Saturday, September 8, 2012

thoughts on parking

i've had some interested parking experiences over the past few weeks. nothing with vixen, but recently i've been secondhand witness to some, shall we say, less-than-intelligent choices when it comes to motorcycle parking.

first, let us discuss hills. i live in seattle. hills are a fact of life. my neighborhood is a hill. so is the neighborhood next to mine. if you are planning on riding a motorcycle in seattle, you had best learn how to park on a hill. or a car, for that matter. how many people actually remember which way you're supposed to turn the wheel when parking on a hill? (hint: if the brakes fail, the car should roll toward the curb.) it should be simple logic, but i rarely see it in action.

with motorcycles, the logic is similar. when you park a bike, you put it's full weight on the kickstand (usually a sidestand). the kickstand is spring-loaded to flip toward the back of the bike, meaning if you roll the bike forward, the kickstand will disengage and flip up. now transfer this logic to parking on a hill. if your bike begins to roll, which way do you want the bike (and kickstand) to be facing? some people merely park perpendicular to the slope which, while not the worst option, is certainly not the best. if the kickstand is on the hill-side, your bike won't be much at an angle and it is more likely to topple over down the hill. if it's on the slope-side, the angle is usually too extreme, also chancing a topple. i see both of these on a regular basis. again, usually not a problem, but not the wisest idea.

and then there are people like today. i was on queen anne hill (yet another neighborhood named after one) when i saw a gorgeous, relatively new Honda Shadow decked out with chrome, molded saddlebags, the works, parked facing down the hill. there was no one around it, no vehicles nearby, but it was sitting, angled downhill, resting precariously on its sidestand. seriously tempting fate. i couldn't help but wonder who would willingly leave their bike in such a risky position. do they realize that the slightest bump could send their shiny new bike careening down one of the steepest hills in the city? probably not. it just doesn't occur to some people.

and this brings us to my next parking issue: cars. now, for the most part i have no issue parking my bike. i can almost always find space, in a legal spot, while keeping a proper distance from other vehicles. it's one of the reasons i love having a bike, living where i do. and one of the reasons i don't have a car. i suck at parking cars. i failed parallel parking in driver's ed. it's OK, though, because i don't drive one on a regular basis. other people, however, are constantly searching for that ever elusive parking space, especially on capitol hill (the seattle slope i call home). parking only slightly easier to find than a narwhal (it's downstairs from the unicorn), and when people find anything that can be half-called a space, they jump at it. this can lead to some dicey situations when you mix vehicles on a single block.

for instance, on my block we usually have anywhere from 4-8 bikes parked on any given day. and we usually manage to carve ourselves a niche on the curb where bikes can pull in and out, without giving enough space for a car. usually. there is always a time, however, when one too many bikes leaves, tipping the balance and opening up a spot for a car. this can get awkward, having a compact sandwiched on both sides by motorcycles. i'm sure i'm not the only biker that glares at these cars, just waiting for them to leave so we can reclaim our territory. it can also turn ugly. at this moment there is a subaru that decided to park in one of these spaces. the car fit, technically, but only physically. practically, not so much. one of the bikes currently on the block is covered at the moment, and the subaru's rear bumper is literally scraping the bike's cover. that means it is within an inch of the bike itself. not cool. add in the fact that the bike happens to be leaning away from the car, and you end up with an impossible scenario. if the bike wanted to get out, it would be trapped. not only is the car pinning the cover to the bike, but it's impossible to stand the bike up with the car in its current location. now, call me a prude, but i think if your parking job makes it impossible for those around you to access and/or move their vehicles, that is a parking fail. plain and simple. i think this car should be ticketed.

it also gets worse. a few months back we had another car that attempted to fit in one of these spaces and ended up hitting and knocking over two bikes in the row (including a sweet pimped-out vintage Vespa). this car didn't even feel the need to move, meaning the bikes couldn't even be picked up properly, since there wasn't room with where the car was. to make matters worse, this is a car that lives on our block. i am paranoid every time i have to park near it.

this is unfortunately one of the hazards of street parking for motorcycles, and a reality of living in the city. i should really invest in some sliders (chassis protectors that prevent a bike from falling directly on it's engine). until then, i'll just keep glaring at cars that park poorly and looking for safe harbor next to my fellow bikers.

rftc,

scott

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