Ok, so i'm too lazy to do a search and see if this topic has been discussed. Start the hazing if you want...I have always noticed crotch rockets parking in front of stores, up the sidewalk or whatever and park right in front. How many people here park their bikes the same or do you go and find an actual parking spot? I myself have parked in front, just a few times, but most times I don't think about it and just find a parking spot.

 

Depends on where I'm at... If I can park away from cars and not have to worry about my ride while I'm away, then I will park where ever I can, if not, then I will use a parking spot.

 

Well i've always kind of wondered if it was even legal to do that? I guess i could look it up online. I'd hate to park my bike in front of a store, then come back and have a ticket taped onto my bike somewhere.

 

I've been "front door" parking for many, many years and I have NEVER been hassled in any way about it. At the local grocery I pull up on the concrete apron and park next to the bike rack. The one thing I do not do is block a walkway, if you're going to park like this it requires common sense. In all my years of riding the one thing I have learned, the public is very tolerant of motorcycles doing things out of the norm if you do it with class. Block the walk, scare pedestrains while you're parking are good examples of bad exposure, just like the guy at 2AM in the residential neighborhood that for some reason needs to redline his bike a few times with drag pipes on it. Engage your brain before you engage the clutch!

 

I see scooters do it a lot. They tend to be the 50cc moped scooters so they're allowed to park wherever a bicycle can. I see motorycles do it every once in a while, but no particular style of bike does it more than another from what I've seen. The cops in here in the fair commonwealth tend to be pretty vigilant so I shy away from doing it.

 

If it's a large enough area I'll usually park in the striped area at the end of the row. As frog13 says use common sense and don't create a hazard, block a fire exit or otherwise inconvenience shoppers and I doubt anyone will say anything to you other than "nice bike" (which I hear a lot). Parking lots are private property so unless you're blocking a fire exit or in a handicapped spot I don't think a cop can write a ticket.

 

If I'm on the Ultra I just park out in the parking lot. But if I'm riding the Sportster I will do the front door thing. I guess that I think it is not so heavy, so it would be very easy to load up in a van and be gone with it. ----The Ultra, not so easy.

 

They call it a Parking Lot for a reason...........Just sayin....

 

I always park by the front door if I can.
Never been hasseled about it.

 

I am not afraid to walk from the parking lot to the store. I try to find a spot away from other vehicles, so my motorcycle can be seen by the self absorbed drivers that look for the closest spot to park.
The only times I have parked on the sidewalk by the bike rack was when I went to visit my wife while she was in hospital, center city Philadelphia. I went to the security guard and asked if it were all right to leave the MC parked on the sidewalk. Guard called the roving guards to advise them that it was cleared with him.