Well, it finally happened. I'm sure I totaled my F2. I was trying to avoid a bicyclist who swerved in front of me in the hills. I hit some gravel and the bike flew from me and I slid down the road on my leathers. I threw my bike into a DL1000, a KTM990 Adventurer, and a KTM690SM (Yeah, expensive bikes!). They need some money but I'm OK and uninjured and so are the others (thanks nice gear and armor!) and I just need forks and rearsets and pipes and some sundries to get the F2 going. I've also got decent insurance coverage, and everything will be alright. I'm gonna take some time and probably buy faster bike. I'm sore but I'm thankful I'm ok, and that I have another bike. My little plated xr600 will have to do, but I'm just gonna putt around for a bit. It's gonna be a bit before I can push it again!

 

Aww man sucks.
At least you're up and talking with no injury.
Hope everything gets sorted quickly for you

 

Thanks guys. We'll see how the claim goes. I'm sure it won't be too terrible, but I'm nervous. Thankfully I had 1.4mm + of cow hide and hard armor on top of my knee or I'd might never walk again. As it sits, I think I have no permanent damage, just a very swollen and sore knee. I earned it, I could have kept it up but there's no point beating my self up over it. The ground comes so fast when you're trying to make a turn at 8/10s or so over gravel. Next thing I knew I was underneath an Adventurer! I think I knocked over 4 ~$500 helmets too, I'm definitely out of the range where I can just pay out of pocket.

I'll post some pics, It's pretty severely damaged. I think the forks took the brunt but I'll have to look in daylight. I'm going to have to fix this F2 or work on another one later b/c I've got some nice parts, and of course I have a built and valved Fox shock that is literally in the mail right now . It always happens that way doesn't it, you start to make a pile of a bike nice and you go and rash it up!

 

Sorry to hear you went down man. What kinda gear were you wearing? I always hope that we never have to test our gear, but when we do, I like to hear about what brands/models held up well and what didn't.

 

I was wearing Racer Hi End gloves (saved my hand), Alpinestar SMX Plus boots (Saved my ankles), Frank Thomas 1 Piece Leather suit w/back hump and Fox kneepads (saved my knees), a Dianese back protector and a Scorpion EX500 helmet (those 2 didn't come into the picture). They all acquitted themselves wonderfully, and are all wearable again. I don't know how fast I was going when I lost the front, but I was in the middle-top of 2nd gear, and it fell like it was thrown into the ground. Here are some pics.


Those Forks are totally screwed, bent into the header, which is torched. I skewered the front tire on the centerstand of the DL1000 and ripped it. The rotor on the right side is tweaked hard.


Don't think the frame is bent too bad, but there's this guy Jerry Piazza who does a bang up job inspecting and straigtening frames. As soon as my claim is started, I'm tearing her down to the frame and taking the frame to Infineon Raceway to get his opinion.


Broke the seat in half somehow, my pretty new tank has some rash. The rearset and shifter on the other side are busted, but the bike still runs and shifts! Woohoo for little victories.


Here's the gear that hit the ground. There are holes in the knee of the suit, which is very thick. No seams came out. It's good to go right now, eventually I might get that hole repaired. The Carbon sliders on the Racer gloves did a good job, but were eventually ripped at the seams. With a little sewing the gloves will be fine. The boot needs a new buckle, but the plastic ankle guards just need some sliders. I might send them to alpinestar to get a refresh.

I got lucky, and I'm going to come back with a monster F2 'cause I will have the chance to do a frame off rebuild and get a new, valved and tuned front end to match the killer shock I've got. It's gonna take time, sweat and money but I LOVE this bike and I will get her screaming down the road again. This old girl did a good job protecting me from impact with her forks, and I will return the favor by making her right again.

 

Consider pursuing charges against the bicyclist? Got any witnesses that you can make statements with the police on all of this?

In the end, if you can prove it's not your fault, and the bicyclist doesn't have their own insurance to cover it, you should be completely covered under your uninsured driver coverage essentially.

 

Of course the cyclist left and nobody was looking my way. This is actually a serious problem in the Berkeley hills, I met someone who dumped their bike rather than hit a bicyclist about 4 turns from where I crashed when his bike was still on the ground. The bike rider left and nobody saw a damned thing, so he was SOL. I'm just happy I'm covered, and mostly uninjured. I'd rather be uninjured and not get my bike covered than break something and be down for a while. Gear FTW!

 

ATGATT etc etc.

Try the uninsured driver claim. You may have better luck that way...

 

Just an update for those who care. I couldn't get a witness for uninsured motorist, but progressive paid out fast and was no hassle for the other drivers. I got squat for my bike, and it's sitting in my backyard with the motor out and everything in celophane. I went out and got quotes and financing on a 2012 GSXR-750, but couldn't justify putting 12K (15-16K with interest at 6%) at this time in my life.

I was going to get this other done up F2 I saw on c-list for $600. It had the F3 swap, a fox in the back, bunch of nice other stuff. It blew it's R/R and the owner had just got a 636, so they were selling it cheap. I missed out by 3 hours though. That lit a fire under my *** to get a bike on the road. I just got a set of forks, pegs, a radiator, a V&H full system and a tail-light used off of ebay and forum listings, and they should be coming in soon. I'll have to see if my springs are good, and it the wheel is good before I decide on what other parts I need, but it'll be btw $750 and $1000 depending on what else I need to get.