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Pulling into a garage on a REALLY steep hill

When you're coming up the hill to park parallel to deal with the garage door, pull in next to a curb. A couple of inches usually helps when you don't have a firm footing. :thumbup

Or bring a few cement blocks and leave them around, out of the way, but accessible by moto. They should be heavy enough where they won't move when you put a foot on them to dismount. Just have to hope nobody takes them. :dunno
 
I live on Fillmore, between Broadway and Vallejo. Very steep hill, even in SF standards. My garage is a very slow opening electric gate. Here's how I do it:

1) Before I start going downhill (always come from the top), I clip the garage door opener on the right side of my pants (I just insert the metal clip into my pocket on the right side).

2) I come in from the top of the hill and stay in first gear. At the same time I use the foot break and go very slow. If needed I will use the clutch.

3) Meanwhile, I keep my right hand on the garage opener and press the button repeatedly. The garage door will open slowly, but fast enough for me to slowly turn the bike and go into the garage.

The first couple of days I tried, I would go too fast, so I would just ride past the garage as it was opening then circle back around go in. However, the method above works perfectly now.

Hope this helps.
 
He's right... us San Jose people don't have this issue...

Nice place though man. I wish I had your problem if you know what I mean.
 
I'm not short so I don't have issues with not being able to put my foot down but one thing to remember is to always point the bike up the hill. That will keep your feet under you. Stopping on an uneven surface is a disaster for everybody so try not to do that. Don't worry about the front wheel sliding backwards, as long as you can stop in 3 or 4 feet you'll be OK if you keep the front wheel straight. With a little practice and good clutch control you'll be able to ease up the drive and into the garage without any excessive speed.
When you have to stop to get the door open, just stop with the bike pointing uphill. Do one task at a time, you'll get better at it. (Bike off and in gear, when stopped or on side stand).
 
Roadstergal said:
^ Yarp. Motos aren't auto trannys - the motor's compression will hold the bike. No parking pin on real transmissions. ;)
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+1. Manual transmissions FTMFW, though I doubt the compression would hold a MT car on that hill, a motorcycle should be fine.

Also regarding the hill being 'so steep you can't stop at stop signs', I hope you are kidding?

At some point you will have to stop for cross traffic. You should be able to stop and get going on any steepness of hill, butt sliding to get a foot down not withstanding. If not please practice on the hill you live on till you feel comfortable - it could save your bacon some day.
 
Albal0ney said:
But riding up the hill? You cannot be a bitch about it..you have to carry some serious momentum and jam into the garage and be on the brakes immediately without knocking over your shit
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Carrying momentum doesn't sound like a very good idea going into a garage, especially if your tires are wet. Slipping the clutch and going in at a controlled pace should be much safer.
 
I have walked up that hill and can attest to the fact that it is a glut burning killer of a hill, like ridunkucously steep. I would approach from the top but that's just me.

Also, smack the old tenant for taking the garage door opener with her. :|
 
Thanks Russ, I will keep "doing one task at a time" in mind, that does hlep.

Regarding blowing stop signs. What I meant is that it isn't wise to stop right at the line, you have to blow the stop sign by a few feet where it levels out and stop when you are going uphill. If you stop right at the line, you will have to slip the shit out of your clutch before you move forward. I've watch LEOs blow past stop signs, way faster than a "california stop" in this neighborhood. I've also seen someone blow a stop sign going uphill right in front of a LEO and they didnt' do anything. If you are going perpendicular to a steep uphill in Potrero Hill, this is just something people are careful to watch for.

Re: carrying momentum into the garage. Find a controlled page by slipping the clutch is much easier when the bike is responsive to little bursts of power. When you are on this hill, it is all or nothing. You are either moving forward or you are stopped and moving backwards. Maybe I didn't try revving my bike to 4k rpm with the clutch halfway engaged, but just seems like itd be more controlled if I was just fully engaged and stopped abrubtly in the garage. I know this situation is more shades of gray than black and white. I'm sure if I was a trial rider I wouldn't have a problem. I've seen julien dupont ride an almost verticle wall and wheelie off, so I know its possible, just not really a skill set that the normal bay area motorcyclist practices.

I would be willing to bet though, that you could take some MSF instructors and they would have trouble making a u-turn uphill across the width of this street.
 
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Btw, my block is right around the corner from the annual tricycle race "BYOB" - Bring your own bigwheel.

If you think you're hot shit for riding a motorcycle, try riding a kid's tricycle with plastic wheels and no brakes, down a Lombard-esque street with the pedals going a thousand times a minute.

http://bringyourownbigwheel.com/

Oh, also, this hill is so steep, that although there are projects a few blocks down from me, no one messes with us because no one wants to walk up the damn hill. Only people that walk up and down the sidewalk our the hipster, progressive SF types who can be seen walking uphill backwards to work different muscles lol
 
I live down at the bottom of your hill in SOMA (8th and Townsend). I've walked up your street a bunch of times, but not backwards.

Those hills are a bit much at first, but you'll get used to it. I ride through there all the time, and stopping/starting on the hill, whether at a stop sign or not becomes pretty straightforward as long as you're sensible about it. I ride up there two-up now and then, and have often had to stop behind a car on a hillside. A bit worrisome the first couple times, but you get used to it. Although being "less tall" will admittedly make it tougher. Practice a bit when no one's around, and good luck! :thumbup
 
msethhunter said:
Seriously? Then riding it in gear must be horrible on it.
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When your engine is running the oil pressure is up thus pumping oil throughout your system. There is no metal to metal contact there, however if your engine is off then there is no oil pressure to keep the oil from circulating, thus resulting in metal to metal contact. :nerd
 
a more expensive option but what about lowering the suspension on the motoryccle so that u can flatfoot it?
 
My friend lives right there on 22nd. That is a REAL STEEP HILL. I always park on Kansas where it's flat when I visit her.
 
alright guys, I left my garage this morning and didn't make a fool of myself. Only stopped the bike completely parallel to the curb and it was alright. I rested right on the curb and got on the bike from the right side since there was a step there. lol...i'll keep you guys posted.

And no i'm not lowering my bike for this damn hill! Never give up! never surrender!

Kyle, SF peeps, u guys going to P&W tomorrow?
 
SNsMoto said:
Cool, I stand corrected then. I always just heard it was bad to do this, especially for autos with parking pins. I figured the resting weight on a stationary vehicles tranny wouldn't be good.
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That's a whole different issue. Parking brakes on cars with automatic transmissions used a small separate gear (nothing to do with the main gears in the transmission) and a pin or pawl that engaged the teeth. They generally weren't/aren't the strongest parts and on very steep hills, you don't want to depend on them. However, using the actual gears in a manual transmission to prevent the bike from rolling is perfectly fine and comes no there near to stressing them compared to actual use accellerating and deaccellerating. Don't worry.

Get that remote. Maybe a spare. If it won't work far enough away, extend the antenna. Maybe even extend the antenna to somewhere just outside the garage. This may be especially important if the door is metal.
 
The solution is to find an angle to park the bike so that the bike doesn't have to lean too far and the front wheel isn't much higher/lower than the rear. Park parallel to the curb, the bike will have a tendancy to roll backward/forward. Park perpendicular and the bike will have to lean really far over on the kickstand. Somewhere inbetween should be a happy medium.

I prefer to park facing uphill, because a bike that rolls backward doesn't put up it's own kick like a bike rolling forward. Then you can curb the rear wheel so the bike doesn't roll back on you as you are trying to mount/dismount. It's much easier to get the bike parked this way if you come up the hill, then roll the bike backward gently as you park it. It'll probably be easier to park opposite your garage so you can go across the street and enter rather than having to make a quick 180 to get into the garage door.

You said that you lived on the right side of that view you posted, which is excellent. That way you can then park on the left side of the street facing uphill and the short side of the bike will be your left foot, so you don't have to get off on the wrong side of the bike.
 
To start on the hill from a bike off position:

Get on the bike, flip up sidestand, then put foot on rear brake.

Start with the bike in gear, left foot down, right foot holding brake

Accelerate away.

No skidding front wheel, use the rear brake since that's where the weight is.

You can go from transmission holding the bike, to rear brake holding the bike, because you can start the bike in gear. You just gotta get on the rear brake before you put the clutch in to start it.
 
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