Modern Vespa

went for a ride, parked, and when i came back, someone or some people physically moved my vespa so some huge SUV could park next to it, parking within a foot of me...

i looked, no scratches, nothing seems out of order... but it was 10 feet from where i left it and they left it on its side stand (i left it on the center stand)

im lucky there was no damage, but im just wondering how easy it is to move it. or how they would, like because the handle bars are locked... maybe they lifted up the front by the handle bars and did a wheelie with it to move it?

the ride home seemed fine i just dont want to be cruisin on the highway and then something happens...

so frustrating

I guess it's really difficult to prove the SUV moved your GTS, but I'd be pissed. First reaction would be a swift chop of my moto gloved hand to their side mirror so when they came back to their car it was dangling by whatever wires power the mirror.

But then my riding karma would go to sh*t and I'd be no better. Especially if no damage was done to my bike.

It doesn't take but a few able bodies to move the scooter. Off the center stand two people durable people could shimmy the bike 10ft.

There's a street near me where the sidewalk goes right up to the traffic lane, and then there's a curb cut just past the crosswalk to make a parking lane for the rest of the block. (It's a pedestrian safety thing, like daylighting.)

There's a driveway pretty early in the parking lane, so there's no space for a car before the driveway, but plenty of space for a Vespa. When I first got mine, I parked it there. I made sure it was pointing uphill, with the rear wheel against the curb. The next day, I noticed it was facing the wrong direction as I was running to catch a bus. Nervous that I might get a ticket (or it could roll into traffic), I called my flatmate and asked him to repark it. It was fine when I got home, but had again been manhandled the following day. Sure enough, there were big scratches in the street where you could see some entitled asshat had dragged it on the centerstand, twice.

I don't park there anymore, and I curse the person in that garage everytime I pass it.

There's an indignity that can infuriatingly accompany parking a Vespa in public. People will drag them around or knock them over with no respect for the owner.

Sorry dude. That part's no fun.

Probably not very easy to move Charlene with the Fahgettaboudit chain & lock
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I routinely picked up the back end to move it a bit on the center stand.

You didn't say if the steering was locked. If it wasn't, it's a piece of cake obviously to move. If the steering was locked, it's still pretty easy to move, especially with two people.

Best
Miguel

Dude that is brutal 😕 seeing the scratches on the street. Sorry man.

Steering was locked yeah. I’m guessing they each took a handle bar and lifted up the front yeah. Can you you damage the scoot when doing that? Or is it safe to lift by them?

Happened to me once.

I still have to understand how can somebody touch somebody else's scooter and do as if it belongs to him/her, means his parents didn't do a good job raising him/her and if was in their shoes I would rather spend a hour looking for a free parking lot than touching somebody's else stuff.

For the very same reason I would never react smashing somebody else's mirror.

When it happened to me I simply move the Vespa back as close as possible to the car that took her place, impeding a quick departure, and waited for the driver to come back.
We had a good talk then.

On mine there is the alarm with anti-lifting, if you touch it it sounds like a damned soul..!
Otherwise, if you don't want it to move, there are locks with key that apply to the center stand; obviously nothing is immovable except as if you attach it to a pole with a chain but there is not always a pole available nearby.

Sorry to hear about your scooter being manhandled Hummus2. I'd be just as peeved if someone did that to mine. The perpetrators could have so easily damaged something on your bike whilst doing this.

I'd suggest buying an alarmed disc lock. They are relatively inexpensive, I have the Oxford XA5 and the alarm is very loud when triggered by movement of your scooter.

LOL I park in a public garage right next door to my office. There has been a lot of development in and around the block the last couple of years, and there have been a lot of drywall subcontractors and the like parking in the garage, and I would observe them loitering in their trucks and whatnot. Before covid I used to walk down the street to get lunch every day and see them just sitting in their trucks, eating or listening to country music or whatever, maybe they were on break. Made eye contact with one of them while I was arriving at work, a very sketchy looking KKK type sitting in his rusty Toyota Tundra. A doo rag wearing Harley Davidson type. Scraggly leatherfaced high school dropout kinda guy. He gave me the stinkeye dude did. I come down to go home in the evening, and there was a note tucked into the glovebox gap. It said "this spot for real motorcycles not toys for pussys". Yes, he misspelled it. The note was written on a page torn from a drywall supplies catalog. So I knew exactly who it was. My friend the doo rag wearing douchebag.

I still park in that same spot every day weather permitting. I also use a lock to tether the scooter to some steel railings.

Another phenomenon I've experienced on a few occasions is people having a photo op on my Vespa.

One time while parked at a scenic spot which draws a decent crowd, I came back from the vista point to find a mother and daughter on my scooter and a husband taking their photo. Row of motorcycles and the Vespa gets chosen.

Another time it was a couple on a date. The guy was pretending to ride making 'vroom vroom' sounds while the woman giggled and pointed.

My guess it's a combination of Vespa's universal lure + the inviting nature of the seat while on the center stand.

What do you do during these moments? In both instances, you try to be an ambassador for scooter riding.. 'hey you should get one.' or 'where are you parked, I'd like to sit in your car for a bit and push the buttons and levers.'

I'd love to see a Vespa rider say that.
I think people find it easier to sit on a Vespa cuz they believe that those riding Vespa's are not macho muscle heads. Those who ride motorcycles tend to not have people trying to sit on their motorbikes.

With the anti-lifting alarm, when you sit on it it starts screaming: 105 decibels.
They run away... and i arrive screaming: "...a robbery" They are stealing my scooter! "AH! See how they run away in all directions, they will remember it next time before sitting on something not theirs.
On the activation remote control there is also the panic button to manually activate the siren.

I am more concerned that a car will not see my scoot occupying a parking space and crash into it. I expect I piss off motorists when they see me occupying a parking space.

Around Minneapolis, bicycle theft is the big crime.

Bob Copeland

Park with the rear of the scooter in line with the back bumpers of the other parked cars. Than you'll be seen, and there's room for other motorcyclists to park in the same spot. That I do not understand.

Thanks for the advise.

Bob Copeland

Good points Jim and I alway try and set up so there is room for more bikes. We're entitled to a parking spot as much as anyone on the road. Actually here we have dedicated motorbike parking as well for most of the year. That I do know some drivers don't like especially when you add to that we park for free.

As said, two persons can easily move a Vespa a bit.

4 persons can carry a small car. I know because that's what we did aeons ago to confuse our student friend

When I had a French car Citroen, it had both front and rear bumpers made of very soft plastic. This was because one should be able to gently push other cars to make room for parallel parking... allowing the result to be very compact. Not the prevailing culture over here, but it was handy anyway.

I regularly move other people's bicycles, to make a slot for mine and even carry them away, locks allowing, from a dedicated motorcycle park when I need the place for my motorcycle. Doing the latter, I've also moved smaller scoots to make enough room for me too - and when I've had lighter motorcycles, they've been moved too. No biggie over here. If you'll drop the bike while doing this, a custom is to be willing to pay for it though.

Ohio, and a number of other states, allow small displacement bikes and scooters to park on the sidewalk. Here it is 150cc and less. This of course has it’s own set of issues, but does tend to keep the bumpers of SUVs and MegaTrucks off of my Primavera.

Chris from CLE

I had a Citroen 2CV once. You could pick it up 3 feet off the ground and the tires still had contact with the pavement. Fun to drive though.