The latest victim. Spotted this morning near Union Square.

Like me, the New York Motorcycle and Scooter Task Force have had enough. They’re declaring war on lousy parking by others with the mantra, “No More Knockovers.”

As NYMSTF puts it:

Most of us have been here before. You’re walking back to your bike after work. About half a block away, you can already tell something doesn’t look right. When you arrive, it’s on its side leaking fuel, or worse. Your brake lever is snapped off, and your plastics are scratched. There’s no note. There’s never a note.

It’s enough to make you want to kick someone. Or, enough to make you want to park on the sidewalk next time!

We’ve discussed the issue of “knockovers” on several occasions given it’s a unfortunate part of scootering life in NYC: “Parking On The Street“, “12 Months of Parking Abuse,” and “When Is Nice Too Nice?” all come to mind.

Thankfully, the NYMSFT has some nice tips to help minimize the chances of your next knockover. My favorite piece of their advice: If you find a spot large enough for a car, don’t be kind and park in that spot but close to the bumper of an adjacent car. Declare the space yours. Park right in the middle. Saving room for a car is just an invitation for someone to squeeze in and squeeze you over.

For a full list of tips to avoid being tipped and what to do to make sure you can file an insurance claim if the damage is severe, click on through to the dedicated “Knockovers” page at NYMSTF.org.

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Courtesy of Ken, NY Scooter Club

I finally got the old Vespa out of the backyard, and began the cleaning and tweaking process, to get her ready for the riding season.  Going over every inch of her, detailing the lines and curves, has made me fall in love all over again.  It’s a beautiful design, and it’s something that I have always wanted.  A nice looking scooter, for my 2-wheeled adventures.

When I first got this scooter, and started frequenting the bogs and forums, I was hit back with a resounding, “be prepared for it to be wrecked.  It WILL get knocked over!”  The NY Scooter Club has a thread dedicated to it!  This is obviously the last thing I wanted to hear, and I tried my best not to let these opinions (or were they fact?) seep into my enjoyment of this beautiful machine.  I wanted so badly for my experience to be carefree, but as time went on, and I took a look around at other bikes on the street (it’s amazing how many more scooters you see once you own one), I realized that these people were probably right.  In open lots, I did everything in my power to park away from other cars.  At home, I was lucky enough to be able to keep it on the sidewalk directly against our building, away from careless drivers.  These seemed to have been decent precautionary steps, because I made it through my very first riding season without any serious damage (OK, I scuffed the fender parking too close to a fence, but that was ME messing it up!).

The other day a friend of mine, who collects and refurbishes vintage motorcycles, told me he is thinking of selling one of his prized possessions, because he fears what might happen to it if he treats it like a daily rider.  Despite his skills with wrench and paint, he considers himself a rider, first and foremost.  He does not put in the blood, sweat and tears, to have it sit in a museum.  These bikes get overhauled, and then he hops aboard, and off he goes, into the streets of this potentially damaging metropolis.  The motorcycle in question, a 1971 Honda CB750, has become quite the collector’s item.  Motorcycle enthusiasts covet these bikes, considered to be among the very first “sport bikes (think early 70′s Ninja).

The problem is, he feels he may have made it too nice.  The idea of having a 40 year old bike, restored to near mint condition, has made him start to wonder if it’s in fact too sweet, for the streets of Brooklyn.  He worries each time he takes it out, fearful that this might be the time that someone backs into it while attempting to parallel park, or a kid might be just drunk enough to feel the need to mess with it.  These are the things that run through your mid when you ride a nice, perhaps too nice,  2-wheeler in this city.

So he has mentioned selling it, wondering whether it might be best served by an owner in the suburbs, who has a perfect space for it, in a secure garage.  It would be sad to see it go.  It is a bike that he has wanted to own for quite some time, and after all the work he has put into it, it would be a shame to forfeit this enjoyment he has earned.  But I understand his reservations.  I can feel his apprehension each time he pulls it into traffic, or parks it, perfectly legally, on a side street in his neighborhood.  The reason I can relate. is that I feel these same apprehensions with my vintage Vespa.

I made it through one riding season, unscathed.  But how long can this last?  Is the sight of my bike, knocked over on it’s side, bleeding gas and oil, only a matter of time?  That is a day, and a sight, I do not care to experience, yet it seems, according to many NYC scooter owners, to be an inevitable reality of owning a nice bike in this city…

How nice is too nice?

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After publishing the article, the owner (an Upper West Side resident) was located and quickly fessed up that they had simply parked the scooter on the UES during a day of bad weather, removed the plates, and left it there across town during the winter while they waited for the weather to improve.

The main reason the bike attracted unwanted attention was not the removal of the license plate but that it simply never, ever moved from one spot, barring a couple of entrepreneurial car owners who used the Vespa to periodically save parking spots.

As the NYT reported:

A vehicle that violates alternate-side parking rules (Tuesdays and Fridays, on that block, between East 56th and 57th Streets) is typically under the jurisdiction of the Parking Violations Bureau, but one without plates is customarily referred to the Sanitation Department. However, if it is missing only a license plate — and not stripped of tires or other essentials — it may be referred by Sanitation to the Police Department.

After the Times reported on the mystery scooter, the Sanitation Department tagged the scooter to be picked up by the NYPD because it was deemed to be in too good condition to be sent to the scrap yard, and instead the NYPD located the owner using the VIN.

The owner collected the scooter after paying a fine. They declined to comment so who knows how much the whole debacle cost them.

Lessons learned? Don’t leave your scooter for months without moving on alternate side of the street parking days. A scooter that looks derelict could literally be sent to the scrap yard – vintage owners beware. Upper East Side residents are nosy.

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Given my recent ticket, and with both plates back on the bikes, this could be a risky move, but to start at least, 2011 will be the year of a new parking methodology.

I’m so sick of my Vespa PX being knocked over that I thought a change of approach might be the way to go. Per NYC parking laws, I normally park my scoots perpendicular to the curb with their back wheels touching the curb.

The trouble with perpendicular parking is that it puts you at the mercy of parking vehicles that are either prepared to nudge your bike forward a few inches with their bumper so they can park (result: my bike  tips over asshole) or reverse into it without seeing it (result: my bike definitely tips over asshole.)

If I’ve learned one thing in the past ten years of studying karate (a story for another time) it’s that how you stand has a large effect on your ability to stand your ground. Putting this twisted logic into action with the scooters I’m going to try an experiment of parking parallel to the curb until I’m either ticketed or knocked over regardless.

My logic, a scooter pushed from the front or back may have a chance of staying upright. I just hope to god neither one of them pushes off its stand. Come to think of it, perhaps I should park them facing the direction of traffic? Ugh. Time to turn them around. What a terrible idea.

One thing is inevitable, they will be knocked over soon or later. Hope you fair better. If you have any better parking ideas, I want to hear them.

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As you might have gathered from my last post I took the chance of some sunshine today to prep the bikes ready for the 2011 riding season (although apparently there will be more snow tomorrow.)

Lifting the cover off my PX that’s been sitting on the sidewalk for the past two months or so revealed an nice little present from the meter-maids. While I’d taken the plate off the bike, the issuing officer had evidently gone to the trouble of evidently removing the cover from the bike, cleaning the goop off the VIN plate behind the leg-shield (from some past wrenching I’d done on the bike) and locating the plate number from the VIN on record.

Fortunately, the Lammy parked not three feet away only gives up it’s VIN number to those who know how to get her to give up her secrets, so I don’t have two tickets to my name.

Given I didn’t pay for winter storage this year, while the ticket is annoying, I guess I’ll consider it my Winter 2010/2011 storage fee. That said, given the ticket was issued a day during the worst of the snow, it was wee bit unfair of the officer to write me up given the alternative was to leave my bike on the street under snow and salt and at the mercy of NYC Sanitation Department snow plows.

In the words of the late New Yawker Rodney Dangerfield, I don’t get no respect.

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Exactly twelve months after a top to bottom restoration, my PX is looking a little worse for wear. By my count the bike was knocked over a total of seven times in the past twelve months my parking vehicles.

Both cowls are now badly dented, with the battery side cowl significantly scratched when the bike was not only pushed over but either pushed or dragged along the asphalt.

The engine side cowl hasn’t suffered scratches but has a sizable dent and both left-hand side turn signal lenses are cracked.

The front fender took a number of bashes but thankfully is easy to bend back into shape. In addition to scratches though, the plastic crest that adorns the top of the fender was snapped off in one of the knock downs.

I’ve come to terms with the scratches and dents but let it be a warning to anyone considering parking their newly restored prize on the streets. At least these PXs are built like tanks. The damage is only cosmetic. I replaced the battery this morning after it sat on the trickle charger this winter, and the bike started up on second kick after sitting idle for the past three months. I’ll take my breaks as I can find them.

Photos of the damage below.

The "Fragile" sticker I brought back from Paris has found a use.

A cracked rear turn signal from one of the drops.

Another turn signal lens cracked.

The fender took a beating but bent back into shape, it's missing it's crest though which was snapped off.

At least my bike has dents on both cowls for the balanced look.

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Spotted this morning in the East Village. Unfortunately the angle of this photo doesn’t do the angle of the bike justice which was teetering nervously on one foot of its stand.

Parking like this makes me mad. The van had a clear five feet in front of it but had clearly not seen the scooter and backed up into the snow pile until it heard the crunch that tells you it’s time to stop reversing. Just one more beautiful scooter with scratched side panels.

Personally, because of this fact, I eventually gave up being the good citizen of parking on the street and moved my Vespa PX to the sidewalk for parking (sans plates) at the end of last year after a total of ten tip-overs in the East Village over the course of the summer which bent one mirror stem, smashed in both cowls, cracked two turn-signal covers and dented one side of the leg shield, all within just twelve months of completing a restoration of the bike. My bike now looks like it did prior to restoration after just one year on NYC abuse. Ugh. And all this while making a point of parking at the end of my block to avoid parking sandwiches like the one above.

Anyway, I digress. Point is, if you’re new to scootering considering a scooter purchase in NYC in 2011, remember this – a scooter in the city lives up to its raison d’etre which is to be a cheap and cheerful form of urban commuter. It’s not supposed to be a show-room dazzler no matter how cool owning a scoot feels.

If I learned one thing last year, it’s that scooters in NYC share something in common with all the bikes I saw on my travels last year in Europe, the UK, and S.E. Asia – scratches, dents, and dings. And lots of them.

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More news from the New York Motorcycle and Scooter Task Force.

Most recently the board secured consideration for six parking locations in the West Village and SoHo as part of the Community Board 2 review last Tuesday evening.

These spaces however are not guaranteed and are subject to a vote of the full executive CB2 board this Thursday. NYC scooterists are encouraged to turn out to secure these spots. The meeting begins at 6.00pm at SEIU Local 32BJ Pre-Conference Room at 1010 Avenue of the Americas, on the 22nd floor.

Feel like lending your support, but need a little more of a relaxed environment? Next Thursday evening (September 30th) the organization is hosting a party at Vespa SoHo from 6.30pm to 9.30pm to celebrate their recent successes including one of the recently won dedicated parking zones at the nearby junction of Crosby and Grand Streets. The get-together will give you an opportunity to find out how you can help while grabbing some refreshments and taking part in a chance to win some prizes.

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Hot on the heels of yesterday’s WNYC piece on parking related issues for scooters around the city, I parked my bike this morning next to a BMW motorcycle owner who would appear to have had enough of being the victim of an overzealous traffic enforcement officer.

The bike has a very neatly drawn up note addressed to the officer with polite but very firm language to tell him or her to stop issuing tickets for a missing inspection sticker. The note reads further to indicate where the sticker is on the bike, and how its location (front fork) meets the NY DMV code.

Poor guy. I’ve been pulled over before by an officer asking to check my inspection sticker, but I’ve never heard of anyone getting multiple inspection sticker related tickets by the meter maids.

Have you ever had this happen to you?

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WNYC reporter, and fellow scooterist, Jim Colgan, has spent the past two weeks interviewing local riders including NYCScootering, culminating in a short video piece that draws attention to the frustrations of scooterists riding in the big apple, two-wheeled advocates, and the bicycle riders who compete to share space.

Specifically Jim gets riders takes on parking, damage from cars and  the dangers of sharing the roads with other vehicles. Among Jim’s interviewees is local scooterist Melissa who has contributed to NYCScootering in the past.

In addition to show segments on air over the next couple of days, WNYC put together the following video. You can also read the interview segments here.

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