Scooter taking up precious space - My rant for today

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dgauthier703 · Tue Sep 16, 2008 6:06 am

Where I work, we have an underground parking garage, and the choice spots (the ones near the elevator) usually go to the people that get there early, like me. I usually park in the middle of the spot, mainly b/c I've had my car hit several times from other people's car doors, and I don't want them hitting the bike with the door. Well, for the past two days, some doofus on a scooter has been parking right next to my bike. Almost so close that I'd kick it when I get on. And even today, there were two other bikes in the garage, but they decided to again park next to mine. It's like they're trying to say, "Look, I have a motorcycle too!"

Anyone else have this problem before?

Tue Sep 16, 2008 6:18 am

angle the bike so there's no room next to it. If you were far up to the left in the spot I could see them parking there. Make it obvious you want the space to yourself.

#3 Unread post by **Wrider** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 1:12 pm

It's a frakking scooter! Find a buddy with a truck, load it up, move it halfway across the parking garage and put it in another spot!
They'll get the message!
I used to have the same thing happen to my 92 Isuzu pickup, some moron would park so close to the door I had to get into the passenger side... I did that once and the closest he ever after that was 20 feet away!

Wrider

dgauthier703 · Tue Sep 16, 2008 1:36 pm

It's a frakking scooter! Find a buddy with a truck, load it up, move it halfway across the parking garage and put it in another spot!

Yep....that was pretty much how I felt

There's 4 levels to the garage, so I thought about moving it to another level to screw with the guy.

Here's an interesting update: I was talking to the security guard about it, and later on, I see this weenie talking to her, and she calls me over; turns out that the weenie is the scooter jockey. I tell him, I parked that way for a reason. His excuse? Because they're working on part of the garage, he's trying to conserve spaces.....when there's like 60 free spots on the lower levels.

So he told me he'll change spots, and he'll park next to another bike....sigh...I just want him to park next to the wrong biker once, but that's not likely to happen since it's a bunch of engineers here. So it looks like my problem is solved, but now it's someone else's problem, I guess.

Tue Sep 16, 2008 10:53 pm

next time disconnect his sparkplug if you can get to it.

JC Viper · #6 Unread post by **JC Viper** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 4:42 am

That's why I like having an exhaust on each side. On the Vulcan 500 the exhaust tends to move outward as it's moving toward the rear. Pretty much forces people to put space between their bike and mine to avoid being burned.

Pedestrians jaywalking on the other hand are really dumb, crossing in between vehicles and one of them being a recently shut off bike with a hot side exhaust.

flynrider · Wed Sep 17, 2008 11:39 am

Where I work, parking spaces are sometimes in short supply. I usually leave enough room in a parking space so that another biker can share it. I just park towards the back of the space, out of reach of car doors. Whoever decides to share my space can take their chances with them.

Most of the bikers in the lot do this, but there are a few that park across the middle of the space. To me, that's a clear sign that they don't want to share their space and that's fine with me. I did come across a guy that would always park across the middle of his space, but when there were no spaces left, he'd share a spot with my bike. I left him a little note about that and now he always parks in "sharing" mode.

Nalian · #8 Unread post by **Nalian** » Sun Sep 21, 2008 4:14 am

Is it really that big of a deal? It sounds like their scooter is playing protection for your bike by parking next to you.

I guess I'm just in city parking mode where we have no choice but to share. The only parking that upsets me is if people make it hard for me to get out (parking right behind me).

Meanie · #9 Unread post by **Meanie** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 1:42 am

Nalian wrote:Is it really that big of a deal? It sounds like their scooter is playing protection for your bike by parking next to you.

I guess I'm just in city parking mode where we have no choice but to share. The only parking that upsets me is if people make it hard for me to get out (parking right behind me).

I think it's a very big deal for two reasons.

1. If the scooter is parking so close where the motorcycle hits it when he leaves, then the scooter is parking close enough to damage the motorcycle or even kick, hit, touch, etc. the motorcycle when he dismounts. That's not something anyone wants to do to my bike as I'll go apeshit.

2. If there are plenty of parking spaces as the author stated, then there isn't a reason to park in the same spot. Also, motorcycles are entitled to a single parking spot and a road lane just as a car is. Would you park in the same spot with a car?

In our local downtown area, many bikes frequent the businesses. Therefore, we all back in and parallel park next to each other to share space. There have been riders who park so close to my bike it will hit their's when I lean upright to move out. This is completely unacceptable and disrespectful. The same applies to the scooter parking in the same spot.

The scooter has two choices...ask the rider if it's ok to park with the bike or simply don't park there.