new member with a lot of questions

[Nurseman1313]

Hi to all . After many years of not riding I went and bought a 1996
Shadow 600cc . Took the rider safety course and started to hit the road.
After a week and 300 miles a car ran a red light and to avoid hitting the car I laid the bike down ,skidded into a telephone pole , broke 6 ribs. Would have been worst but I was wearing full body protective gear. Needless to say the driver took off and when to police got there and with no witnesses I was cited for careless driving . The problem I am having
is finding parts to fix the bike. It needs a new speedometer, headlight and housing , handle bars . have been searching the web but the prices being asked for these items is almost 1/2 of what I paid for the bike. Got a great deal on the Shadow it has 6000 miles on it and was in mint condition. Paid
$ 1200 for it . part of this posting does any one know wear I can find replacement parts? I do have collision coverage which will cover some of the costs . Another question is what is a thread ? Am also somewhat new to using a computer , need to learn the use of computer about 5 years ago for work still keep deleting things . Thanks for allowing me to vent .
and I hope this will post

[brian lindsley]

first off welcome to the group. Sorry to here that you had a bad experience shortly after getting started riding.

here are some of the places I look for parts; Ebay, Honda Motorcycle Parts, ATV, Watercraft, Scooter | Lowest Price Guarantee on Parts and Accessories and your local honda dealership I find to be the best three. Other good sites to check are CheapCycleParts.com - Cheap Cycle Parts & Motorcycle Gear, Parts and Accessories at Motorcycle Superstore my local dealerships are BEAVERTON MOTORCYCLES and http://www.hillsboromotorcycles.com.

as for getting the replacement parts they are not cheap. I would suggest that you turn in your claim for the insurance and either buy a parts bike to fix yours up or buy another good riding bike and sell yours for parts. If I were you I would buy a new bike to ride and I would get an 1100 or at least a 750 as the 600 will not have the power you need on the freeway for long rides. The bigger bike will also be more stable in cross winds and you won't get pushed around by the big rigs as much as you would on a 600.

Hope this helps you

Brian

A thread is the title of the post that you started. It took me quite some time to find out how to post on this forum. so don't feel bad I think it happens to all of us.

[Nurseman1313]

thanks for the quick reply I will try some of the sites you mentioned.

[GrumpyOldMan]

YIKES! Glad to hear you were not more seriously injured and sorry to hear about the bike damage

Another source for factory parts:
Ronayers.com Ron Ayers Motorsports

And I use:
Honda factory motorcycle parts | Yamaha factory motorcycle parts | Kawasaki factory motorcycle parts| Yamaha factory motorcycle parts| ATV

only to look up P/Ns because even thought their prices look attractive, they kill you on shipping charges.

If you need to go the salvage yard route, hit up one or both of these sites, fill out the form and wait for emails to come in - both sites go to multiple salvage yards across the country, plus it is always good to know the salvage price for comparison:

Moto Part Alert- Live Search For Used Motorcycle Parts From Motorcycle Salvage Yards
Used Motorcycle Parts - LIVE search of Motorcycle Salvage Yards

[So-Crates]

Man, you lucked out on the injuries! Telephone poles can kill!

for parts, look at a motorcycle wrecking yard - they are bound to have the stuff you need, and many shops are interlinked, so if they dont have it and someone else does, they can get it for you. You also dont NEED OEM parts - there are several styles and types of headlights for sale that you can get to bolt right on. Same with handlebars. Speedo will be the hardest - Id look for that in a wrecking yard.

Last August, I had a similar accident - in a parking lot on the second floor, going down the ramp to the first floor. Some jackass is taking up the entire ramp as I come down, and I had to toss the bike (or risk hitting him head on and flying through the windshield, since I was pointed downhill on a 45* ramps...). Hardly any damage to the bike, but broke my arm so severely it required two surgeries. Copes told me the same thing - I was "at fault" since there was no contact between the vehicles. I pointed out that I would not have crashed if dumbazz hadnt taken up the entire ramp. Their response - "next time, hit him. It will be his fault."

How exactly does one consciously make a choice to get into a head on accident with a car? Thats what I want to know!

[GrumpyOldMan]

Sounds like a moron/lawyer response to me!
In CA, the dropped all the laws about when to use your turn signal in favor of a simpler test = did you cut someone off so they had to "dodge"?
Sounds to me like you might have what the lawyers would call an "actionable" situation since they DID cut you off