I haven’t ridden into Manhattan for the past three days so as to not get snarled up in the traffic nonsense going on in Midtown around the UN near where I work, so I’ve been on foot power.

Last night after leaving friends at the Court Street movie theater in downtown Brooklyn just after midnight I was walking back to the subway along Bergen Street between Court St. and Smith St. and there in front of me was a sight that brought a tear to my eye.

A shiny new Vespa GTS and a Genuine Scooters Buddy lying on their sides on the sidewalk, mirrors smashed, with the sickly smell of gasoline.

Both bikes had their front wheels still chained to the lampposts they has been locked to. Both were within ten feet of each other. Both had clearly been “cow tipped” by some idiot walking home some point earlier. My heart goes out to the owners who now face at the very least about $100 in damages to replace wing mirrors.

If getting your parked scoot knocked over by parking traffic isn’t enough. We also have to deal with this.

Is there anything that can be done to avoid this? Well, neither bike was covered which might have further enticed the idiot who did this. You have to think this wouldn’t have been done to a motorcycle. I can just imagine what was going through their mind, “look at these dinky toys. I can have some fun here.” It’s certainly a fact that covering your bike leads to a less likelyhood of enticing a would be vandal.

Although… interestingly Robbie at Scooter Bottega recently had his scoot’s cover set on fire in Park Slope. Because it had been knocked over before, it was no doubt partially soaked in gas. Neighbors kindly called the NYFD but by the time they got there, all the plastic including the seat, throttle grips, speedo and so forth had been melted by the heat.

Stay safe out there folks. And do what you can to keep your bike covered and anonymous.

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