My brother binned it on my baby -Rant and a few questions.

[Spuds1234]

your brother sounds like a fucking idiot. sounds a spillage of Gene-o-Kleen caused the crash.....

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...8&postcount=51

I just noticed this post and I must say

Dude I dont want to rain on your parade but that hits a bit close to home.

He maybe an idiot and I doubt I will ever convince him that he didnt have to lay the bike down.

But saying that a spillage of Gene-o-Kleen caused the accident hits a bit close to home as I am his TWIN brother.

Apart from that. I fully agree with you.

[Spuds1234]

Here is a copy of the letter that I will be dropping off in my brothers mail box.

Any opinions on it? I dont want to be rubbing salt into any wounds. But I dont exactly want to tip toe around things either (its why Im still single. I always tell things as I see them -gets me in heaps of trouble).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

10/4/07

I have had a think about what happened today and calmed down a lot and have come up with solution that I think is fair.

Basically things boil down to this (and there isn’t really a nice way to put this):

You crashed the bike. It is your responsibility to fix it.

This holds true even if the other party refuses to pay for repairs at a mechanics.

The things that I want to happen and can reasonably expect to happen are as follows.

The bike is under no circumstances to be driven anywhere unless it is in a warrantable condition. It may be towed on a trailer or ute though.

This means that if the other party wants to have a look at the bike then they can come and have a look at it in town. If they refuse that is their problem. You have gotten a written quote (I assume you got it written down) and if they don’t like it then they can feel free to get another quote done at a bike shop of their choice.

The bike shall be fixed up to the standard that I lent the bike to you in and it will be fixed professionally by a mechanic that can provide a written guarantee of the work down. And will back it up with receipts and proof of work done.

This means that the bike will not be fixed on the cheap by someone in their garage. Unless that person also happens to be a mechanic with a work shop that will fix the bike at mates rates for the other party and back up the work done as per point two. If the bike is to be fixed on the cheap, it will be done by me. No one else.

I will not be expected to help transport the bike anywhere, nor have any part in fixing it. It is up to you and the other party as to who fixes the bike. So long as there are receipts.

It is your responsibility to fix the bike.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me and I will answer as soon as I can.

Cheers

Alex

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What do you think? Any suggestions?

[Titanium]

Your bike .....

Your money ......

Your chick .... unless it is to another chick and you get to play / watch / take photos

Just my 10 cents worth ....

[Nasty]

Also is the thing about a warrent about road worthiness, not about a 6 monthly check, does that fly?

It definately flys .. a vehicle can become unwarrentable at any stage .. not just when it gets checked.

Nasty

[scracha]

Dude--First off--if the bike stopped after sliding on its side without hitting the car then it DEFINITELY would have stopped on its tyres.
The days when the excuse "I had to lay it down to avoid a crash" went out about 20 years ago.

I had to lay mine down to avoid the @#44ckin thing landing on top of me :-)

Oh..crash thingie. Don't be nice. Get the cops involved immediately otherwise the @#$cktard will dick you around for ages. It's HIS problem. Get any two estimates you like. It's your choice of garage. If his insurance company say otherwise then get them to pay for the quote and the transport to the garage. "I couldn't possibly ride it without a working speedo m'lud".

I was "nice" about my crash and it now looks like I'll have to take the arsehole to small claims court.

First thing to do after a crash :- Find a witness THEN speak to the other arsehole

[NZsarge]

I feel ya pain dude, coz i been there! Back in the day...way way back in the day... I lent my nice, newly purchased RZ350 to my brother to have a thrash on, he goes into town, picks up the girlfriend goes for a ride and bins it not even 24 hours after I picked it up from the dealer....GUTTED!

[Sniper]

RE the letter dude.

IMHO, its a bit impersonal, sit down and chat to your brother, he proberbly feels like shit as is, a letter isnt a good way to handel it

S

[scumdog]

RE the letter dude.

IMHO, its a bit impersonal, sit down and chat to your brother, he proberbly feels like shit as is, a letter isnt a good way to handel is

S

Afraid I have to agree.

All-in-all how much of the damage repair is going to require a qualified mechanic as opposed to a keen guy or two, some parts and some basic tools??

How about giving it a go that way? - you might get your bike back on the road quicker than having it parked in a workshop gathering dust while they 'wait for parts'.

Bro might be quite happy to pay for the parts but the labour costs might make him squirm. (unless he's really rich which I doubt)

Just a quick 2-cents worth, I know in the same circumstances it would suit ME.

[marty]

RE the letter dude.

IMHO, its a bit impersonal, sit down and chat to your brother, he proberbly feels like shit as is, a letter isnt a good way to handel it

S

my thought exactly - 1st off comments are a bit close to home as he's a TWIN, then he writes him a letter? obviously very close.

[Sniper]

my thought exactly - 1st off comments are a bit close to home as he's a TWIN, then he writes him a letter? obviously very close.

Nah, Ive met Spud, he is a damn decent sort of guy. I think he is just in this situation for the first time and needs help dealing with it

[Macktheknife]

Spud, you really need to TALK to your brother, face to face and in private. Tell him how you feel and what you think needs to be done to correct the situation, give your brother a chance to get the job done right and well.
As for the other guy wanting to do it in his garage, check him out, he might be as good as he thinks he is. If not, use the advice above, get it done at a shop and use the police and courts to recover the costs.
Above all, remember that once this little experience is over you still want to be able to get on with your brother. It may pay to bear that in mind before you get carried away.
BTW, there is another option, go see some KBer mates and see if they can help you out in the repairs, might save you the money and aggravation of the other ways.
Tell the driver you want this list of parts supplied and you will take care of the rest, get some of the guys around and you will be done in a weekend, just supply beer and pizza.

[Gareth123]

I'm the brother who crashed it.

Now before you all start paying me out for having an accident on my brothers baby please remember that i've only been riding for 6 months, my brother hasn't mentioned this. It was my in-experience as a rider and being on an unfamiliar bike that made me drop it and high side it. Yip i probably did jump on the back brake really hard, thats because on my last bike, which got nicked, i had too. Whats the first thing you do in a panic situation? Go back to what you've done over and over and over, which in this case was jump on the back brake. Please note i was also squeezing the front brake hard as well. This all happened btw while i was on my way to buy my new bike. Ironic isn't it?

Now i had to do a bit of research on this because my brother was being a dick and demanding brand new parts and certified mechanics and recipts and guarantees etc.

First off, and this was a bit of a surprise to me, even though the bike isn't warrented, since it wasn't the fault of the bike that caused the damage but the fault of the rider reacting incorrectly in a situation that he had never experienced before and was not bought about by any fault of the rider, the driver of the car has to pay for the damage to the bike.
Secondly, the 3rd party in the car are under absolutely no obligation to take the bike to a mechanic, produce receipts and gaurantees for the work done on the bike. All they have to do is return the bike in the same condition it was in before the accident. That means no new parts if they can source second hand ones in the same condition as the originals. If my brother has a problem with this he needs to go straight to the 3rd party and discuss it with them. If they decide that "no we won't do that," my brothers only option is to prove that the work done was shoddy and that the "mechanic" who fixed it should not have touched the bike at all in the small claims tribunal or similar sort of hearing.
Thirdly, and this really was a surprise, because the bike is not mine and i was borrowing it, i'm under no obligation at all to fix anything, talk to the 3rd party or organise anything to do with the bike. I cannot be liable for any damages at all unless stated in a written contract, which there was none.

Now because i am his brother and yes my in-experience is partly to blame for what happened, i am doing the running backwards and forwards between the 3rd party and my brother. Hell i even offered to buy the bike for $200, which was the price he wanted for it while i didn't have a bike, i knew he needed some transport while he pulled apart his new bike and cleaned the top of the engine and did a few other things to it, so i offered him the use of my new $5500 bike for 7 days while i was away on holiday. How many people would do that? This wasn't good enough so i then had to go and speak to a free lawyer and find out all the infomation that i've written above.

So guys pay me out all you like but please bear the few things in mind that i have written down above and remember even though i don't legally have to do shit, i'm still doing the hard yards to get the bike fixed and back in a warrentable condition as soon as possible.

[Sniper]

Easy there Spud and Bro.

Sibling rivalry can be funny at times.... right now its not.

Gareth, you did the right thing. There are a couple of pointers I can see in which you have been incorrectly informed, but good on ya for going ahead and still doing your damndest to fix it.

Remember, things like this have the potential to drive families apart. Sit down and work it out between you.

[Buster]

A hard lesson learned by all by the sounds of it.

Bikes can be replaced..... Bro's cant.

[yungatart]

You boys need to sit down together over a beer and talk this one out. You are brothers and there is more at stake here than a bike.
Good luck and stay calm