2006

I don't park on the sidewalk.
A ride a motorcycle so I know I'm special and because it's a Triumph that make me super special (maybe even bitchen) but the first metermaid that sees me bike parked on the sidewalk is going to bit_h slap it with a hefty ticket. They eat their young.

05Truxter · 07-08-2006

I guess I'll stick my neck out in dissent. I don't park on the sidewalk. Reason being that most people don't ride bikes, and a lot of those that don't have seen too many dumb TV shows about "bikers" and not motorcyclists. So parking a bike on a sidewalk, where people walk, in a way that causes them to have to walk around the bike, or walk single file past it just to get by makes a motorcycle just another hassle and reason for a non-rider to dislike motorcyclists and lump them us all in with the negative impression they have from staring at their TV. Thing is they don't and probably never will appreciate bikes, so it's just in their way. It's a stretch, but it could lead to disregard and disrespect on the road from non-riders. I don't personally think it's rude, but others that may define your destiny as a hood ornament might.
Another reason is what happened to a friend's bike. Someone pushed it over on a sidewalk, probably because they felt it was in their way, and mostly because they were probably envious & just a garden variety A-hole.
I've never had my bike knocked down in a parking space. (it'll happen tomorrow for sure). I just make sure it is out at the end of the space far enough that it can be seen better by someone in a hurry. I do use the nooks and crannies as much as possible in parking lots, though. of course following the same reasoning, I make sure it isn't in the way. I guess a biker bar or bike shop is a whole other story.

black-bonnie · 07-09-2006

I do both. I mean if there is a short walk from a parking space, I do the parking space. But a long walk from a parking space, I look for a store front open area.

My rules about a parking space though is:

-Leave the bike at the beginning or end of the space so it could be seen immediately that it is taken so someone does not start to pull into it and at the last second see the bike. They may not stop in time.

-I want to pull out without blind spots if possible.

-Make sure I don't have to back up going up hill.

-People drive crazy in most crowded lots, so I am extra cautious.

Mancha · 07-09-2006

I've been following this with interest. Sometime's I'm ballsy enough to park the bike on the sidewalk, but I have to be in an attitude to do that. On the other hand, I don't like parking in a regular spot. For one thing, I fear someone pulling in quickly and hitting the bike. But also, I know that some car drivers resent when a motorcycle takes up a parking spot. It's almost as if they expect and desire us to park elsewhere.

I want to point out, however, that car drivers, as a class, have little reason to complain about motorcyclists taking up public space on sidewalks. I just returned from taking my two kids, ages 2 and 5, for a walk. Every time I do this I return home completely pissed off with the number of my neighbors who feel it's within their rights to park their cars in their driveways, even when the cars block the public sidewalk that passes through their driveways. Muscling my two-year-old in her stroller, my five-year-old on his bicycle, and my coffee around these cars, into the street, up and over the curbs, is a serious hassle, often results in some minor injury to my five-year-old, and is dangerous to boot. It's usually after one of these walks that I have the required attitude to park my bike on the sidewalk.