| Author | Message | ||
     Marcodesade |
I was riding on Ortega Highway this morning. Near the bottom of the hill on the Lake Elsinore side, I sped up to pass a slow truck only to realize that I was fast approaching a downhill left-hander way too fast for my skill level. There was a soft runout area just before the turn and I took it. But it really wasn't long enough, and I low-sided. The good news is that I was wearing all the gear --- indeed, I had just added Alpinestars leather track pants and SMX-4 boots to my existing Icon Daytona jacket, Scorpion EXO-700 helmet, and Buell gloves. I came out of it relatively unscathed: very minor abrasions on left elbow and knee where the armor rubbed skin and a suspected broken rib (x-ray proved negative).   The gear held up remarkably well: just a few scuffs on jacket, pants, boots, and gloves. The helmet is visibly trashed, but I know enough to shitcan it even if it wasn't:     Not really the way I had hoped to scuff up my first set of pucks, but I'm certain that if I'd not been wearing the gear, I'd be missing a great deal of skin, and my brief visit to urgent care would have been substituted by a stay in the ER. The bad news is that my bike is extensively, if mostly just cosmetically, damaged. Front fairing, left pod shroud, tail fairing and pillion cover are all badly rashed. Left mirror is gone, left Traction Grip, aftermarket bar-end, and aftermarket clutch lever are damaged (though the bar itself "seems" OK). Stator cover and swingarm are scuffed but "appear" intact.         At this point, I'm weighing the screwing my insurance company is going to give me against the cost of paying for my stupidity myself. Can one of you "parts guys" give me a total for these items please? Also, does anyone know what the threshold for a total loss is? The bike is an 08 1125R. | ||
| Dannybuell |
Are you OK? | ||
| Marcodesade |
Not sure why some of the photos didn't come out. Here they are again:       Maybe an admin can stitch them into the original post? | ||
| Badlionsfan |
Glad ur ok, take a alieve or something b4 bed, ur gonna b sore in the am. What size lid do u take? I've got a only tried on never ridden in xl agv stealth in flat black I'm tryin to unload in the classifieds. If it'll fit ya, I'll make u a "welcome to the crash club" deal. Pm me if interested. | ||
| Americanmadexb |
From the look of your pics, i wouldn't even involve your insurance. Just fix it yourself. Glad to see your ok! | ||
| Brumbear |
Glad you are ok imagine what your hands would look like without gloves The bike doesn't look bad at all BTW | ||
| Jdugger |
Whatever you do, GET RID OF THOSE LEVERS. You are lucky it didn't stab through your wrist. Sharp stuff on motorbikes is stupid. Get ball-end levers. | ||
| Usanigel |
Looks like spit and polish for most of it. Whats your deductible? From your pictures I don't see much "Must be replaced" stuff. Left mirror is the only for sure thing. Give the bike a wash down and look again. When polishing the plastic, be careful not to over heat the surface by using wet and dry paper with water and some washing up liquid (just a little, enough to wet the water but not enough to foam). Take some aleve and sleep it off. | ||
| Father_of_an_era |
Oh yes, the infamous Ortega Hwy! A few buddies and I were ridding through Ortega last month. As we approached the first mile up the hillside we came upon a crash scene. Some poor 22 year old (I found out his age and info a few days later by reading the local paper) was coming down and crashed his bike. Apparently, he layed the bike on its side and as it was sliding he held on, hit the guardrail and flew over it. They found the poor guy about 100 feet down the cliff side DOA. That same day, my group and I were about 3 or 4 miles passed Hell's Kitchen and one of our members hit some loose gravel and ate it pretty hard. I was behind him and all I saw was a plume of dust and his tail light as it waved left to right and then tumbled and twisted until it came to a stop in a mangled mess of plastic and metal and leaking fluids. Fortunately, my friend was ok with the exception of twenty something stitches and a mild sprang. The reason for the crash is that there is a bend or a twist that has a dip in it. As his rear tire hit the dip it straightened his bike out and towards the wall of rock on the side of the road. I no longer ride that Hwy. Ortega is known for motorcycle crashes. When the Firemen pulled up to the scene he told me that there is a crash there almost every week. So, beware and be cautious if any of you want to ride that stretch of Hwy. | ||
| Kc10_fe |
I did $4700 worth of damage to my 08 R and Foremost didnt total it. Bike is worth over 8k according to the ins guy. | ||
| Marcodesade |
I hear ya JD, but it really isn't as sharp as it looks. Considerably less sharp, in fact, than any of the corners of the fairing and windscreen. Usinagel, my deductible is only $500, but I'm guessing that the monthly increase in my premium will be nasty. And, sadly, these pictures are AFTER the wash-down. With the possible exception of the airbox, it's all pretty deep. Although it is essentially cosmetic. I did ride the thing 25 miles home. Danny: yeah, I'm OK, just a couple scrapes and a sore rib. Got a scrip for Vicodin, but haven't needed to take anything except Motrin yet. Thanks for asking . . . In hindsight, I'm seeing two grave errors that led to this crash. The first is obvious: passing that truck left me going too fast, too close to a downhill curve. But the real mistake, I think, was choosing not to try the corner. I believe now that I could have negotiated it, after scrubbing off all the speed I could, if I'd just trusted the bike and myself. But, in fact, I panicked and ended up sliding in dirt. | ||
| Ron_luning |
If I remember correctly: front and rear fairing combo is around $320, airbox cover is around $220, pod is around $60, passenger seat cover around $45, mirror $80, lever $45, bar and end grip you know better than me. Stator cover is something like $225, swingarm is pricey. So to fix it yourself with just retouching the stator cover and swingarm will likely cost $800 plus the cost of replacing any gear that was trashed. Even if the insurance company paid for every part to be replaced that was even barely scratched, plus the labor, it wouldn't be close to a total loss. | ||
| Captain_america |
I have AAA for insurance with $500 Deductible. The limit was $6200 before total. I had the service writer add some extra things on the bill so I could cash out on the extra parts I didn't need so I wouldn't have to pay the deductible. | ||
| Dktechguy112 |
my bro wrecked my bike, and from your pictures it looks like mine was damaged more then yours. I have a little under $2K in parts. I had to replace the tach, headlight, frame, all the plastics except one pod and the front fender, new bars, new mirrors, new controls, new airbox, and a bunch of other little parts. I wouldn't turn it into insurance. They will jack your premiums and you will end up paying way more then it costs to fix the bike. If you need part numbers let me know which parts you need and i will post up the p/n's for you. I ordered all my parts from www.latus-harley-davidson.com. You can put p/n's in their site and get a price, its great. Looking at your crash pics, the only thing i would be concerned about is the swing arm, if that is just scratched and doesn't need to be replaced i think you will be able to fix it fairly cheap. you can get a carbon fiber cover for the stator cover, and then if you crash again it won't cost you $250 for the stator cover. Also, I would email erik buell racing, they have a lot of pull of stock parts from converting stock 1125's to race bikes. (Message edited by dktechguy112 on June 14, 2010) | ||
| Jules |
It really doesn't look too bad, the bodywork would probably scrub up OK with time and effort, but they are relatively cheap to replace, I'd be tempted to replace them and keep this set for track days.. I'd invest in some sliders now too, and the carbon clutch/staror covers will hide the scratches and look cool..you now have an excuse to buy them. Don't beat yourself up about the choice to take what looked to be the "safer" option at the time, you had a split second to make that judgement call and you really don't know how it would've gone if you'd tried to take that bend - you genuinely might not have made it. The fact that you (a)walked away from it and (b)the bikes not too bad show you probably made the right choice. | ||
| Porky |
Ortega hwy is absolutely beautiful and safe, if a rider uses his head. Gravel or sand can be on any corner as can be oil or antifreeze. Slow down and live to smell the roses. I've ridden that road a thousand times sedately and quickly but never over my abilities. The road is a famous killer for the over enthusiastic or unfamiliar. I'm sure glad that you are okay! sam | ||
| Bigevildoer |
Why not check out ZAS fairings? a set of side fairings with lowers is something like 300 Euros... the airbox cover is 90 Euros - much cheaper than stuff around here. | ||
| Black |
Glad you are ok. Mine got hit in a parking lot about a year ago with similar damage. The plastics are pretty inexpensive. Ron_luning's estimate is pretty close to what I remember. The expensive part was the swing arm, which I didn't need. It was about $700 as I recall. I don't have any idea what the engine covers cost. Once again, glad you are ok and uninjured, for the most part. | ||
| Firebolt32 |
Glad you made it out alright. It sucks the bike is bruised up but be grateful you still got it bro. I watched mine get auctioned through a salvage dealer online and got some fancy hardware in my leg due to my accident. Hope you BOTH heal fast! | ||
| Finedaddy1 |
All is not lost so don't get too excited, "I went through the same thing". Yeah I know this sucks, but If I can fix mine you can fix yours. Turn your frustration into determination, with a little elbow grease it CAN look as good as it did before!        Oh, there is one problem I had after fixing my bike...this side looks better than the other. | ||
| Ezblast |
Nice work! EZ | ||
| Nattyx1 |
FineDaddy: That is pro level bodywork. Seriously. Kudos to you. | ||
| Marcodesade |
Finedaddy: for your stator cover, did you just paint it or did you have to actually add some material to it? If you look at my photo you will see there is a fair amount of metal gone. Yours does look great. | ||
| Dktechguy112 |
finedaddy1, how do you repaint the stator cover and make it look so good? Mine got road rash and it need to repaint it. | ||
| Finedaddy1 |
Thank you all for your complements. Marcodesade, I just worked the deep scars out with some files, air grinder, and various grades of sandpaper. I thought about adding some material with the cover on the bike but figured the voltage from a welder might screw with my stator, so I just worked it on the bike by hand. It did take a little time and some material removal but if you'll notice on that one rib there's a bit more material there than the others "notice the radius". If I ever remove mine I will add some material. I purchased a spray can of Buell engine touch-up paint and it is WELL WORTH IT. The reason it turned out so well was all in the prep work, and the fact that I have a little body work experience also. | ||
| Dktechguy112 |
what did you do to prep the stator cover? And do you have a p/n for the engine touch up paint? | ||
| Buellerxt |
Marcodesade, I'm glad you are okay and kudos to you for thinking through what happened and taking responsibility. Good man. Many would have all kinds of excuses. I've heard a bunch! lol I agree with the poster that said not to beat yourself up over it. We all like to 'think' we'd lean it more and go for the curve, etc., but we won't know until faced with a similar situation and are given a fraction of a second to decide. It's obvious that you'll be a better rider as a result of the mishap. Best to ya'. | ||
| Johnnys999 |
What Buellerxt said. I was most impressed with your honesty and the way you handled the mental aspects of the incident. Too much blame game in our society now. Your bike will come out looking as good as new except for perhaps the swingarm. I would avoid the insurance company on this one, save it for when you need it because they may raise your rates for a couple years if you file a claim. Good luck bro. | ||
| Pariah |
Be mindful of the pods... once they get crunched, they never quite fit in place well (DAMHIK), and I think that some of their protective abilities go away. Especially on the left side where the ECU is, you wanna be careful. Personally, I'd replace it to be safe, but I think Finedaddy1 the job you've done is just incredible... | ||
| Xodot |
ummmm... Capt A' Please don;t take this the wrong way sir, but when you say : "The limit was $6200 before total. I had the service writer add some extra things on the bill so I could cash out on the extra parts I didn't need so I wouldn't have to pay the deductible"..... you make it sound a little like insurance fraud. Maybe you want to "refine" the description of the event to avoid unwarranted attention in a public forum. Then again, maybe not and I should MMOB. |
