Although I absolutely agree regarding the parking in handicapped access areas I disagree on the sidewalk parking. It seems silly to me to take up an entire parking space for something as small as a motorcycle, especially somewhere like target where there is a half mile of sidewalk between the curb and the store. Just my 2 cents.
Like most things along these lines, we can debate the gray areas all day.
Someone who rides a motorcycle is typically more fit than someone who needs wheelchair access..... why is it acceptable to put all the pedestrians out, who have trekked further than the handicapped spaces?
Regardless of how wide the side walks are, the designers made them that wide due to the traffic they expected the store to generate. Concrete costs money to install..... it wasn't put there to provide convenient parking to motorcycles.
I understand the desire to protect your bike. Parking on the end of a row, where it's striped off to keep cars from clipping each other is in my view acceptable.... so long as it doesn't interfere with foot traffic. Or strollers, or handicapped folk.
The sidewalk thing eventually comes down to it's wrong, and it's rude in many many (non motorcycle) people's eyes. No matter how much justification you can come up with on your own, you're not there when the bozo who takes an opposing view vents his anger on your 'inconsideration'.
When I compare the possibility of a car tapping my bike in a parking space to the angry shopper tipping my bike over..... I think the odds are pretty similar. But I am also much more likely to be able to claim the damage on someone else's policy if it happens in a legitimate parking space.
Obviously, the best solution is to park in designated MC parking spaces..... lacking that, my first inclination is to park in a car spot, in such a way as to make the bike as visible as possible. If another rider can 'share' my space, so much the better.
