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6K views 35 replies 15 participants last post by  vito 
#1 ·
Got into a wreck Monday morning on my way to the hospital...yes normally its the other way around...

Anways, I'm fine, but the bike did take some damage. Lets start with saying its great I had the Hwy bars on the bike because those took the most damage. Bike ended up flipping and caused both sides to get banged up. Mirros, tail light on left side, exaust and again the hwy bars are done. The off-set hwy pegs are in decent shape, they folded in and the clamps what I'm guessing were tight enough to keep from me moving them but when the bike flipped it spun the clamps around so the pegs were now safe behind they hwy bars.

My biggest concern is the head. There is a chip taken off the head right where the exhaust bolts up. I know everyone who replies is going to want to see a picture, and I will provide one later when I can get back down to the shop where its going to be fixed, however I have a feeling that no matter what the bike is going to be totalled. Its an 07 spirit with 13k on it and WAS in perfect condition prior to the accident. At the time of purchase this past september it was valued at $4,600+ with 7,018 miles on it.

What I see that needs to be replaced is, mirrors, crash bars, exhaust, handle bars (right grip is bent at the tip from the flip) and left tail/turn signal. Ohh and the front spokes me be out of true since it did spurts of vibrations when I drove away after the accident.

Again, I'll provide pictures when I can.

P.S. I was not a fault and managed to avoid the inicial accident but doing so made me the only motorist in the accident. Paying a $250 deductible and insurance will be picking up the rest of the bill. It pays to sleep with your insurance girl ;)
 
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#10 ·
CD, no following what you're saying.

Ginn, in a nutshell, was heading west bound on E. HWY 50. Was in the left going straight lane and had a SUV leave the lane to my left (to turn left at a light) and nearly side swipe me. It forced me to enter into the right lane and traffic was coming to a screeching halt. I decided to dump the bike to avoid running into the back of the pop-a-lock SUV in front of me.

The only thing that kept me from serious injury was the low speeds (35-40mph) my chaps, jacket and push the bike away after the bike and I went down.

Looking back on it I still can't think of a better judgment call. Had I not dump the bike it would have been a sure rear-end collision, which in FL is automatically my fault, and had I held onto the bike I probably would have either flipped with it or been flung when it flipped.

Take what you will with that.
 
#12 ·
I decided to dump the bike to avoid running into the back of the pop-a-lock SUV in front of me.

Looking back on it I still can't think of a better judgment call. Had I not dump the bike it would have been a sure rear-end collision...
It is deceivingly easy to second guess a mistake after the fact. However, that is how we learn. It is a given that motorcycles handle incredibly better up on their tires than they do when sliding down the road on their side. They turn better and stop quicker on their tires, sliding on their side offers exactly zero control.

Keeping that in mind and assuming some degree of rider skill, if you didn't hit anything by laying your bike down, it is more than likely that you wouldn't have hit anything keeping the bike up on its rubber. Having said that, it is very hard to see into the past or future from my chair here at the moment....but. We do a great disservice to all of the new riders reading these pages when we encourage the belief that crashing a motorcycle to avoid a crash, is the right thing to do.
 
#15 ·
You are alive..if after reviewing things in your mind a couple of times you find that there was something else you could have done..fine..if not, don't get compulsive. I often find that I missed something on the first couple of replays.
 
#20 ·
Having said that, it is very hard to see into the past or future from my chair here at the moment
You nailed it, it is pretty hard to see anything from your chair...anyways...

The bike didn't hit anything because during is tumble it went off the side of the road stopping in the shoulder lane. No matter what you say had I not laid it down I would have hit the pop-a-lock guy, that was a given.

Vito, I was on the left side of the lane. The road I'm on is notorious for its distracted, low caring, college student, and over-all bad drivers. Highway 50 and Sand Lake Road Feature On Central Florida's Most Dangerous Roads List The SUV was in the lane with other traffic waiting for the light, it just got impatient and pulled out in traffic. There was plenty of traffic between me and the cars in front of me. The right lane becomes backed up due to the toll road on-ramp. Had I been distracted, I would have been side-swiped :p

The point of this post wasn't to see who would do what. But hey, if everyone wants to weigh in and have a pissing contest of what they would do and why they are right, so be it. Hijack away....

Instead, I was more concern with the damage to the head. I'm guessing that you can just add a chunk of metal to the head without it looking like sh!t and if you could weld a piece in and doing everything to make it look pretty and all, its going to cost a good chunk of $. Then again buying a new motor is going to be pretty pricey. Add in all the other repairs that need to be done and its getting close if not past the value of the bike.

What do you think?
 
#26 ·
Sorry if you thought that was all for you vito. Only the first paragraph was aimed towards you. I was just trying to answer your questions.

The second part was for the peeps who say they could or would/doing something different would have solved the problem.

Again sorry if you thought that whole reply was for you
 
#36 ·
No biggie. I can get high and mighty with the best of 'em, trying hard to avoid that going forward.

Follow up with any insurance / bike repair stuff though....good stuff to know should any of us end up in the same boat.
 
#30 ·
My mistake.
I must have been confused by your introductory post of 9/18/2013 where you say your current bike was your first "except for riding dirt bikes as a kid". Mea culpa.

None of this is either here nor there. Learn or don't learn. The choice is yours.
 
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