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It happened again. Crash bars work.

viffer_pilot

Guest
Guest
About a month or so ago, I ordered the MCE Canyon Cages that a previous Connie owener in Canada had for sale.  They were a bit pricy but they were new in box, never installed, and available which is about the best you can hope for with Canyon Cages now a days.  I installed them two weeks ago.  Yesterday while on the way home, a woman pulled out of an Exxon parking lot in front of me.  The intersection has a right turn only lane, two straight lanes, and a left turn lane.  I was in the right turn only lane preparing to turn into the 7-11 on the other side of the street.  The straight lanes were backed up and apparently someone had left a space for this lady to pull into.  I could have sworn she looked right at me but apparently I was wrong or had momentarily achieved invisibility at that moment.  She proceeded into the intersection and stopped! I hit my brakes...hard.  ABS definatly activated.  My front fairing cleared her bumber but the crash bars/highway peg did not.  At that point I was going so slow the bike just tipped over but didn't really slide at all.  The crash bars on both sides are scratched/scuffed and there is a scratch on my left side mirror cover as well as some scratches on the lower cowling.  Bike is otherwise undamaged.  The crash bars did their job.  I don't think the plastics would have made it out unscathed otherwise.  While the front of the bike would have cleared her bumper if not for the added thickness of the bars and pegs, my bag definately would not have cleared.  I had to tell her to back up because I couldn't.

There's maybe a few hundred dollars in damage and no injuries besides a sore wrist this morning that I can't attribute to anything else.  It was super fun when she looked at me with a straight face and accused me of causing the accident so I decided not to argue with her and we'll let our insurance companies work it out even though it will likely be not much more than her deductible.  I'll probably need to have the powdercoat redone on the crash bars and a couple of parts painted but I can take them off the bike and to a body shop to have the paint done.  This is only my second interraction with another vehicle in about 30 years or riding and both times have been here in Virginia.  Can't leave this place soon enough.
 
Sorry to hear that. Where in VA? Northern VA drivers are the worst.

Did she stop and are you going to file a claim against her insurance?
 
Hampton Roads (Chesapeake).  She remained at the scene and I got her insurance information.  I filed a claim with my insurance and they are going to work with her insurance because she did not accept responsibility at the scene and the police were not called since the damage was minor.  All VA drivers are bad!
 
The driver's insurance company accepted liability.  Who could have seen that coming?  Now to get an estimate.  For anyone that has had paint repairs done on a bike, do you just go to a car body shop?  Did you take the parts that need paint off or leave the bike with them if it was still ride-able?
 
I had an upper fairing painted last year.  I just took the part in.  Make sure you have them use premixed paint like colorite or you might have problems matching.  They used their matching system and it is off just a bit.  That is the story of my life.
 
Hampton Roads (Chesapeake). She remained at the scene and I got her insurance information. I filed a claim with my insurance and they are going to work with her insurance because she did not accept responsibility at the scene and the police were not called since the damage was minor. All VA drivers are bad!

As a native born Virginian I do take exception with your broad brush comment. :mad: I have been riding and driving since 1977 and I have not put a single scratch on a bike or a car in that time. And I have been in more than my fair share of near misses with people from most states and in many different countries.

Here in California (where I am forced to live for now) they must teach newbies in Drivers Ed - "just ignore that little stick on the left side of the steering column, it should definitely be ignored" - because the vast majority of drivers here expect you to read their mind when they are turning or changing lanes! And if you are merging onto the freeway at 2 AM with no one else on the highway, except for that one car in the slow lane that is more than happy to just run you off the road and into the ditch by matching your speed rather than let you merge from the on ramp. God forbid the though of them surrendering the lane by moving to any of the 2 or 3 empty lanes at 2 AM IN THE MORNING so you can safely merge - it won't happen! And no one here has ever heard of the term "blind spot." They must think it is side drafting because they live in your blind spot on the freeway! My valley girl wife swore there was no such thing as a blind spot until I proved it to her and she had been driving 15 years before I enlightened her about that helpful little driving tidbit. She has bent more fenders than a wrecking yard!!

So I guess there are poor drivers everywhere because not all Cali drivers are bad, it's just seems the bad ones are taking supplements to become even worse!(n)

Enjoy the ride,
Jon
 
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