My Very First Parking Ticket

I rode my motorcycle to work on Wednesday and since it was supposed to be nice on Thursday I just parked it in the street so I could ride it to work the next day.

The on Thursday when I went out to start it........nothing. The motor wouldn't turn over, the starter solenoid wouldn't click. I had no clue what the problem was since it was perfectly fine the night before. I was parked in front of my place which has 2 hour parking from 8-5 pm, but I didn't have time to move my bike and wasn't sure if I could even move it on my own since I had a ways to push it and it weighs 5 times more than I do.

So I had to leave it there and go to work. I took a long lunch and went back home to try to move it. When I got there I had a parking ticket, which I was expecting but which still annoyed me. It was only for $15 at least. I tried to start the bike again and this time it at least clicked and the RPMs jumped up (without the engine trying to turn over). I worked up all my strength and was able to get it moved to a non-restricted parking area without tipping it over.

I talked to a few people to get ideas about what the issue might be and was thinking it might be the starter motor which would cost me $200 to get a new one not including work to change it out. When I went out to work on my bike later that night this random guy that lives at my place came up to me and said the tail light and license plate light were on all night. This completely baffled me because the key was out and there isn't a switch like on a car that can accidentally be left on.

After some research I learned what had happened. My bike has a feature where if you turn the handle bars all the way to the left and then turn the key to the left the handle bars will lock to prevent theft. I use this when I park on the street just to be safe. However, if you turn the handlebars to the left and the key to the left but not 100% to the left the handlebars still lock, but the rear lights also stay on. I have no idea why a person would ever need this feature, but that's what happened. I didn't notice the lights on since it was 5 pm when i parked. The lights drained the battery overnight so it wouldn't start. Throughout the day the battery built back up enough of a charge to engage the solenoid, but not to start it. I jumped the motorcycle with my car and drove it back to my parking stall. At some point I'll either have to ride it to charge the battery or pull it out and charge it with a regular charger.

I was relieved that it turned out to just me that battery, but was was a little annoyed that somehow it took three years to learn about this mysterious feature on my bike. Oh well. A $15 ticket is much preferred to a $250 repair job.