Is there a way to prevent this, or do you live with the risk?

Long story short, the '83 Interceptor I spent over 200 hours restoring was knocked over in a parking lot.

A guy noticed my helmet (I guess) as I was walking out, and told me some jackass pushed my bike over. After lifting my bike back up somehow (the spilled gas made the asphalt really slippery, and it's a heavy mother, too), it became obvious the bike was backed into by a pickup truck.

The left rear turn signal is broken off, tail cowl cracked, license plate and bracket mangled, the rust-free original black anodized muffler scuffed and dented, newly polished clutch cover gouged, oil cap jammed in place, mirror stalk bent, right front turn signal broken off, right handlebar bent, handlebar locator on top triple clamp broken off, front brake lever snapped off, top fairing scuffed, and the metal frame for the fairing is bent. The bike now runs like crap, most likely due to fouled plugs and a flooded airbox... not to mention the full tank of gas that ended up all over the parking lot, and my new paint. :rant: :brick: :tape2:

I'm not even going to go into why it took me 45 minutes to get a drill bit, but I will NEVER shop at home depot again. If I was out of there two minutes earlier, this would not have happened. Not only did they make me move my bike from the safe position next to the front door (where an employee's Harley is always parked, and was also there at the time), they wouldn't let me see the surveillance tapes of the parking lot so I could get a license plate number. I tried explaining tho the retard at the front door why I don't want to park a motorcycle in a parking lot filled with construction vehicles, but explaining quantum physics to a third grader would be easier.

Now to the point. Where do you park your bike, is there a special way to park it so this doesn't happen (more visible or something), has this hapened to other people here, if the store you go to doesn't have a safe area, motorcycle specific parking, or won't make an exception to park off the lot, do you leave and go somewhere else?

 

Damn that really blows...

When I go into stores i park up front. If anyone says anything I go with "oh yeah? really? Ok i'll move it in a min." and then walk in anyway. They get pissed but really what are they going to do?

Better to have a pissed off employee than a jacked up bike.

Also alot of parking lots have an extra 2-3 feet of space in front of the first spot in a row, I'll park there alot. Seems like the bike is more visible there.

 

That really sucks, and is the primary reason that I don't run errands on my bikes very often. I drive the car for such trips.


Lane

 

That really sucks. I am truly sorry for your problems. We try and take care of our bikes only to have a moron do something like that.

I'm lucky at work in that I'm one of the first ones there. My office is in a large office complex and I always get a front-row parking place. Most of those who park around me are co-workers so they effectively form a box around my bike.

When parking in shopping centers I try to park away from everything and walk in. I'd rather walk a bit than have something like that happen.

 

I bitched and moaned to my Troop commander about motorcycle parking in front of our barracks for years. One unlucky guy had his bike knocked over three times. We finally got our parking space marked off for us. A year later, some Captain still managed to clobber my VFR in its designated space. Fucker claimed he didn't even know he had hit something. Thankfully, some of my Joes were outside playing grab ass at the time and cut off the Captains egress.
I'm very sorry that happened to you. My heart goes out to you and your bike. I wish death on anyone that hits and runs on a parked motorcycle.

 

In the past I would park my bike in any of those areas that could be a parking space but is marked with stripes as to prevent people from parking there. They are usually found closest to the store front. I would park as much to the middle, parallel to the way cars would park. sometimes I would park right in front of the store but not too close to the entrance, if anyone ever said anything, rarley did they with gloves on that look like they could break your face, Id continue to explain why. Man did you report it to the cops? Maybe they could get the surveillance tapes and get this asshole for hit and run!

 

If there's motorcycle parking I use it.
If I have to use a car space, I park at the very end of the parking spot almost perpendicular with the cars/trucks, even with their back bumpers.

 

Hey there,

Firstly get the surveillance tapes, if you have to subpoena them then do it.

I always park on the curb in front of the store if there is no bike parking. It is not worth it, if anyone complains then I tell them to get stuffed in a polite kind of way and walk off.

Sorry to hear this happened to you, just catch the person who did it.

 

How about spending money on fuel,oil,rubber and c/s kits - and bugger all else! I run a total shed,no - one's risked wiping any muck off it yet....

 

One more time in English please

 

That makes me sad...

 

I try to park where a vehicle won't normally back into the bike. That's not always possible. Maybe I should carry a telescoping rod with an orange flag at the tip - park the bike, pull out the rod and attach it to the bike so the flag sticks up about 5 feet. I dunno. Any other ideas?

 

Problem solved!

Have a look at 'General VFR discussions'forum..
the thread'Scruffy sheds,love it!'
If it's down,pick it up!
Good luck

 

Every parking lot has an odd little corner.some triangle with yellow stripes painted on it. If it is out of the way .I use them. haven't gotten a ticket yet. It may be illegal I don't know.

 

translation

Wait Let me try this one "spending money on fuel oil and rubber and bugger the rest ". That means just fix it and ride don't worry about it."I ride a total shed .No one would risk wiping any muck off on it "That means his bike looks so bad no one would want to touch it. Hey look I speek English.::biggrin:

 

WTH Doh! what is it with folks that drive and can't see, this has to be one of the biggest pet peeves I have, just totally completely avoidable Yes get a hold of the head manager at home depot and get the video even if it takes the law to do it. this A hole needs to be taken out and beatin. Damn this pisses me off.
On where I park in places like this, Ha at home depot a park right up at the loading gate just off to the side, but then they know me, the contractors cube is just inside the roll up door and I've had em keep an eye on it for me. I've had a couple doch bags say a couple things, but I fire right back at em. at other places I look for safe places, most of the time there's an end cap in the parking rows that are painted with stripes telling folks no cars parking, I put the bike there and even asked the parking patrol if that was ok and they gave me the the ok. Downtown is a whole other thing. I never park on the street, thats just asking for it.

 

and no one got a plate number of corse, i all ways find the spot in the lot that a car cant park or get to, and if not i park by the front door, i do agree that home depo is not the fastest place to get help. however its still not there falt about what happened to your nice bike. people now adays just have no morrarls and just dont care in short these people suck. if every time someone was there to pop them in the head when they did something wrong that would not happen. and then if you know who they were and took care of it your self well then your wrong our law says. its what we teach our kids and others, if we do nothing like now you get just what happened ? and it is not going to get better. im sure home depo has camera's, but you would need the police before HD would even talk to you and thats if the officer was on your side ? even then i dont see anything good coming of it, so good luck and change where you park.

and i all ready know i dont spell worth a s--t

 

Oooooooh,isn't there a lot of violence about!
You're all really good problem solvers,eh?
'pop them in the head' from some guy on speed
'this A hole needs to be taken out and beatin.(!) from RVFR
' If somebody knocked over my ride and I was witness - it wouldnt be pretty'
and that from a 'mello dude'.
Get real,most cage drivers have no idea period.
If you can't beat 'em and you 're not going to join 'em - AVOID 'EM!
SO (think I said this once already),ride a total shed.
Cheers all,stay happy!