Parking a motorcycle on a hill…

Okay it must be REALLY slow motorcycle news out there if you're reading a post about parking…on a hill. But I see this a lot, and actually when I have to park on a hill, I take my time to make sure my bike will be as stable as possible.  Normally I just look for the flattest spot I can find and park there.  But there are blocks that are on enough of an incline that, if you do just park as usual, you are likely to find your bike on its side when you return.  The problem is if the bike is too close to vertical, it's likely to fall over to the right; but if the bike is too far to the left, it's possible to topple over the kickstand and fall on the left.  So what do you do?

You can park on a diagonal, like in the picture above, or you can also park with the front wheel to the curb (NY law requires just one wheel to be touching the curb, it doesn't matter if it's the front or rear).

There's no one size fits all solution, it depends on the steepness of the hill and the length of your kickstand, but if you experiment with it there will be one way that will be more stable than all the others.  Also experiment with different angles to the curb: most roads are paved slightly convex with the highest point being the middle of the road (so that rain pools to the side of the road).  A slightly different angle to the curb, whether you're faced uphill or downhill is often enough to do the trick.

Now aren't you glad you read that?  If you have a tip on hill parking, share the wealth in the comments section.  Cheers!

Related posts:

1. Parking your motorcycle in Manhattan
2. How to park your motorcycle during Hurricane Sandy
3. Top 5 Sidewalk Parking Tips