First bin.....DOH!

[disenfranchised]

Had my first bin this morning after 2 years of riding.

Riding fairly slowly in rush hour traffic.
Car in front is changing lanes.....he gets about 1/4 of the way across and then brakes fairly hard.

I was too close....the traffic was rush hour traffic, travelling at about 20-30k's.
As he started moving right, I'd started moving left to get around him...but I'd started acellerating at the same time, so consequently I'd closed the gap.

My mind thought two things...keep going round him...and oh shit! too close, brake hard.

Consequently I did both...braked hard and tried to swerve left.
Front wheel just went right out from under me....road was a bit damp, so not surprising really.

All up damage was pretty minor, just the mirror, gear lever...a small dent in the tank and some scuffs on the fender.
New clipons did as they promised and didn't bend at all....just rotated round the fork a bit

It was still running....so I taped the gear lever back together, adjusted the clipons and went off the the bike shop.
I was thinking that the damage might not be worth claiming insurance for...but the shop pointed out all the scuffs, dents etc...I have the insurance, may as well use it....plus it'll guarantee that nothing hidden is wrong....shouldn't be, was a fairly gentle drop.

One thing I've heard on here about insurance is that you can claim gear under home contents, and make it part of the same claim to only have one excess....
Not the case with State apparently, have to make a completely separate claim. Given I only had a $250 helmet (which I'm sure didn't hit the ground) and the excess is $150, plus I'd lose the no claims bonus, I don't think that's worth it.

Lessons learned
1: Don't ride as close to people as I have been doing...especially not in the wet.
2: Don't assume people are going to keep doing what they start to do.
3: Only try one evasive maneuver at a time..they don't combine well

[Number One]

Sounds like you got off alright but first is always a bit of a bummer...though took ya long enough

Seriously though in traffic (if not already) get into the habit of looking far up ahead at what the traffic is doing regularly scanning back. It will often give you a clue as to what the traffic around you might do a lot earlier so that you can be expecting thigns. Well it works for me anyway.

BTW IMO get insurance with someone else STATE are arseholes.

[Roki_nz]

That sucks.

Glad to hear you are ok and the damage is not so bad.

What the quote for the damage?

[yod]

It's treated as two claims because they are two separate policies; contents and vehicle - I had the same thing with AMI a few months back

[Rev DJ]

Glad to hear that you are in one piece!! and thanks for your observations on the incident - it is always helpful to hear these things - a good reminder for us all...

I would also double check with your insurance companies as it is sure to be more complicated than it seems at first - Murphy's Law?

And, are you really sure your lid didnt get bumped? It might be just as well to get a new one on insurance too...

Hope you can get your bike sorted quick-smart

DJ

[DarkLord]

One question - I noticed your bike is an '06 Hyosung.

What sort of tyres are you running on them?

I had the same problem with my '06 Hyosung - following too close and tried to stop quickly in the wet. I lost the front wheel and the bike flew across the road and was bowled by an oncoming car.

If you're still running the Shinko tyres I would strongly suggest to get them changed ASAP as they are not good tyres, especially in the wet. I'm running Bridgestone Battlax's on my Hyosung now, MUCH better. I've had to brake firmly in the wet before and they hold up well, you can even do stoppies on them which you could not do on the Shinkos as the front wheel would just lock up.

Glad you're ok though man, any bin you can walk away from is a good one, really.

[disenfranchised]

One question - I noticed your bike is an '06 Hyosung.

What sort of tyres are you running on them?

I'm still on the Shinko's.
As I mentioned I've had the bike 2 years, and this is my first off.
I ride every day rain or shine (with a few exceptions for hurricanes etc..) and generally don't have any problems...

There's been the odd slip in the wet when crossing paint, those metal bridge expansion plates, manhole covers...but that's pretty normal from what I hear.

This accident was really my own fault...too close, panicked a bit and did the wrong thing.
I don't think the Shinko's are as bad as everyone says...but then I've never had a different tyre to compare it to...it might be a nice upgrade in another couple of years once the tyres hit 20k's but I'm not going to change them until I need to.

[disenfranchised]

That sucks.

Glad to hear you are ok and the damage is not so bad.

What the quote for the damage?

Still waiting to hear...hopefully today, I'd rather not be without teh bike for too long...busses suck the big one!
Although with the weather we've been having it hasn't been such a problem.

[gw555]

Hmmm I find it amusing what is said about the Shinkos. I had my rear on for 26000km and the front on for 35000km, never had any trouble at all with them. I just slowed down a bit in the wet and...........

Anyway had a report on the bike yet???

Have just got mine back after 8 weeks (still without a rev counter) after having a visit to the road at 90km/h

[racefactory]

Sounds like you got off alright but first is always a bit of a bummer...though took ya long enough

Seriously though in traffic (if not already) get into the habit of looking far up ahead at what the traffic is doing regularly scanning back. It will often give you a clue as to what the traffic around you might do a lot earlier so that you can be expecting thigns. Well it works for me anyway.

BTW IMO get insurance with someone else STATE are arseholes.

Just wondering what's wrong with state? I've got 3rd party for my cage with those guys.

[DarkLord]

Just wondering what's wrong with state? I've got 3rd party for my cage with those guys.

I was insured with them for my old red Hyosung and when I wrote it off they were really hostile on the phone when I tried to explain that I really thought the crash wasn't my fault, it turns out it was my fault and I accept that but I was not impressed with the attitude I received when I tried to state my point of view.

Also after I crashed they kept on charging me the monthly premiums even though the bike wasn't even mine anymore let alone road worthy. I had to call up their call centre about 5 times before I finally got a refund from the 3 months plus I was being charged for insurance for a bike I didn't have anymore.

[Number One]

Just wondering what's wrong with state? I've got 3rd party for my cage with those guys.

I had ALL my insurance with them for 7 years. Never late on premiums, never made any claims and had a clean driving record.

Then my bike got written off while someone else was riding it. At the time their license was expired (remember when we all had to transfer from paper ones to plastic) well they hadn't gone plastic in time (only about 1 or 2 weeks late btw) and though on they held their full license (for both car and bike, which had been held for more than 5 years) they wouldn't look after ME their insured customer and honour my policy because of this ALSO after finding that the person had had some tickets in the past they decided that they also weren't liable to honour my FULL cover insurance because 'I had allowed this person to ride the bike despite their 'history''. Funny...I didn't remember being told that I couldn't allow previously ticketed people to ride my bike and that doing so would be as good as waiving all rights as an insured customer. As far as I had been told my insurance covered me and anyone over the age of 25 who held a full license to ride the bike FULLY. They also stuffed around about giving me this answer and were rude to deal with. They essentially used every trick in the book to avoid having to pay....WOULD NEVER DEAL WITH THEM AGAIN!!!!!!!

[disenfranchised]

Anyway had a report on the bike yet???

Have just got mine back after 8 weeks (still without a rev counter) after having a visit to the road at 90km/h

Was told it would take a couple of weeks, mostly because of the tank being repaired and repainted, which the shop sends off somewhere to get done.
And that was at the start of the week.

I didn't get an exact tally, but the damage was in the region of $1500-2000.
$500ish for the tank repair and about $550 for labour, with the rest being replacement parts like fender, indicators, mirrors, gear lever, clutch cover (or crankshaft cover or something)


State was cool with this claim. just accepted it outright.
My dealer (Red Baron) wasn't a bike workshop they knew about or had listed as an authorised repairer, so they sent an assessor out...but that was fine too.

I did have issues with State a few years ago on a burglery claim.
They wanted proof of purchase for everything, which with gifts was impossible, so my claim got reduced a fair bit by the time they paid out...I was pretty young then, didn't have the nouse to argue my case.

[Cruisin' Craig]

Had my first bin this morning after 2 years of riding.

Lessons learned
1: Don't ride as close to people as I have been doing...especially not in the wet.
2: Don't assume people are going to keep doing what they start to do.
3: Only try one evasive maneuver at a time..they don't combine well

Well my old man didn't have to make a separate claim to AMI when he binned a few years back. They gave him no problems and replaced his $850 helmet and had his leathers sent away to be cleaned and repaired.

Perhaps your lessons learned should include something about avoiding state insurance if you want your gear covered too? Unless their rates are significantly cheaper than others anyway.