I need my space man...

Less of a biking issue, more of a parking issue this one and probably more for the London crowd I would suspect but placed here cos its a general thing.

Upon arriving at your favourite solo motorcycle bay, you find it to be too crowded to fit your bike into yet with enough room for you to lift some scooters closer together thus giving you access to sufficient space. Would you create your own space or would you find another bike parking bay not quite so conveniently located?

Hmmm.............

How miffed would you be if someone moved your bike?

Just a thought.

Just move the scoot onto the pavement.

Originally Posted by Nekkid

Just move the scoot onto the pavement.

Or out of the bike bay and onto the yellow lines

Not that I would actually do that. I have on one or two occasions (out of 11 years riding in London) moved scoots that have been very inconsiderately parked - like diagonally across the bike bay).

I have done both, as the occasion demands

The problem comes when another scooter arrives - they'll do the same thing, and you'll never get your bike back out without either scratching it, or causing the whole pile of scooters to fall over - been there, done both, usually at the same time

The old Vespa's are the worst - move them slightly, and the stand pops up, and there is never enough room to get it back down again. Several times I've had to lean it on the scooter next door in order to get my bike out - sometimes I even remembered to move it back again

Wouldn't touch someone else's bike.

i'd be very annoyed if someone moved my bike, but then again i'd park responsibly in the first place

Last time I parked in London there was a little space at the end of the bike bay, so I put my bike there. My side stand was about 30cm over the line however, and given the obvious disruption to traffic this caused, I was fined £50.

I hate London.

Originally Posted by Iansv

i'd be very annoyed if someone moved my bike, but then again i'd park responsibly in the first place

Snap. Also, if you've put your steering lock on, as you should, it'd be very hard for them to move it where they wanted.

I've heard of a few older bikers (*Cough* Beemer owners, *cough* ) moving people's bikes to fit their bikes into bike bays etc. it's probably acceptable to them as it used to be quite common for people to leave hand brakes off their cars in London to allow other people to move their cars a small distance! (or so my old man says, him being an ex-Londoner).

In places like tescos etc. I've no qualms about parking my bike in a car slot if the bike bay is full/miles away from the store etc. My only advice when doing that though would be to put the bike right at the front of the bay, with the parking lights on. I've nearly been knocked of my bike as I was parking it, by someone seeing a "gap" in the line of cars was and turning a bit too quickly into the "empty" bay.