Bike bay woes

Motorcycling
1

Following my problems with the my Tuono being knocked over last week I’ve moved to a different bike bay. However last night when I went to ride home somebody had shoved a Honda 125 in next to my bike and his mirror had marked the tank!!! (OK it wasn’t a huge mark and I managed to polish most of it out, but there is still a mark on a pristine tank)

As I was cursing and swearing the owner of the bike came up, he was pissed with me that I’d moved his mirror back a bit to:
a. see what the damage was and
b. try to get my bike out without creating any more damage

I was pretty pissed off with him as well, although once we calmed down we both realised that the reason this had happened was because somebody has moved his bike over to jam a ratty old scooter in. The problem is, of course, there’s no way to prove what happened, apart from common sense, (please don’t bother with the CCTV suggestions - life is too short).

Now this is not a rant about scooters (well it is, sort of), but why can’t people just be a bit more careful. It also comes down to the way people park in the morning. If everyone starts at one end, parks nice and close together, and fills the bay carefully then you don’t get the odd gaps where somebody thinks “Hmm, I’m sure I could get in there”.

This is a generalisation, but one I’ve found to be true over many years, a large number of scooter riders have no idea of parking etiquette. This week one of my work colleagues was trying to find a space and he, together with 2 other bikers, did a careful scooter shuffle and managed to park 3 bikes where there had been a space for one. This was done without any damage and leaving everyone with a sensible gap. Many Scooter riders park in the middle of the bay, leave too big a gap between each other and have a lack of respect for other peoples bikes.

I’m sure this will elicit a protest wave of “oh no we don’t” from the scooter people and they will counter with a accusations that we move their bikes and don’t respect them…

So let’s have a London bike bay code, let’s all be sensible and considerate with our parking and gently point out to people who park badly the error of their ways. We can then all live in peace and harmony with shiny, well parked, undamaged bikes…

… or end up knifed in the gutter with our bikes a mangled wreck after being thrown under a passing bus for daring to question somebody’s bike parking skills. :smiley:

OK, Flame suit is on and activated…

2

Oh mate that’s really toilet:doze:It sucks when you try and keep your bike nice and stuff like this happens. I feel for you mate. I hope the damage isn’t too bad. Maybe an LB sticker will hide it;)

I spent 20 odd years commuting into London and always used ratty trailly bikes and kept my other bike for Sunday best.

Why can’t they put lines in bike parking bays like they do for cars? Maybe a 1m space per bike?:cool:

3

Where did you buy your odd ears, I could do with some?:wink:

4

Yes, great idea! Instigating ‘The Doctors’ ticketing campaign might help too?

5

18 posts and he’s taking the p!ss already:w00t:

You are gonna fit in here just fine mate;):smiley:

6

remove said scooter from bay and stick it on the double yellow :wink:

7

Indiviual parking bays will lead to charging. No two ways about that. It is down to the riders to ensure that people treat property with respect. I have off street secured parking, happy me!

8

Campaigning for some sort of etiquette of parking is a great idea. It might fall on a lot of deaf ears, but it might gain some sort of support and if anyone takes it up then there will be at least SOME improvement for some people. Really good idea.

Can I ask you though, to just consider the possibility that if your starting point is that it’s generally scooter riders causing the most problems, then it’s very unlikely that you’re going to maximise the effectiveness of your message.

Your message, which I agree with, is basically: “We’re all in this together, and if we all behave sensibly then it will be better for all of us in the long run”. But you won’t get as far with that as you might do, if your starting point is that scooters generally cause the most problems.

I don’t want to make this into a long debate about he did and then i did and then he did blah blah blah, but I’d like to balance your story with mine. We have a bike bay at work. A couple of spaces in the u’ground car park set aside for bikes. All through the winter there’s no problem. A GSXR, scooters, a KTM and a Beemer, and we all get on well and manage to leave plenty of space for each other and we hutch up a bit when there are visiting bikes and we need to make a bit of room. It’s the kind of give an take and general consideration that you’re talking about. Now it’s summer, there are more bikes wanting to use the same space, but we now get LESS bikes into the space because of the silly sods (2 of them) who don’t seem to be able to park their Ewan and Charlie mega-giganto-bikes in anything less than about three normal bike spaces.

I think that if you start off with the premise that we’re all capable of acting like selfish prats sometimes, then you’ll make more friends and have more success with your (good) idea.

Remember, I may ride a scooter, but I’m going to be every bit as pissed off if you move my bike as you will if I move yours. My bodywork costs as much to have repainted as yours if it gets scratched, and I’ve probably got more bodywork than you in the first place. We actually have a lot in common, so I’d rather we were on the same side.

9

It’s just down to everyone being sensible about the way in which they line their bike up… as one bad card can ruin a deck. More than often I think it’s riders that arent parking for long as they’re in the mind frame of a quick in and out.

10

Unfortunately any code of conduct will be a waste of time. Muppets are out there everywhere - be warned people…

11

incidentally saw the bays in nottinghill area that have the ground anchors (look to be hardie ones) in place - looks like the bikes parking in them had lined up to those and used 'em.

think it would have been pretty difficult to squeeze bikes in as you coudln’t move what was there. looked good to me

12

Have you had a little word with them?

I agree it’s the summer riders that often create the issues.

It’s not a general rant at scooters, more bad parkers (and Parka’s)

13

Or even those metal frame-type things you see on station platforms, for push-bikes.

Then if, god forbid, a bike fell over, it wouldn’t go completely - it’d stop when it got to the piping and not take anyone else out.

If they can put those things in for free for push-bikes, there’s no reason why they can’t do it for motorbikes and scooters.

14

Agreed. That IS a terrible parka :slight_smile:

(And I am going to have a work with them. It’s just that they very inconsiderately tend to get to work before me and leave after me, those hard-working bay-hogs!)

15

Agreed it’ll never get taken up by everyone, but it might do some good if it gets taken up by some people. Especially since it’s in everyone’s long term best interests. Peer pressure does go a long way, don’t you think?

16

I know it’s a pain in the back side but I used to carry a cheap cover to put over my bike when parking in bays also helps with security as they can’t see what you have.

or NCP

17

not in london. if they’re not forced to do it, the majority wont

18

they arent that safe anymore either!

19

Yeap, unfortunately not in london, far too many people.

20

I like the idea of a parking bay code. Not saying it would do any good but may make some people think…