Parking safety

Living in a town or city without a garage has an obvious danger for classic bikes on the streets: public exposure.

I parked my bike at the end of my street a couple days ago, close to where my car was parked, because I had an appointment to show my car to a prospective buyer. The next day, I went to the bike to ride, and someone had messed with her. The handle bar bag was moved, the kill switch on, the lights turned off, and the kick start lever pulled out. When I started the bike, the turn signals didn't work properly and the headlight would not turn on. I didn't have time to check the lamp to make sure it was connected, or check the battery, so I left Georgia for the day and went to my appointment by subway. It was depressing.

That night, I went back to the bike. Someone had messed with her again! Once again, the kill switch was on, and this time the seat had been bent back. This loser probably tried to remove my helmet from the helmet hook under the seat to get it kick started. Fortunately, this time the high beam on the headlamp worked (wires were loose), so I rode Georgia to a regular spot in front of our local watering hole and parked her there.

While I was out, I stopped at the Vespa store on Crosby Street in Manhattan and bought a 3.5 foot (110cm) OnGuard chain (the Mastiff 5019) to keep people from taking the bike. This length just fits around the front wheel and frame of my CL360.

After parking, I removed the headlamp from the fixture to check the wires and pushed tight any that were loose. The lamp itself was loose. Since I didn't have the proper hardware to fix it right, I used what I could find to at least keep the lamp from moving within its fixture. I got the low beam to work as well, then straightened the seat.

Whoever messes with someone else's bike simply is not cool. Respect, people.