Not sure if this is really a “technique” but I wonder how others park in a spot made for cars. Towards the back? Front? Middle?
My new office has a covered “motorcycle” parking slot that is just too small for a car, but big enough for a couple bikes. I park facing out, just up to the traffic path (for visibility) and to the left so that another bike can come up to my side and easily lean towards me.
On the street I always back in facing out in the middle of the parking space - best chance that the bike doesn't get hit by a car.
In your case in a parking garage I would park the bike in the middle of the space again giving the cars parking on either side or front or back as much space from the bike as possible.
In a perfect world no one hits your bike - anytime we park our bike in a public parking area we leave the bike exposed.
I look for the corner spaces, and leave the bike on the corner of the space, so any distracted driver would have more time to see my bike before hitting it.
Always better to park it backwards, so it's ready to leave, specially if the ground is not flat and has some pitch.
I'll add that I don't park next to beaters, if they don't take care of their vehicle, they sure don't care about yours.
If I can't find a corner spot, I look to park next to a nicer car, that I think might be an all day parker, and I get a little bit closer to that car, leaving more door swinging room for the other side, so hopefully there's one less side to worry about.
I'm so paranoid about it being stolen that I really don't leave it anywhere very often.
It looks like we’re all parking butt-first. Positioning within the spot depending on the situation and visibility, with risk of getting hit in mind but being conscientious of fellow parkers.
The spot at work is a the end of a block that consists of a short row of slots with bicycle rack ending the row (car, car, car, motorcycle, bicycles). I park a bit towards the bicycles and leave enough room for another motorcycle, just in case since it’s the ONLY spot for motorcycles.
The car spots are reserved slots, so it’s easy to identify who the car next to the Moto-spot belongs to (and the driver knows it).
Good old fashion mutual respect for each other’s property goes a long way when parking, it seems (totally different story when in motion on the road).
The Honda Goldwing and the big BMW tourer had reverse for years now, but that's because they are too large and too heavy to be backed in by yourself. I think even the new BMW bagger has reverse.
I just about always park on the footpath to stay well away from cars . . . . it's perfectly legal in my neck of the woods, as long as you don't stupidly position the bike to obstruct pedestrian traffic.
I plan to order a Scorpio SRX-900 alarm (the upgraded version of the SR-i900). I'll get the add-on 'Proximity Sensor' to help ward off anyone getting too close. :surprise:
Usually back in. One thing I do is leave the bike near the back of the parking spot (closest to the driving lane) more as a courtesy to other drivers so my bike can be seen. I call it the smart car phenomena, where you think you see an open spot, but when you pull up you find a stupid Smart Car (or other compact car) in the space, if I leave my bike further back in the spot I figure it's less likely that someone will pull up thinking the spot is empty and try to pull into it. Maybe that makes it more likely that someone will hit it, and maybe it makes it less, however, you just can't stop 100% of things all the time, sh*t happens sometimes.
The Honda Goldwing and the big BMW tourer had reverse for years now, but that's because they are too large and too heavy to be backed in by yourself. I think even the new BMW bagger has reverse.
Yes the new ones do have reverse...it sure would have been nice to have...a couple of times I just couldn’t get enough leverage on my ‘15 GT, and had to have the wife push me out of a spot on a gravel parking lot...with a bunch of people watching from a patio no less. :surprise:
Dang that thing was big. I still get parking lot PTSD from driving it. Lol.
One of the first things I appreciated on the R, was the weight. On the other hand, at speeds above 120, I sure appreciated the fairing on the GT. First world problems... :smile2:
Parking depends on the situation. Generally speaking, as others have mentioned, I back in, and park facing out. I do park toward the front of the parking spot, so people can see the spot is ‘taken’, in case the lot gets full.
One thing I look at when deciding whether to pull in or back in is the slope of the parking spot. Two reasons, one saves trying to back up uphill especially on a slick surface and the other is I've seen a few bikes over the years that could roll off the kickstand with just a small slope. The Busa was one of them.
Always park considering the pitch, roll and surface hardness and never ever leave it in neutral. Also remove the slack in the gear towards the slope side which is sufficient to retract the sidestand. If you're out on the wild always plan ahead how you're going to get out from the spot. Few months ago I stopped for a picture and only later I realised the downhill slope was steeper than I thought, and the found the ground was more slippery than I thought. And after about 1m of grass it would be basically a free fall from there. I dismounted from the bike and backed it up slowly with the gear engaged and sidestand down. Man that was a bit scary.
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