- Joined
- Jul 18, 2009
- Messages
- 8,832
- Reaction score
- 3,404
- Location
- Rogers, Arkansas
- First Name
- Mark
- Last Name
- Drumm
Re: New Meet Spot in Austin - Hot Rod Coffee Trailer
yup
yup
out for me today. The dreaded cardiologist discussion.
I think every sport bike is cramped for tall riders. I might end up with K1300 S HP someday.Motorcyclist's comparo article calls even the most current version of the F4 dated (also cramped for tall riders). The new F3 as well didn't measure up against the Triumph 675R. Too bad as the're both great looking machines.
Stay loyal to your current brand and hold out for an S1000RR or HP4.
See yall tomorrow.
out for me today. The dreaded cardiologist discussion.
Verdict is in.....
The R1150GSA has reached its end of the road. Stupid cager.
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Verdict is in.....
The R1150GSA has reached its end of the road. Stupid cager.
.
$5600+ for seven parts and labor exceeded the percentage threshold of value.
$5600+ for seven parts and labor exceeded the percentage threshold of value.
out for me today. The dreaded cardiologist discussion.
$5600+ for seven parts and labor exceeded the percentage threshold of value.
The silver car, stoppie and thump:
I was on my way to meet weekly Thursday Billys/Kens crowd, riding down a residential street, one lane each way. About 50m from where I was going to turn in to Kens (Hot Rod Coffee Trailer), I noticed a silver smallish car coming towards me. What struck me immediately is all I could see was her right cheek and right ear, thinking the whole time she's looking left so she'll probably want to turn left. Speed was maybe 25, certainly not more since in that 50m I was going to turn in to Kens driveway anyway. Think of it as 'final approach' slowing down.
When I saw nothing but her ear, I covered the brakes quickly. I'd estimate she was probably going no more than 20, so that little bit of real estate was eaten up quickly in spite of the lower speeds. Sure enough, without warning, blinker, or looking up the road, she turns left right in front of me. Having covered the brakes, they got all I could muster and I think I hit her in the right front quarter panel. I never took my eyes off her face and she never looked up or away from the left the entire time. I could have been a pedestrian or a school bus. Whatever was occupying that same bit of real estate was going to get hit by her.
I remember the "bounce" upon impact and it's sound. I remember a pretty searing pain in my right shin as I was doing my best stoppie imitation with the tail end of the bike in the air and me looking down, and I remember the clunk sound as the rear wheel with my butt still on the seat coming down. What's amazing to me is, when the rear came back down to earth, the bike was pointing straight down the road. Immediately, I put both feet out and low and behold, the bike was stable. Habit took over and with my left foot I put down the side stand and with my right hand, turned the ignition key "off".
I'm sitting on the bike, right shin on fire (not literally), and I do the pogo hop hop hop on my left leg to move away from the bike while dragging my right leg over the seat. There, still fully geared up in my riding boots, mesh pants, mesh jacket, leather gloves and full face helmet did I crumple to the ground.
The female driver comes over and started saying "I'm soooo sorry" over and over along with "I didn't see you". After several iterations of that, she asks who she can call and my every response was "911". Every time, she again asked who she should call. Hmmmm After a few more times of that game, I just yelled at her and said "lady, you could have killed me turning left in front like that". Rutrow.... her tone changed to "you were going so fast". Hmmmm.... If you kept telling me you didn't see me, how could you know I was traveling at any rate of speed.
I finally dug my cell phone out of my riding pants and through the helmet called 911. Having called it in the past, I let it ring a bit, then waited a bit before I said there's been a motorcycle/vehicle accident at the intersection of x and y, I couldn't hear what they were saying because I had a helmet and ear plugs on, and to send someone please. I wrestled the helmet off and earplug out and there was a friendly voice on the other end who I could now hear. She said help was on the way and asked what happened. I recall telling her a vehicle made a left turn in front of me and I struck that vehicle.
A short (very short) time later, EMS rolls up and a couple police cars. The EMS folks are asking me a bunch of questions like who am I, what the day is etc. I let them do their thing but interrupted and said I didn't hit the ground and I could feel all my toes and fingers. They all smiled and still did their evaluation. Then the scissors come out when I tell them about my right shin. "Oh no! There's a zipper at my boot please". I heard the velcro and zipper moving up so I saved the pants at that point.
They continued to poke and prod quite thoroughly, and the officer then came over and asked what happened. I told him pretty much the above and he made comment something like "That's what I figured". Very cordial officer, he came back and said there would in fact be an accident report completed since EMS was called and I was injured. The driver of the car was also issued a citation Failure To Yield - Left Turn.
Once the EMS guys were done, they REALLY wanted me to go for the ride. But in the back of my mind I was thinking this would be a really expensive ride for what I think happened to me at that point. My right foot was sore, like twisted. My right shin was banged quite hard about the size of a half-dollar and swelling. The right knee felt torqued to some extent, ie: just not the same as pre-collision. The back was really tight almost immediately and my left thumb felt jammed. Certainly all things directly related, but not worthy of the ride. Again, I based this on not getting tossed off the bike and how I felt. Sure, some things weren't normal, but I didn't think I was going to die if I didn't go.
I had a great conversation with the lead EMS guy, mentioned Kurt and he said Kurt was on his way over. Cool. Get to see my lunch buddy in action on the job! Sure enough, Kurt shows up shortly and we have a good little conversation.
So I'm still laying on the pavement and one guy asks if he can call someone. I asked if he could kindly walk the 50m to Kens and let them know I'd be a bit late for lunch. Sure enough, Jeff, Ken and Robert wander over. Not sure what all their conversations were or what they heard. Still need to fill in that piece of the equation.
EMS got me to stand up and I felt fine for the most part but was shaking a bit. I could walk with only a slight limp favoring the right leg. Everything else mentioned was still there, but I didn't get light headed or anything, never saw stars etc. Robert the consummate professional had already done a 'once over' on the bike and indicated it probably wasn't rideable with a bent fork tube, possibly both. I thought the front wheel looked closer to the engine for whatever that would mean. So Robert calls Cycle-Lift who was in the area to come get the bike at Kens. How did the bike get to Kens? I have no idea now thinking back.......
Once again, EMS asked if I wanted transport and I refused knowing I was headed to my regular DR for an eval. I wandered over to Kens appearing somewhat dejected from what I gather and had my usual hot dog and iced coffee with the crowd. Kurt offered me a ride home as did a few others, but I called the Mrs. who came over and retrieved me. Made it home, then over to the Dr. where he did a pretty thorough eval on me. Turns out, it all appears to be soft tissue damage upon first pass for the foot, shin, knee, back and thumb. He gave me a couple scripts for swelling and muscle stuff and said to ice the sore stuff for a few days as that will directly relate to how quick/well I heal in the next 2 weeks or so. On a side note, he thought I might have broken my thumb, but the x-ray revealed nothing. Just a hyper-extension as that hand went forward with my thumb catching behind on the grip.
He asked if there were any questions and I asked: Can I swim? Yes. Can I bike? Yes, as long as you don't feel pain or discomfort. Can I run? NO. Not until the shin/calf muscle is in better condition. Cool.
Got home that evening, started the drug stuff and ice and thought just how dang lucky I was that day. Maybe luck isn't the right word. I DID see her and anticipate her action. Just not soon enough.
So there you have it, the nuts and bolts of my first impact with a vehicle after all these years.
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End of the road for the R1150GSA...
Cycle-Lift retrieved the scooter and trailered it up to Roberts at Lonestar BMW. A quick once-over revealed for sure one fork tube, possibly both. I made contact with my insurance company and later spoke with the adjuster who again, was very cordial and pleasant to deal with. He said he would get over to Lonestar Friday to evaluate the bike and go from there.
So on Friday, TexTom and I made our way up to Chuy's next door and had some good post-accident recovery food. (Hatch chili chicken enchiladas) Afterwards, we wandered over to Lonestar to just look and get an idea of the rough estimate that Robert and his crew worked up. On first pass, it wasn't too terrible to include both fork tubes, the trailing arm, fork bridge and 'beak'. While we were there, the adjuster arrived so I got to meet him and watch/ask questions. Robert, TexTom, the adjuster and me went back to see the bike and upon closer inspection, a couple more things were noticed including the front wheel. Eeks, that's $1300 and would go up as a new front tire would probably be mounted.
Well, in a nutshell, that put the repair cost over the threshold to repair the bike. The R1150GSA had seen it's last mile at the hands of an inattentive driver. Later that afternoon, the adjuster called me up and talked numbers and options.
So I still need to find out what her insurance company is going to do on the bike. I learned I can do the whole thing from my side/through my insurance without any ill effects on premiums etc. as this is a "no fault" incident. I just need to cough up the deductible for them to do this, they subregate? the thing to her company and my $500 comes back to me.
It was a fun bike and as always, good looking too.
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