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First crash, what do i do now?

2K views 21 replies 13 participants last post by  SepiasSoul 
#1 ·
Ive only been riding for about 2 weeks now. I bought a brand new gs500 so I could take my time and learn the right way. And i love it btw.

Well tonight i was riding through this little town in between country backroads. This damn dog ran right out in front of me . I tried to avoid him but there was no time. Next thing i know im rolling down main st.
I think i went over the bars but im not real sure.

Anyways the bike slid on its right side about 30 or 40 feet down the road as well.:crying:
The fairings arent cracked at all, just scratched up (I can live with that) But the front brake lever is bent to hell. engine case (i think thats what its called?) is scratched up, right peg is gone, right mirror is gone, and the tip of the bar(to the right of the throttle) is all bent to hell.
I was wearing my jeans, icon lid, gloves, and a mesh armor jacket so im ok except for some leg rash and a shoulder thats sore as hell.

What should i do about the bike? Im brand new to riding and dont know the steps to go through. I rode it home so its not dead or anything, but couldnt something be damaged that i cant see, like the engine or something? Do i need to replace the whole clip ons or do they sell the little end piece alone?
Im kinda in the dark here and wonder4ing how much itll take before i can ride again. I have a 1000 deductable so i hope its below that so i dont have to involve them.

Thanks
 
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#2 · (Edited)
Try not to do that again and keep on riding. Be thankful you didn't get hurt! Call it character.


P.S. Next time nail the dog! I had a friend hurt himself real bad (broken neck, pelvis, and both hands) and my sister was killed trying to avoid a dog. Just splatter the sombitch!
 
#3 ·
I did hit the dog. He took off though after i went down.
As far as repairs go, what do i do? Do i take it to my local bike shop or what? Anything i need to check to make sure internaly the bike is ok?
How much is it for the damages i mentioned?
 
#4 ·
ride it

just fix up the things really needed to keep riding it safely. Till you get more time under your self leave the plastics and everything thats cosmetic alone. Theres only one thing worse then hittng an animal and going down. Thats watching the damn thing walk away and not croaking.
 
#5 ·
The damage you described is fairly light and tipical character that gets added. I've done more than my fair share to my baby. You can buy new bar ends for about $20 a pair at most. Get bar end sliders so that if you drop it again, they will just scratch up and not take major damage. Also look into some frame sliders to save your fairings from future beatings. Leave the fairing until you are confident enough that you wont dump it again. The brake lever is also a simple fix, the lever should separate from the actual mount so thats the only peice that needs to be replace, as long as the mount is still straight and working, replace both levers with after market ones and you will save alot. The most expensive peice to replace will probably be the mirror. Make sure you didn't brake the fairing were it connects to the bike. If you did, you may have to ghetto rig a new mirror or take the expensive way out and replace the front cowling. A new peg shouldn't be to much, again go after market and replace both sides. All in all, you should be able to get it all back in order for under $100, as long as you dont replace the front cowling and leave the fairings with their added character. Pull you bike into a well lit area around your house, start it up in neutral and let it run. Check for any fluid dripping since it sounds like your crank case took a hit. Also look at your exhaust and make sure you didn't beat it to hell. Your biggest issue is finding new parts. Since your bike is new, aftermarket stuff may be a bit scarce. Cetain things are fairly universal, such as brake/clutch levers, mirrors, some bar ends. But things like frame sliders and foot pegs are more made to fit. There are a few "universal" frame sliders and foot pegs, but I wouldn't order them unless you can check and make sure they will fit your bike. I checkd a few of my parts sites and they don't offer anything for your bike yet. I would hit up the dealer you bought it from and thumb through their universal accessories and get what will fit. If worst comes to worst, you can always order OEM parts though them, but it will cost you alot more than aftermarket. But since your bike is still in production, they should be easy to get. Post some pics of the damage if you can and we may be able to advise you further.

.... but yea, always hit the animal rather than trying to avoid it... so long as its not a deer or a cow... they don't like to move to much:twofinger Glad your doing alright though, and beleive it or not, you got off easy. I'm fixing my bike still from a wreck about two months ago and still waiting for my shoulder to finish healing up. If you have insurance, get yourself looked at. Call it a football injury or something like that so your motorcyle insurance doesn't jump up, and if your helmet took a hit, replace it, if your not sure, have someone at your local dealership take a look and advise you on it. Good luck, take it easy, and hollar if you need any help finding parts.

Sepias
 
#6 ·
If you are not comfortable working on your bike due to lack of experience, then by all means take it in. You should consider whether $1000 in deductable and possible insurance increase is worth having the bike put back together like new. Since you said that you want to keep the insurance company out of it, then take it to a shop and get an itemized estimate of damages (might cost you a few bucks) to see what mechanical issues you might have. If there isn't anything substantial that would affect your safety and/or the bike's performance, let it go and ride on. You can always order the body parts and install yourself without much trouble.

How fast were you going when you went down, and how hard did the bike hit the ground? From your account it sounds like a fairly "gentle" slide . . . for the bike :D

At least you made it out without hurting yourself too badly. Good thing you were wearing proper gear. Did your jeans wear all the way through?
 
#7 ·
I took some pics, ill get them up in the morning. I was going around 50 MPH when i hit the animal. By the time i realised i was going to hit it, I was rolling down the street. My jeans didnt wear all the way through. I dont think it was a slide so much as a roll, so maybe rash is the wrong word for it. More like a gash on both knees. The bike felt like it was a little weaker on the ride home (no it wasnt just me being scared).
I think it may be due to the exaust system. It took a pretty good hit and its all scratched up. I dunno if the silver part on the pipe is the acual pipe or just a cover for a pipe underneath. No the part of the fairing that holds the mirror is still there just the mirror and stem snapped off.
 
#9 ·
You got off real easy then if you were at 50mph. I'm out over 400, not counting medical, for my 35-40 mph wreck lol. Just shop around for your parts, youve got time. You need to wait till your shoulder is back to normal before hopping back on anyways. If the exhaust is just dinged up, then that isn't what would be causing it to act funny, it would be dents, bends and what not. Depending on how far your house is from were you wrecked, it could just be alot of oil in places it shouldn't be and will drain out after a while. I know my bike doesn't like to run well after its been laid over until all the oil settles back down. Before you worry about that, get it rideable again, then look back at it. From what all you've described getting insurance involved would be a waste of time and money. If you can swing buying a rear stand, now might be the time so you can have the bike stationary, run it, and listen/look for possible problems.

Keep us posted
 
#10 ·
Wow. Yeah, you got off easy.

My step dad, i let him take my bike around the block 8 days after I bought it. He somehow managed to wreck at about 10 MPH, and scraped the front of a car. Seriously, no exaggeration here at all....

Right around $3000 for repairs, and he snapped his shoulder blade clean in half, plus still has a scar on his leg from the pipe, where it burned him.. bad.

PLUS three weeks with no bike. He paid for the repairs, thank god, cause my insurance would have dropped me, seeing as how the bike was close to being totaled within eight days of owning it.

Lucky my buddy is a painter, we got the bumper on the car he hit fixed for free.


Anyways, yeah man. These guys are right. Just make damn sure that there are no mechanical problems hiding. If your crusing and something happens with the engine or wheels or something like that, well, looks like another wreck.

IF you can swing it, it MIGHT be a good idea to have a mechanic just look at it for you. Just incase. But thats me, and when it comes to that kinda stuff, im paranoid.

P.S. track that dog down, and kill it. :p :twofinger
 
#13 · (Edited)
Im up and around this morning , so everything is ok with my body, just sore thats all ( and my ego is quite bruised)

I guess ill ride an hour to the nearest zuki dealer where i bought the bike and order replacement parts. I was scared to death of crashing, hitting the ground wasnt near as bad as i thought it would be. I know i got lucky that im not more injured. Thank god I took the time to buy and wear gear EVERYTIME i ride.
 
#17 · (Edited)
Good suggestions by those above AND yes you got off with next to nil in damages as you can probably see from others.

bhartwig32 is right in just fix it up to where said parts were sort of necessary like lever, signal light, mirror, bar end & such. You can replace some items, but leave some "road scars" on the bike since they are not necessary to be repaired. Like my can looks like 'ell, but left it "as is" parts of the fairing are scuffed up, painted a bit of the engine parts of the same silver to even touched up the bar end with paint, small part of my fuel tank has a minor ding & scratch, & a proportion of the pipe comming into the can. That was back in June of '03 & have not changed it since.

I note some feel they MUST bring the bike back to showroom condition, but what a waste of money. Back in the late 40s to well into the 70s chaps had cans mucked up, but not screwing up the exhaust, & scuff marks all over to even dinged in fuel tanks, BUT the bikes churned like a charm SO they left them. Yet in those days said items only cost pennies compared to these days. They were sensible m/c riders with RIDING being more important then appearance.

What floored me is chaps that JUST had to replace their new bike with a louder after-market can had actually garbaged the original can. What fools for I would willingly forked out $150.00 for their like new can or one with less damage on it then mine.
 
#20 ·
Ya my helmet has a pretty good scratch on the back of it where my head smacked the ground. ( guess that means i need a new one right) My mesh jacket is shredded on the shoulder and down the arms, but at least it worked this once. As soon as my wife gets home ill have her upload the pics, as i dunno how her cam works.:twofinger
 
#22 ·
If your helmet took a hit, then yea its time to replace it. Better safe than sorry. I would get a new jacket as well, but it isn't as critical as a helmet IMO, and it could probably take repeated hits alot better than a helmet. Get those pictures up so we can all gawk at the damage, or lack there of.
 
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