| Author | Message | ||
     Firebolt32 |
I took my bike to a doctor's appointment yesterday to be cleared on my arm that I broke 6 months ago or so playing football. I headed back to the house because the guys at work didn't need me on site until 1 pm. I was poking down the road when the SUV in front of me decide that he was going to make a right turn with no signal and barely the tap of brakes. I got a little closer to the SUV than I would have liked but no reason to panic. As this happens there was a landscaping truck at the same subdivision entrance waiting to pull out. Apparently he never saw me. I see the truck pull out with no where for me to go. I shot left just a bit hoping to miss him. He hit the right side of my bike and sent me flying. I obviously faired well enough to type this out. I did however break both bones in my right leg just above the ankle and have a hair line fracture of my left wrist. I was wearing my brand new Buell Bolt Functional Jacket, worn once, which did it's job. I was wearing jeans so I got a bit of road rash on my left ass check. And I was wearing my helmet but my head never hit the ground. I stayed conscience the entire time. The bike really isn't as bad as I thought it would be for as hard as he hit me. Off the top of my head....Relay module broke but wires still in tach, left handle bar bent, windscreen broken, small dent to the right side of the frame, header has a small dent, shifter broke, right rider's peg snapped, axle sliders snapped off but did their job. I can't get the bike to turn over either. That's all I can think of but will post pics once I can drag myself to the shed...ATGATT folks! It helped! | ||
| Ulynut |
Dang! Right leg and left wrist? Thats gonna suck for trying to walk on crutches. Sorry to hear it. Glad it wasn't worse. | ||
| Ccryder |
Glad you are "ok" and able to look back and see what happened. Hope you heal quickly. ATGATT is a mantra you can live with! Now all you have to do is improve your situational awareness. Take it easy. | ||
| Brumbear |
glad you are still with us hope you heal quickly | ||
| Nevrenuf |
was talking to your mom on saturday about riding jesse. really sorry to hear about the luck or lack of. if there's anything i can do for ya, let me know. | ||
| Whatever |
Aw man, that sucks... | ||
| Malott442 |
Not trying to preach but hopefully you learned something. THEY ARE ALWAYS OUT TO GET YOU!!!! Hope you heal up quickly! | ||
| Americanmadexb |
Man that sucks. 09 hasn't been great to you. Hope 2010 is better. Get Well, hope you heal quickly. | ||
| Firebolt32 |
Thanks for the kind words. A million thoughts ran through my mind as the accident was occuring. Could I have stoppied it, should I have not stopped at the gas station, should I have gone a different way home? Shouldas, wouldas and couldas at this point. Neil, No sooner does my mom get the news at work about my accident...H/D fired her! They got rid of all part time employees. That woman could sell a gasoline to a man on fire! I feel so bad about all this for her sake. | ||
| Ccryder |
There is a lot of that going around these days. Hope something comes up for your Mom. I've been laid off. RIF'd 2x in my life and it SUCKS! But life goes on. Later Neil S. | ||
| Nevrenuf |
i'm totally fed up with brandon/tampa. gary bang has become the biggest a$$hat out there. a lot of good people have been let go and he just continues to make bad decisions from what i've heard and seen. ferman needs to can his butt. if my buddy hadn't already gotten us a gift card from there before i told him how i have no desire to go in there anymore, i wouldn't have been in the store or saturday. i feel for your mom cause she really liked what she did. everything happens for a reason, you just have to figure out what that is. sent you a pm, if there's anything i can do for you, let me know. | ||
| Oldog |
Get well soon 'bolt32 also sorry to hear about your moms job.. | ||
| Etennuly |
Wow, that sucks! Life's little 'things' can be such a hassle! I hope it heals fast and well. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Don't secondguess yourself. A$$hat in the truck didn't see YOU, whether not paying attention, worrying about a job, or whatever...doesn't matter. They didn't see you, plain and simple. You did fine, sounds like you did all (which turned out to be nothing) you could at the time. Kinda like when Kim and I got T-boned by a stop sign runner in her Magnum. I couldn't even say "KIM" between seeing this idiot blaze thru the stop, and feeling the crunch. Glad you're relatively OK...and again, don't secondguess yourself. Just make a point next time to NOT get "closer than you'd like"  | ||
| Firebolt32 |
With Buell shutting down, how long do you guys think it will take to get the bike fixed? It's obviously going to take me a while before I can ride again. I want to be able to though once I'm healed. | ||
| Ulynut |
Shouldn't take too long at all. Provided the insurance company doesn't total it with the dented frame. | ||
| Nevrenuf |
we didn't have very much damage on the scg but they totalled it anyway. as far as the frame went, it had like a quarter inch scratch on it. shouldn't have even reported it. | ||
| Ccryder |
Jesse: While you are recovering, take the time to relive the accident. At a minimum, you can learn a lot from your accident. Every day I ride I task myself with looking at each situation that presents itself to me and find a way out of it, before it happens. As you said yourself your were a little too close to the SUV. That's probably why the truck didn't see you. Since no one else out there on the road will look out for "you", 100% of the responsibility is in your hands. As a motorcyclist it is our responsibility to make sure we find a way out of every hazardous situation, even if it's not our fault. As you can testify, we come out on the short end of the stick EVERY time. I hope you recover quickly and 100%. If you want so great roads to ride come on up to my neck of the woods and I'll show you. Later Neil S. | ||
| Sekalilgai |
That's terrible news, hope you heal quick. Around here, our big threat are SMSing college kids in mom's SUV. | ||
| Froggy |
Just going off your description, the bike is totaled. | ||
| Firebolt32 |
That's probably why the truck didn't see you. I know. It sucks because I was keeping a good distance up until they decided to turn with no signal. I'm more pissed at the SUV driver than I am with the guy who actually hit me. Froggy...The frame has a small dent just above the right rear set. My dad told me not to touch anything until an adjuster looks at it. It's not really all that noticable. I really hope they don't total it. I owe more than the damn thing is worth at this point! | ||
| Firebolt32 |
Neil S... I was up your way a few weeks before the college football season kicked off doing a job at UT. I was in a cast at that time because of broken humorus from playing football. I had our job trailer set up to travel with my bike. Just hasn't been a good year for me. Thank good it's almost over! | ||
| Littlebuggles |
Glad you made it through, heal well and quickly. | ||
| Froggy |
It depends on your company, many will total for any frame damage just due to the liability. Even if they decide to repair it, the frame alone is $1300, plus labor is at least another grand. $2300 is half way to totaling just about any Buell. The value on your bike is probably about $5k, so if they pick that number, the moment you got $3k in repairs you are totaled. It will break $3k, as for the header replacement they need to rotate the motor. Also some diagnostic time to troubleshoot your no start condition, which may be related to damage to relays or wiring harness. Sorry to be the bearer of the bad news.  | ||
| Firebolt32 |
Not a bearer of bad news...just being real. I appreciate that. Just the more I think about it the more it pisses me off. The guy who hit me stated that he rides as well, well then he should have known better than anyone else. Wait a couple more seconds then pull out. The impatients and ignorance of drivers over the years have just gotten sicken... We are going to try to have an adjuster come out on monday to assess the damage. I'll keep you guys posted. (Message edited by firebolt32 on January 02, 2010) | ||
| Reepicheep |
The accident happened the moment you let the car in front of you get close enough (relative to your speed) that it could hurt you (signals or not, brake lights or not). From there, it was a game of Russian roulette, you were rolling the dice and hoping it came out OK. It almost always does, this time it didn't. For sure everybody else screwed up as well, and the law is clear who is liable (and it ain't you). I'm not trying to throw stones or criticize, I've been down on a street bike twice, and should have been down a third time, and all my were my fault. I've changed my riding habits (universally getting more conservative) with each. | ||
| Iamike |
We've lost a couple of riders by 'riding blind' behind another vehicle. One by a left turner and the other a car pulling out from a stop sign. Even though both bikes weren't dong anything wrong, by not making themselves visible got them killed. I'm just glad that I don't have to ride in traffic much because the morons out there just don't seem to care what they do. Firebolt - Good luck, heal up quick and be careful out there! | ||
| Firebolt32 |
Well the shit stick's insurance company called me today to get my statement. The woman was very nice and understanding. For whatever reason they can't get this guy to call them back. Hopefully he is just busy and not a dead beat. She stated that once the statements were recorded and witnesses were spoken to that they would get my bike out to be fixed. She told me to start looking into shops that would do the repairs. I hope all goes well. | ||
| Ztferrari |
At least he was insured... I had a gnarly wreck once. Best thing you can do is lay back, relax, and then hop back on two wheels when the time is right. (and dont let the insurance company screw you) | ||
| Nevrenuf |
if you need me to jesse, i got a trailer and will take your bike where ever you need it to go. | ||
| Firebolt32 |
thanks Neil. It's nice having guys like you around. My dad came by today and loaded the bike into one of his trucks from work. We brought it over to Lakeland H/D. The guy took a look at it and told me he thinks State Farm may total it. H/D's service guys told me that you can ask the insurance company to leave all cosmetic damage out of the quote. So anything like the windscreen, rash on the swing arm and rash on the plastics could be left off to bring the quote down. I've got aftermarket led blinkers so those could be left off. The guy did see two dents in the frame though. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I don't want to lose my bike! |
