A friend of mine at work that rides a sport bike noticed that I always park in neutral. He told me that you are always supposed to park in gear so your bike doesn't move. I'm always parked on flat ground so I didn't think it mattered. Is there any validity to this ? Do y'all park in gear ?    

I mostly park in neutral if the bike is on level ground, but if it's on an incline with the front pointed down the slope, I put it in gear so it can't roll forward off the kickstand.

12Bravo wrote on 11/16/12 at 05:55:35:


Made that mistake on, like, the third day out with the C50.

I always park in neutral unless I feel the circumstances warrant it.


--Steve

I park, in gear...less chance of falling... it's not just slopes,.. but a gust of wind,.. or someone bumping it...
I came out of a store once, and some nutty lady was sittng her kids on my bike like it was a carnival ride...
Now, I was pissed,.. but I didn't say anything,... but, I wouldn't want the bike to fall on them... (could hurt the bike)...
I also had someone push my bike out of a parking space, once... (they put it in one of those between places... when I came out, I wasn't exactly sure which space it was originally in,.. so I didn't know which car to key... (a non-rider, might not be able to find neutral to push it)...
...

Anyway,.. these "nightmare" stories... weren't... no damage, no harm,.. just surprise at the rudeness of some people...

In gear....

I'm trying to figure out how the bike is supposed to move if it's not parked in gear. I'm also trying to figure out how parking in gear eliminates the possibility of it moving. I just recently had to move my car in my garage - it doesn't run - and I forgot that I was using the transmission as the hand brake since it also didn't work. I managed to push it a couple feet before I realized that it wasn't a flat tire or locked up brakes I was pushing against, it was the engine.

If you live in a very hilly area, don't be surprised if your bike ends up down the street if you think leaving it in gear is a worthy hand brake. You're supposed to park it against a curb, NOT leave it in gear. Even in cars with proper hand-brakes, you're supposed to aim the front wheels towards the curb so it will roll into it and stop if it moves.

Serowbot wrote on 11/16/12 at 07:15:29:


That was me, I was hoping you couldn't find it then I was gonna come back later and steal your gas tank.

I used to park in neutral until a few months ago...my daughter wanted to get a blk/wht picture of my bike and mopeds for my birthday...my wife and her moved the bikes to in front of the garage for the picture.

Then my wife had a phone call and my daughter tried to move the Suzi by herself...it fell over on her (she wasn't hurt but it scared her pretty good and my wife had to help pick up the bike after she screamed for help)...
it also broke the turn signal but Skate from the forum was nice enough to send me one for the cost of shipping...

Just glad she didn't get pinned!

Moral of story...so if it's in gear the ladies in my house can't figure out how to roll it!  

I park in gear 99% of the time. And then I roll it forward until it stops before setting it on the stand for good. I never did until 'that day'. I always squeeze the brake before jumping on but apparently forgot the one time. The kickstand must not have been down all the way or it rolled forward slightly, I don't know which. As I swung my leg over it, it swung me to the ground and pinned me under it and against my buddy's HD.