Parking Lot Scares

[Ssky0078]

We've all been pulling into the grocery store, up to the gas station or to a restaurant and had an ohhhh shhhhh!t moment where either some moron is trying to drive on your half of the lane or worst of all an oil slick in the road.

Today I was stopping at the grocery store and pulled into the spot just catching a glimpse of a black smear on the ground. Ohhhh Shhhhh!t that was a puddle of oil as my front slid out on me. Luckily I already had both feet out and caught the bike.

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So I was smart enough to check the brakes several times before hitting the road and still slid a bunch. Got the tire scrubbed a little and hit the road. Had a couple slides on the way home but made it safe

So please share your parking lot scares below

 

[Chandler]

A women in the local Walmart parking lot by my house cut me off while I was on a Yamaha XT225. Some lady blew right through a stop sign going at least 45mph into the parking lot. I hit my brakes hard, slid, right into her tail and messed my bike up pretty bad. She drove forward and did a u-turn and left the parking lot. I just had a bit of rash from hitting the asphalt. I filed a police report though since she banged my bike up pretty bad. Insurance wouldn't cover it. Plastics are expensive

 

[Fz1fighter]

It wasn't a parking lot, but last week I hit an oil spot at a corner and had a pretty full on slide. It was fun but pretty scary, first time I had that happen on my fz1

 

[ballmead]

I nearly had one in the garage.

I dropped my bike off the rear paddock stand and I slowly lean it into myself and slowly place it onto the side stand.

Stupid me forgot to lower the side stand and I nearly dropped the bike in front of me, luckily I had enough strength to correct the fall and I managed to pull it up without dropping it.

Sheesh...

 

[jmc]

I nearly had one in the garage.

I dropped my bike off the rear paddock stand and I slowly lean it into myself and slowly place it onto the side stand.

Stupid me forgot to lower the side stand and I nearly dropped the bike in front of me, luckily I had enough strength to correct the fall and I managed to pull it up without dropping it.

Sheesh...

None of your slowly leaning rubbish for me. No you want to yank that sucker hard to the left as you remove the rear stand to ensure it goes onto the kickstand.

Except you raised the kickstand so you could run it in first gear while you were spraying lube into the chain.

D'oh :retard:

My Oggy knob did a bloody good job and the only damage was the chip in the cement floor where the oggy knob hit the ground. And a smashed rear indicator which I was about to replace anyway.

Very lucky to get off so lightly.

 

[Erci]

This was few months ago:

Arrived at work and about to park. I'm moving at ~10mph between 2 isles of cars. My left indicator is on. Just as I'm about to turn left into a parking spot, SUV blows by me on my left, between me and parked cars, at about 25mph. No crash or drop, but the driver surprised me and I blame myself 100% for not anticipating this. Up to that point, I've not been *surprised* in years.

 

[Ssky0078]

I nearly had one in the garage.

I dropped my bike off the rear paddock stand and I slowly lean it into myself and slowly place it onto the side stand.

Stupid me forgot to lower the side stand and I nearly dropped the bike in front of me, luckily I had enough strength to correct the fall and I managed to pull it up without dropping it.

Sheesh...

I dropped my Fz6 attempting this maneuver when I first got it, smashing the windshield as I gently lowered it into a concrete wall. Now I only take off the center stand by sitting on the bike and rocking it forward. I don't have a paddock stand but I'm hoping the same will be true.

 

[Clyde]

Travelling somewhere along the Ohio Turnpike when it starts to rain fairly heavily. There's a "rest stop" coming up and I decide to pull in and take a break to let the first 20 minutes of rain wash the crap off the roads. Not terribly worried as I had rain gear on and it wasn't cold.

The rest stop parking lot is angled parking, but I see a spot where I can pull through. Not a big enough opening for a car, but I can squeeze between the front corners of two cars and have a whole spot to myself and not be bothered with backing up the bike at all on either arrival or departure. Just as I'm committed to going between the cars, I realize that the spot I'm headed for has what appears to be a full engine's worth of oil completely covering the parking space. I'm already going at a complete crawl, but I don't even want to turn the front wheel to avoid anything. I see this as basically a frictionless surface. I ease through the danger with my feet down, and it's not like they're even touching the ground. Get to a non-oiled section and stop the bike. When I went to get off, the soles of my boots were still slippery and I almost went down all by my lonesome (bike was safely on its side-stand at this point).

By the time I came back out, most of the oil had washed away and I'd worn the slickness off the bottoms of my boots. I managed to make it safely out of the parking lot, but took it easy riding in the rain with nicely oiled tires.

Nothing hit the ground, and I'm thankful for that, but I kicked myself for not having had better observation skills and avoiding the oil entirely. I watch for it all the time now.

 

[Hellgate]

Many years ago, summer 1987, I think. My first wife and I were on my GS1100EX going from LA to Denver. On I15 we saw a sign for .25 cent hot dogs, and .25 cent Cokes. I point and she points at the sign at the same time.

We pull into the brand new parking lot and look for a space going about 5 mph. Then, the front end tucked! Splat! We were on the ground, and everything was resting on my right ankle. I was wearing Nike low-tops and, once I got her and the bike off of me, I saw ankle bone. Crap.

So what did we do? Well go eat .25 cent hot dogs of course! I wrapped the ankle up in a wet paper towel around it and we kept riding. I think we stayed in St. George, Utah that night.