Parking inside your motel room

[Eklipse]

Next week I'm planning on taking a long weekend and riding 600 miles one way. I'm weird I know.

So I'll be staying in a motel and since I'll be there for like four days I want to get a bottom floor room and park inside my room. Has anyone ever done this? Do motel owners generally have any issues or anything? I was just going to get some extra towels and lay them down under my bike.

Might seem a little paranoid but I'll be far from home in a town I don't know well and I won't really be riding my bike while I'm there, so it would just be sitting there, day and night, all alone...

[The Buddha]

I once rented the last room in the long hallway on the ground floor ... and backed my truck with the eli 1000 in the back right up to my room door ... So to open the tail gate you'll have to hit the door ... Needn't have bothered ... few mins after I tuned in It rained so hard all night ... no one would have wanted to steal a million bucks from the back of my truck. But hey none the less ...
Cool.
Srinath.

[jessright]

Hotel/Motel owners appriciate you asking them for older rag-like towels when you clean your bike with them after a long ride...  they just never get clean enough after aLL that dirt and road grime,  bugs, etc.

I would not want to draw attention to the fact that I was pulling my bike ito the room...   but i might do it if i had plenty of old towels.  Will the bars fit through the door ok?  

They would be understandably pissed if you dinged up the door, or door jamb.  

Hmmm... what is the best security in such a situation? If the bike is outside... lighting is important.  They make like $80.00 mototcyle alarms that just connect to the two battery leads...  although any alarm can be defeated...    what about a cable lock to slow a thief up?  Lock it to a post?


Just some thoughts.   J

[Jared]

Yeah I think they might take exception to you doing that....

I doubt they'd want something with oil and gas in it being in the room ....fire hazard and all that....Insurance liabilties etc....

[se7enty7]

personally.... I would just check in, and then put my bike in the room and not say anything... bring old towels to put down just in case though

[ashman]

Hey I got you covered on this one. I work in a hotel and have stayed in them on bike trips. Housekeeping will see the bike in yur room and tell the mang. Plus dont use towels on the floor they will notice how dirty they are and may charge you. Duh, go buy a newspaper for 50 cents and lay it on the floor if you choose to do that. What I do when I travel is get on the bottom floor of say a holiday inn that has the courtyard layout. You kno the rooms around the pool. Just flat foot yur bike on the walkway and park it directly infront of yur room. Or ask if you can park it under the breeze way infront of the offices and all where people work 24/7. I've allowed people to do that. And yes the managment will be pissed if they find a greasy/smelly motorcycle in a room so dont ask them. Do it quietly if you do and then request no room service so people wont see it. Otherwise just pull it infront of yur room so you can open yur door and see it. Chances are if its in a courtyard area no ones going to touch it much less steal it.

-ash

[Kerry]

I'm with ashman when it comes to bringing your own newspaper, etc.  But I'll be surprised if the handlebars fit through the door.

Personally, I have stayed overnight in the following places over the past 4 years with no bike lock and no alarm and NO problems related to bike security.

Motels
=====
Clayton, TX
McAlester, OK
Garden City, KS
Reno, NV
Osoyoos, BC
Blanding, UT
Globe, AZ

Campgrounds
==========
Provo Canyon, UT
Ely, NV
Eureka, CA
Bend, OR
Ellensburg, WA
Coeur d'Alene, ID
Salmon, ID
Cedar City, UT
Hobble Creek Canyon, UT
near Jackson, WY
near Livingston, MT
Cardston, AL
Wasa, BC
Cherryville, BC
Grand Forks, BC
Whitefish, MT
Arco, ID
Manila, UT
[/list:u]Then again, my naked yellow '99 isn't as attractive as your faired '04. :dunno:

[roguegeek]

I need to see images of your bike sitting right next to your motel bed. Don't forget to take pictures.

[geekonabike]

Just curious, where are you staying?  Maybe one of us lives near there and can loan you garage room.  Or you can leave me your bike and take my '98, heh heh.  (Oops, the odometer cable came off your bike?  How could that happen?   Hmm.)  But seriously.....

I'd be nervous about having the bike in the room for all the reasons you've read, and perhaps one or two more.  If it is a tight fit to get it into the door, it might be an even bigger adventure backing it out (though I suppose it could be easier).  It's possible you won't have enough room to turn it around inside the room.  But also on that gas/oil thing, if your bike emits a little of gasoline vapor, besides being a fire hazard, over days it could stink up the room something fierce, and that may take a while to dissipate, getting into the carpet, beds, walls, etc.  Plus you don't really want to breath that in your sleep.  That said, I e-know a fellow who's done this, albeit with a littler bike (CB250).  This one needs to be the photo in a captioning contest I think:



I personally would use this as your excuse to look into motorcycle covers  and security gadgets.  The cover could keep the weather off of it, make it harder to vandalize, and make a woul-be thief's job harder still.  I think some covers are even lockable in place.  FWIW.

--Mike D.

PS:  Do give a post-trip report!

[Eklipse]

The bike would fit through the door with no issues. When I worked at the Ford dealership I parked it in the smoking area right next to where I worked. I'd bring it through one door (standard size) and out another, which was smaller.

My bike might emit gas fumes (probably does... it doesn't leak fluids though, to my knowledge); I hadn't thought of that. I might ask to park it next to the breezeway, or chain it to a post in front of my room. Maybe I'll go pick up a Gorilla cycle alarm, too.

If I was just staying overnight, it wouldn't bother me, but I'm going to Alabama and I'll be there from Wednesday to Sunday, and I'll be driving around in my friend's car. So my bike will be sitting there unused for 3 to 4 days. I figure that would make it an attractive target.

Place I'm going is west of Dothan, AL. If anyone lives near there I'll have to come say hi.

[Spitfire]

I don't just want a picture of it in your room - I wanna see it in your bed

No, seriously, I don't know what it's like where you're from/going, but here when I park up in hotel/motels etc I just ask someone who works there if they can keep an eye on it for me. Take a cover and cover it up, people tend just to ignore it then.

[ashman]

Dothans about a hour from Mobile I think. My old roomate was from there.

-ash

[callmelenny]

   :lol:  :lol:  :x  :x  :guns:  :guns:      :dunno:  :dunno:

The above is an emoticon story from my childhood!

I spent a few years living in a hotel in Myrtle Beach, SC where my parents were manangers. The ocean front rooms on the ground floor had sliding glass doors. One night after some partying there was a big disturbance that ended with gunfire and a couple of Harleys inside the rooms (luckily they opened the sliding doors before driving in!)

I would guess that most owners would frown heavily on storing the bike in your room. You might ask if you can park by the office, it is usally staffed at night and they can keep an eye on it.

[Dima26]

About the smell. I have 04 GS500F as well. Once I stored it in my office over night and during one day. The gas smell was pretty awful after a few hours. Placing some towel (I used rain poncho) on the tank will help a little. I brewed nice columbian coffee every 2 hours to kill the smell  :lol: so nobody notices. I should have taken a picture of the bike sitting next to my desk :x