So I just need to vent a little. This morning, after getting up and having some breakfast, I decided to give my bike a nice detail. I polished the wheels, cleaned all the nooks and crannies all over the bike and even put a little tire shine on the sidewalls of the tires . After that I left for a ride down to a buddy of mine's house. I'm riding on this little two-lane back road, the type w/no shoulder. This person in a white Lexus RX330 comes barreling towards the one small turn in the center/left lane of the road. I saw him/her and I slowed down, but apparently not enough. As I rounded the turn, the other driver slowed down too (while still partially in my lane) and I had nowhere to go. I braked hard and I ended up on the shoulder aka the woods and the next thing I know my bike is on its side and I'm flipping over sideways. I immediately got up in a hell of a lot of pain, glanced down in disgust and saw the Lexus slow down enough to where I caught that it was a PA plate, but not the number. When I started screaming and waving at the other car it sped up and took off. I ended up breaking my collarbone pretty badly and I had to ride my now-broken *** ride home w/basically one hand. The upper front fairing, the windscreen and the two mid fairings got scratched up and broken pretty badly, the aluminum mounting bracket that braces the headlights and upper fairing just broke right off, and every other painted part of the bike managed to get scratched in some way EXCEPT for the black lower fairings and the rear fender. I filed a police report and went through all the bs, but now I'm left with a decent amount in damages that I have to pay and a ****ing claim on my insurance policy for the medical care. I just figured I'd try and give my story as attempt to show how dangerous and oblivious other drivers are. Guys (and girls), no matter how well we can handle our machines (I've been riding motorcycles for 8yrs), there's always some idiot in a car that can easily ruin our day. Everybody needs to watch out and be aware of all the other motorists around them. They say riding a motorcycle is dangerous, and it is, but not because of us, but because of every mindless, ****forbrains out there with a drivers license. Ride Safe Everybody.

Oh yeah, and if anybody knows where I can score the replacement fairings for a decent price PLEASE PM me!

 

Tire shine on the walls is a big no no. I almost learned this the hard way. but im not sure if more traction would have helped you in this case. sorry to hear about your ride and your wounds. sucks you couldn't get his plate #'s.

 

Sorry to here about your troubles. Dont stress not being able to git the tag though because even if you did, if you cant put a driver behind the wheel (positive id / photo line up/ excetra) , the Police will just send a letter to the register owner. Thats if its a Hit And Run, its called a hit a run notification, your vehicle was involved in an accident, blahh blahh blahh, please contact so and so department. Without a confession after being marandized, you got nothing. The registered owner just has to say, "I lent the car to a friend I only know as BOB", and nothing u'll happen.

and thats just if contact is made to your vehicle. It sounded like she/he was in your lane of traffic. In that case, you would need an independant witness. People are such bad drivers, we got loads here in south Florida. Again, sorry for your mis-fortune.

 

Well that sucks. Sorry for your misfortune. It's nice to know that when we crash, and if somebody else caused it, that they just drive away without a care. Last year I had a highside and went down a pretty steep embankment. There was a car behind me a little distance, but I know they had to have seen me crash and they didn't stop. When I stopped rolling and tumbling down the hill, I could hear that car keep on driving by - they didn't cause it though, it was my own fault.
Just claim it on your insurance, both medical and bike parts. It was explained to me that with bikes, being so relatively inexpensive and so few riders compared to car drivers, that rates don't generally go up with an accident.
Oh, like already said, tire shine on bike sidewalls is a big no no. I don't think it would have made a difference in your case though, but something to remember for the future. It could bleed over onto the tread on the edge. Like putting oil on your tires.

 

sucks that it happened, no one ever wants to take responsibility for their mistakes anymore

happens all the time here in san antonio, just a few days ago a guy in a truck flew across three lanes of traffic and slammed right into a girl on a cruiser.
and killed her instantly,

sad part is the three lanes he swerved across were empty he just wanted to be in the far left hand lane


all you can do is have good insurance that covers this sort of stuff and ride defensively

i ride with my camera hooked up a lot lately taping the ride, (mainly to record the twisties but hopefully for just such an ocurrence)

 

Thanks for the sympathy guys. Yeah, people are definitely self-centered nowadays. The tire shine didn't bleed onto the bottom of the tire, I intentionally made sure that it didn't by wiping it. The worst is that my deductible is $1000, so I'll probably end up paying for most of it myself . . .

 

ugh, that really sucked. im sorry this happened to you. i agree. most people say riding a bike is dangerous, but it's mostly because of the stupid car drivers out there withyou on the road.

 

So the end result of the incident was that I had to have surgery on my shoulder - 3" titanium plate and 6 screws. The only fortunate thing was the insurance company paid out $3400 for a bunch of repairs that I can do myself for about five hundred bucks . . . gotta love how they go by dealer MSRP.

[IMG]local://upfiles/18708/56A4FC3CA35D4CBCA74127532DFCAA39.jpg[/IMG]

 

So does this mean you will fix it yourself for $500 and use the rest of the money for upgrades???

 

How about that fancy new addition to your collar bone? What did that run you?