First motorcycle wreck - poor VFR

[jhynesrockmtn]

Decided to take the VFR out tonight after spending the day working on my race car and the R50/2. Luckily this happened on the VFR. The /2 wouldn't have had the brakes to keep the damage to a minimum.

Heading down a 2 lane 35 mph road by the airport. A woman coming off the ramp was stopped. I slowed trying to assess whether she saw me. Once I was sure I was ok I started accelerating. Then she pulls out in front of me. I hit the brakes hard and laid it down on the right side. Was going pretty slow once we went down. Hit my right knee but had my overpants on and the knee padding did its job. Ice, tequila and ibuprofen working on it now.

Whole right side of the bike is pretty scraped up, steering is slightly off, broke off the mirror on that side. She was cool, admitted right away she didn't see me. While I'm on the phone with 911 she pulls out to come around and wait for the cops. She was gone a long time and I thought she took off and told the 911 operator she left. She did come back though after going way out of her way to turn around. Bike did finally start after turning it over for a long time. Smells heavily of fuel.

They don't make the plastics for this anymore. It will be interesting to see how expensive it is to repair. Bike is otherwise in beautiful shape with 40k on it.

[Chocaholic]

Glad you're ok. Hard to imagine how anyone paying any minimal amount of attention wouldn't see a bright yellow bike moving toward them.

[VFR750]

As a former owner of a VFR, i feel you pain.

If the average driver put 1/2 as much effort into looking out for traffic as m/c do, there would be no accidents.

Glad to hear the injurys are minor.

[motion]

Glad to hear you weren't hurt... that's the important thing. Bikes can always be fixed.

[sc_rufctr]

Originally Posted by motion

Glad to hear you weren't hurt... that's the important thing. Bikes can always be fixed.

Absolutely yes. It coud have been so much worse.

[redstrosekNic]

Sorry to see this... Glad you are okay!

[Zeke]

I'm sure I know why bikes run with forward lights that flicker. As far as seeing a bright yellow bike, it doesn't have a big profile looking straight on. And if the rider is wearing dark clothing, all the worse. I have to look twice always and don't mind the lights. What I do mind is bikes with dual lights with one pointing up right in my face.

[David]

I've seen motorcycle bodywork that was split and bent all over the place from a wreck get plastic welded back together and painted. You couldn't tell it had been repaired so there is hope.

When I'm on the street I ride like I'm 100% invisible and expect everyone to pull out in front of me.

[tweezers74]

Scary. Glad you are ok. Since getting my license, I am hypersensitive to bikes now. I guess greater respect. Nice looking bike by the way. I am usually not a yellow fan but that looks killer.

[speed_pro]

sorry to see this!

[azasadny]

Glad you're OK!!

[jhynesrockmtn]

My agent over the phone was preparing me for the other guys (Safeco) totaling the bike based on its low book value. I haven't had it looked at yet but it wouldn't surprise me. He said book was $1,300 to $2,800. Preparing to do battle with the insurers to make sure I get the very high end given the bikes condition and then maybe buy back and have it repaired.

[johnsjmc]

Glad your OK I rode for years when younger then started riding again about 7 or 8 years ago. I had forgotten how often you need to panic stop as a rider. I would ask for $2500 and the wreck.

[jhynesrockmtn]

Thanks, that's about what I was thinking in terms of value and salvage. Even if there is some hidden damage and it's not worth repairing there are a lot of nice parts on this bike and it's in excellent mechanical shape.

[5String43]

Wow, close call. Glad you're not hurt badly.

I seem to recall some research done a good while back on this sort of issue. It found that driver's don't so much see/not see other vehicles, they see things they interpret as threats. So the eyeballs might see a bright yellow VFR, but - at least if this research got it right - the brain doesn't compute it as anything to worry about because it doesn't recognize the size/shape/whatever as being anything significant or dangerous. This was presented as one of the reasons so many accidents involve cars turning left in front of oncoming motorcycles.

As for the damage to the fairing, if you cannot find replacement parts, you might want to look around for someone who does plastic welding.

[jyl]

Do drivers turn left into police motorcycles at the same rate as they do into civilian motorcycles? That would test the "threat perception" theory.

[flatbutt]

maybe a good time to consider a cafe project? heal up quickly bro.

[dlockhart]

Glad you are ok. I commute to work on my bikes and have been fortunate so far. Even when cars have pulled out on me, I have seen them and made adjustments to get by. One day maybe I won't.

The parts have to be out there to fix up that pretty viffer. Hope you and the bike are back on the road soon.

[HardDrive]

Sorry to hear that Jerry. Glad your ok.

[romad]

At first I though you crashed due to limited visibility