Moving to San Francisco Tips!

[kbankovi]

Hey hoping to get some moto tips on the San Francisco area!  I'm moving there for work from Akron and I'm taking my GS along for the journey!  It's a temporary assignment (12-18mo's) so I'm wondering what the protocol is for switching plates or anything else I may need to update. Luckily I have a secured parking garage at my apartment in the Marina district and I also picked up a front brake lock w/ handlbar reminder.  I'll be parking in the financial district for work.   Any advice would be appreciated!!

[The Buddha]

In the early 2000's there was plenty of nearly free bike parking - like 50c a day in the financial district, but I've also seen those retarded busses try to make some of those turns and end up clipping or some of the better bus drivers would move the bike. I would register it when the plate is about to expire. CA charges back registration and back taxes on unregistered bikes, but it used to apply only to CA bikes. I use that opportunity to buy a un registered CA bike for cheap when you are about to leave CA. You can usually sell a bike for more in CA than in Akron.

Cool.
Buddha.

[z315]

Hey  now!

You essentially solved the biggest headache of owning a bike in the Bay Area by having a garage-Rust. There are way more motorcycle parking available in the city then there are car parking so you wouldn't have to worry about finding a place to park (Just be sure to pay the meter though since they enforce that pretty heavily. I used to work in the Union Square area and I would walk around during my breaks and stare at the bikes (creepy I know).

Another thing that may be an issue are the homeless, most of them will leave you alone but occasionally I have seen a tipped bike at night.

Otherwise Buddha made a good point of bikes getting clipped so avoid parking your bike at the very end of parking spaces.

There is a strong motorcycle community in the bay area called Barf www.bayarearidersforum.com that will connect you with the events and rides in that general area.

Sounds like you got a pretty good set up over at the Marina! You'll have a good time in SF.

Hey hoping to get some moto tips on the San Francisco area!  I'm moving there for work from Akron and I'm taking my GS along for the journey!  It's a temporary assignment (12-18mo's) so I'm wondering what the protocol is for switching plates or anything else I may need to update. Luckily I have a secured parking garage at my apartment in the Marina district and I also picked up a front brake lock w/ handlbar reminder.  I'll be parking in the financial district for work.   Any advice would be appreciated!!

[twocool]

My tips:

Get a new job!  Get the hell out of SF!

(you asked)


Cookie

Hey hoping to get some moto tips on the San Francisco area!  I'm moving there for work from Akron and I'm taking my GS along for the journey!  It's a temporary assignment (12-18mo's) so I'm wondering what the protocol is for switching plates or anything else I may need to update. Luckily I have a secured parking garage at my apartment in the Marina district and I also picked up a front brake lock w/ handlbar reminder.  I'll be parking in the financial district for work.   Any advice would be appreciated!!

[The Buddha]

My tips:

Get a new job!  Get the hell out of SF!

(you asked)


Cookie

+1, Bay area, NYC and a lot of other "cities" are magnets for clueless foreigners. They are simply cities that never pay anyone a living wage no matter what profession, you have to get your jollies else where - it sure as hell wont be in your paycheck. Oh yea we all hear about the google millionaire, but of course they google millionaire got his millions is stock, not in actual cash through the 10 yrs he worked @ google.
Yea I also worked for a .com in the same building as google none the less, when google fitted inside 1 floor of 1 building. Best of all, the mountain view DMV was right across the street, so buying and selling bikes sure was handy.

Cool.
Buddha.

[z315]

I spent 2 years working at SF before leaving a few months ago. During my time in SF most of my pay went for my hyper inflated rent. : (

Not to mention two years without a bike: (

[kbankovi]

Thanks for the info guys!  I see an O'Reily's where I can get my oil as I had to drain that from my bike for shipment.  Any good part stores around here or are they all out of the city?

[The Buddha]

There is cycle gear aplenty - SFO is rather bike friendly. That was what kept me sorta hanging on there for 7 yrs. Whole of CA is bike friendly.
See if you can find a job in Sacramento or San Diego - far better plus lot of the benefits of SFO.
Cool.
Buddha.

[kbankovi]

Thanks and I got another question. Do I need a fastrak pass for my GS for any tolls such as the golden gate and other tolls? I am seeing conflicting things. In Ohio I had an ez pass in my tank bag and it looks like this fastrak mounts to the front windshield/fairing of my bike.  However I saw an article dated 2013 saying motorcycles ride free on all tolls. Thoughts?