The green whale is dead...

[sedge]

Adding to the surprising amount of sob stories over the last few weeks...

My bike is now green shrapnel and bent metal bits, the front wheel got twisted and pushed right back into the headers etc. The frame has been shunted back a bit coz nothing really lines up anymore, triple clamps etc are toast, all plastic, clocks etc got shredded, damn.

"I didn't see you", followed closely by "you were going so fast"...

I don't understand, if you didn't see me how do you know I was going fast ?

"Ummm"

Exactly, but nice try cock.

Right... Luckily, I was following a mufti policecar slowly towards home (If you ever want to be following a policecar that would have to be the time eh?), anyway, the policecar pulls off to the left in to Plimmerton.

Cock looks right through me at the 40 ton truck behind and thinks he can make the gap through from Plimmeton intersection to turn towards Wgtn, damn. He floors it and turns towards me, at this stage I'm sure I can hear the sound of cack preparing to hit pants, there's someone waiting to turn in to Plimmerton and nowhere to go. Damn. I decide to put the bike down ( actually it was more panic and bail like a baby), I bounce off the car and scrape down the road a bit, the bike goes under the front. After doing the starfish and wiggling all my bits I realise that nothing important is missing.

It must have looked pretty cool coz I slid a fair way down the road.

So... The bikeshop guy (TwinCam Motorcycles in Pram, cheers Randall !) came out with the spatula, he said the frame looked bent, along with everything else, joy.

I'm pretty sore at the moment spent last night going ow and not sleeping much, bruised down BOTH sides damnit. My son seems to have a special ability to seek out weak points and poke them with sharp stuff, I yelp and HE starts crying, babies are so weird, doesn't stop him poking though.

Ah well... I pick up my new bike on Monday, riding down from AKL, should be fun, except now I have to run around finding a new helmet for my fat head as mine is shagged (the helmet is shagged, my head is always fat).

The lessons I've learned...

1. Always follow a policeman where ever you go.

2. Don't try and save your head, you'll only make it worse for the other bits, your head will touch down anyway, that's what the helmet is for.

3. The armour in your gear is in the right places. Mine curiously missed out on hip armour... guess where I hurt the most ?

4. Don't worry about what colour your bike or gear is, you are invisible.

Cheers all,

Sedge.

[Jinx3d]

[Jinxed crosess hands over heart.]

A classic ZXR 750 bites the dust. Did it have the vacuum cleaner pipes going into the air box? Even worse. A beauty. Post an obituary so we can remember it as it was.

[a moments silence]

ANyway - whats the new bike huh? huh? huh?

ps - glad to hear you are okay dude.

[What?]

Oooh, bugger.
Sympathies from one so very recently sympathised with.

[RiderInBlack]

Fu*k Mate. Sounds Wellies is a full of "thick is pig shit" Cagers (must be all the Pollies living down there:Pokey: ). Glad you didn't get hurt worse. Did the copper have a word with the "canned" dickhead :Police: :nono: :kick:

[Jackrat]

Kind'a odd that they can't see ya' one second an then the next they know what speed you were doing. :brick:
Oh well ya' still alive mate.Best of luck in the future.

[dangerous]

Crap aye! I never like reading these sorta posts, but yours was bloody funny apart from the reason that you posted of course. Hay the good thing is you are ok and have a new bike on the way already 'sweet'
and be good to that weird baby :rolleyes: *still grinning*

[Busted]

Man that suxs ... f'ken cage drivers aye?

At least youve still got a sense of humour ... and a weird baby to aid recovery. Plus a new bike already ... its not all bad ... but yeah what is it?

[Bob]

As someone who has lost a couple of bikes to the "Wasn't looking" brigade, you have my sympathy.

I lost one to a taxi driver going the "pretty way" round a roundabout. First thing the guy said to me, after asking if I was OK? "Well, that was a 50/50, wasn't it?" If I'd not been thinking (and your brain is scrambled after an 'off') and agreed in any way, that would have been my claim against him gone!

As you said, if he "didn't see you", then how does he know "you were going so fast"?

On clothes and stuff - I think it was research done in NZ that showed the best clothes to wear are patches of colour. And bright ones at that.

Our 'Highway Code' (guidelines for riding/driving) used to say you SHOULD wear a white helmet, reflective strips, bright clothes etc. Fortunately, it was changed to COULD wear. Just as well - the former gave any solicitor worth his salt perfect defence for his almost completely blind client "M'Lud, the greasy beast on the motorcycle was wearing black. This goes against what the Highway Code says, so he is obviously liable for my client hitting him, even though there was nothing else on the road."

But no matter what you wear and how bright your bike is, your best defence is paranoia! And this from a man who rides a bright yellow bike!

I ride on the basis everyone and anyone is an idiot, quite possibly unable to see past their steering wheel and may be a card-carrying certified psychopath on a day out from the asylum.

Just as well - I've had someone pull out on me a couple of months ago - sunnt day, yellow bike gleaming in the sun etc. Only my awareness kept me upright.

But wearing brightly coloured stuff and riding a brightly coloured bike should help if the claim goes to court.

[Zed]

My bike is now green shrapnel and bent metal bits, the front wheel got twisted and pushed right back into the headers etc. The frame has been shunted back a bit coz nothing really lines up anymore, triple clamps etc are toast, all plastic, clocks etc got shredded, damn.
You have my sympathies man.

I agree with you that we are invisible out there...expect the unexpected. You sure you're up to riding again so soon? :doctor:

All the best & a speedy recovery.


Zed

[Bob]

You have my sympathies man.

I agree with you that we are invisible out there...expect the unexpected. You sure you're up to riding again so soon? :doctor:

All the best & a speedy recovery.


Zed

From my own perspective, I found the best thing was to get back in the saddle as soon as possible. They do the same thing with horse riders and pilots - with those two groups, the fear is if they don't get going asap, then the doubts in the back of the mind can stop them from ever riding/flying again.

Everyone is different though.

[wari]

BrilliANT post sedge .. :yeah:

[Firefight]

:crazy: Glad your okay mate, and good to see your gettin right back in to it, whats your new bike ? :Police: good to see :Police: he was in the right place at the right time.

F/F

[Ms Piggy]

Mate!! I am sorry for ya! What a scary situation!! :crazy: I guess at least you're still around for your little boy to poke & prod.

[riffer]

Hey sedge - all may not be lost.

At my father in law's place is a near minter ZXR750 1989 model with the big end bearings gone.

Everything's there.

I will check on a price but I'm pretty sure its for sale at $1500.

Would you be interested?

Simon

[pete376403]

I hate riding or driving anywhere around the kapiti area. The place is full of golden agers waiting for god, but they won't give up driving.
The bad driving spreads to the younger people too (if you can't beat 'em, etc)

(the following, although a joke, is true)

Two elderly women were out driving in a large car-both could barely see over the dashboard. As they were cruising along they came to an intersection. The stoplight was red but they just went on through. The woman in the passenger seat thought to herself "I must be losing it, I could have sworn we just went through a red light."

After a few more minutes they came to another intersection and the light was red again and again they went right though. This time the woman in the passenger seat was almost sure that the light had been red but was really concerned that she was losing it. She was getting nervous and decided to pay very close attention to the road and the next intersection to see what was going on.

At the next intersection, sure enough, the light was definitely red and they went right through and she turned to the other woman and said, "Mildred! Did you know we just ran through three red lights in a row! You could have killed us!"

Mildred turned to her and said, "Oh, am I driving?"

[Dr Bob]

I am sorry to follow on from the post hijack but about three weeks ago I saw the most stereotypical thing I have ever seen. An old lady in a powder blue lada wearing a woollen hat (with a yappa dog on the passenger seat bouncing up and down), indicating to turn down Hobson street at the motorway on ramp. Hobson street is one way in the other direction and I don't know how long she had been sitting there waiting for the traffic to dissapear. I could imagine her saying to herself "The last time I came to town there was a tram that went through here".

[sedge]

Cheers for the support all,

The police are charging the kid who pulled out, so no problems with insurance etc... I'll hear back on Monday as to wether the bike will be written off or not, got to love AMI for moving on it so quickly.

"Market Value" is the thing I'm worried about, if I look on bikepoint I see they are all worth about 7k which would be awesome, I'm expecting a low ball though, sigh. I'll let you know what they say.

My gear is another story, Cordura and helmets etc are designed for one crash only, now I have to convince my other insurance company of this (AA).

The kids parent insurance will pay for all of it anyway, but from past experience the insurance companies will shaft me.

I'm getting a new helmet today before I go to AKL on Monday, but my gear will have to be duct taped up, kind of dodgy I know but I can't shell out till I get some cash from the ins, that could take a few weeks.

As to my new bike... well, I'm lucky the Mrs is so understanding, I'm actually getting two !, a ZZR1100 (Monday) for commuting on and a little something for the weekend (Race bike :) ), this was all decided before the crash so I'm sticking to it.

Anyway, if the frame isn't bent and they want to fix it I'll have a cool streefighter ZXR, I'm assuming it will be written off at this stage, it was a bit of a mess.

If written off and I get a reasonable amount I'll get something sporty to punt over the paekak hill and do some clubmans on, either way I'm happy :)

Again, thank you all for your comments, much appreciated, it could have been a lot worse.

Cheers,

Sedge.

[FROSTY]

sedge Im bloody sorry to hear about your bike. But you are ok -which is the important thing.
If I coult just make one suggestion. DO NOT take the insurance companies first offer. Market value is a load of shit. I have no Idea where they get their values from. Also If you play your card right you should keep your no claims bonus.
An example was -Insurance company informed me the car I had written off for me was worth $8000 and that was market value --Im in the business so i challenged them to find me one for that much--Ie replace the car.
I ended up with $9350 and got to keep the wreck.

[Wenier]

Bad luck mate, Param is pretty bad for that kind of driver thou

[aff-man]

Sorry to hear about the off mate. Glad your ok and have already got a new bike :apint: . As to insurance, most insurance companies you can get your gear replaced under your home and contents insurance as it being an item you have with you or some thing. Ask CK he has done it. And for your assessment i got dicked by insurance so i just went to the trusty bike shop i have been taking the bike to for years and they gave me a formal market value statement that i just handed over to insurance. I canned the procedure cuse it wasn;t worth it but if you up near the 7 or 8k mark look into it.

[riffer]

I got reimbursed for mine by my insurance company (Vero). It was six months old and they depreciated it by 10%.

Got the claim at 10.30am. Money in my account 4.30pm. :)

[vifferman]

My gear is another story, Cordura and helmets etc are designed for one crash only, now I have to convince my other insurance company of this (AA)......
I'm getting a new helmet today before I go to AKL on Monday, but my gear will have to be duct taped up, kind of dodgy I know but I can't shell out till I get some cash from the ins, that could take a few weeks.I thought I'd wrecked my (then new) Teknic jacket when I crashed, but managed to get it repaired. Several times. In the end we (me, and Kerrie at Motorcycle Safety Wear) decided that Cordura made for shitty crash resistance, so it now has leather bits paid for by insurance (see my Public Profile for the pic.) To me, this was a better option than replacment (which the insurance co said they'd do if Kerrie said the jacket wasn't worth repairing), because I still have the good features of the Cordura, with the abrasion resistance of leather wear it's needed.
Just a thought.

When my VFR was written off, it was slightly less than insured value (only by a couple of hundred bucks.) I wasn't happy, especially when the insurance company told me I could have it adjusted, but I'd have to get another couple of quotes, and they'd split the difference. When I went to a few (trusted) bike shops and talked to them, they asked what State was prepared to pay me, then almost all said, "Take the money and run! That's not bad at all."

[Omega1]

Sedge,glad to hear you are still with us
damn shame about your bike another good kwaka gone....
just a lesson for us all to take nothing for granted riding a bike can be dangerous but we do it coz we love it....