05 flhrci 54,400 miles. Hit two weeks ago in Clinton, Iowa by an illegal with no license, no insurance, no citizenship. I get a kick out of all these people talking about laying down their bike. My accident happened in a split second. Was all I could do just to hope I didn't get mangled up. Reaction time is one second. When I was a child on my bicycle we would skid and slide them little stingrays all the time. In the grass. on the dirt but never on concrete. Laying a 800 lb. motorcycle down sounds like a bar room b.s. story we used to tell each other back in the old days. Wow you laid your bike down therefore your an overnight hero of some sort. Ha Ha

 

i have fixed a lot of frames in my garage.you hold a big hammer behind the tab,and hit the front with another hammer,it works every time.will work on the floor board tab also.the tab is only there for the crash bar,not a structural part.having said that,you will never find a dealer that will repair a frame.even a rock chip on the frame can total a bike because they dont do any repairs..they can replace the frame with the original vin numbers,but will only do it on a couple year old bike. a new frame is over $2000 plus something like 15-20 labor hours to swap all the parts..your bike is defenatly totaled,the ins agent doesn't know what he was talking about..take the money and buy your bike back for $2500..my bike was a salvage bike,i rebuilt it myself. itmight be worth less if i sell it but i only have $5500 in an 01 EG.it still rides the same,and im not planning on selling it anyway

 

I ride an '02 Heritage, and really like it. If I got into a situation like yours, I'd take the insurance money and run like hell .....

to buy another bike!...


.

 

 

Since this thread is over two years old, I wonder how it turned out.

 

he bought a victory.

 

I hate to throw the "L" word in the discussion but if the insurance company doesn't pony up like they should then I would at least threaten to get a lawyer. After my last accident the insurance company gave the the run-around for 6 weeks. I got tired of it and said- don't call me any more here's my lawyers number call her!! Two hours later they called me back with the deal I wanted!!

 

They do if they know how and want the peace of mind that it's done right. Just because you throw money at it doesn't ensure your bike was repaired correctly. If you don't know anything about the mechanics of your bike, you place great trust in your mechanic.

 

This is basically what happened since my last update.

I only paid $14,500 for the bike and the PO had installed several $K of chrome and accesories so the bike appraised out at $17,400. The total damage from the accident was $11,200 for parts/labor and the deciding factor was the frame.

Because an insurance company cannot steer you towards one repair shop over another, the decission of who repaired the bike was mine to make. The first option was to take it to a local shop where they said that they would straighten the frame (drivetrain would not be removed from the frame) and they would touch up any cracks or chips in the finish (Most likely with touch-up paint). The second option was to take it to the dealership where they demanded that the frame be replaced and in which case the bike would be totalled.

I went back and forth with the insurance company, demanding that if the frame was to be straightened that I wanted the finish repaired correctly. I wanted the frame tore down, and re-powder coated. They would not agree so I asked if they would write the check out to me for the cost of repairs minus labor and I would cut the neck off the frame, order a new frame from H-D and re-assemble the bike. They said that because I have a lean on the bike, they cannot do this. I thought about having the bike totaled and buying it back but they wanted over $6K for the bike which would leave me with $1K, a busted up bike and a salvage title. They pretty much would not agree to anything but the first two options so I told them that I wanted the bike repaired by H-D. The insurance compay dragged their feet for 6 months but I finally got paid.

I had two other bikes, one which I have sold since then, so once the loan was paid off I put the remaining$7K down on a new boat.

 

Oops, double post.