Bent Rim... Front Tire Blow Out... Crashed

[Tim Tom]

Thanks for the thoughts everyone. I will be cannibalizing the front wheel of my project bike tomorrow and putting it on the 850. As an added bonus, that bike has brand new Sport Demons on it too, so I won't even have an issue with tires .

Aaron got a lead on a new wheel for his bike from another local forum member, and it looks like this story is gonna end up alright.

I am in the market for a repacement windshield so if you've got one for sale please let me know. The parts wanted thread is here.
http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?p=1734145#post1734145

Waiting on the guy who has the video of my actual fall, and if it's not too tramatuzing I'll post that here too

 

[tatu]

Ouch, sorry for that.

 

[Billy Ricks]

Sorry to hear you went down. I jit a huge pothole when my 700 was about two years old. After that the rear felt a little unstable. It wasn't until I checked the swingarm bolt torque sometime later I discovered the bolt was snapped. That pothole is the only thing I can think of that could have caused it.

 

[Buffalo Bill]

Potholes sheese?

Potholes sheese?

Having lived in Chicago for 17 years, I'm a Zen Master pothole dodger,
tire and suspension repair expert.
That one you hit came up sudden, bummer afternoon.

 

[shwaz]

Having lived in Chicago for 17 years, I'm a Zen Master pothole dodger,
tire and suspension repair expert.
That one you hit came up sudden, bummer afternoon.

hahah it really did!

you can see it in the video, no real warning and i guess that's a lesson for me (damned if i didn't learn a lot yesterday... i should start trying to learn less)... i was trying to keep our formation relatively tight. this was my first group ride and the ride leader didn't do any kind of briefing or discuss anything about how he liked to lead, which i will make sure to bring up next time i ride with folks i don't know. anyway, that's something of an aside as it're really not his fault, but i decided to try to keep things somewhat close, in contrast with the mile long tail of 8 other riders spread out behind us. you can see in the video where Tim hits the pothole. I was fairly close behind him and I swerved to try to avoid it and MOSHED it square on. i'm pretty certain that if i had kept going on my existing arc i would have missed it entirely. anyway, lesson 1: leave more distance between riders, don't worry about taking up extra length of road. the cagers will figure it out.

the other lesson i'll be kicking myself about for a while to come. fortunately
i don't have to kick too hard, because everyone is ok and healthy and it's nothing that a bit of time and money won't take care of. my mistake after hitting the pothole was not pulling over immediately to check out the bike. i KNOW that if i hadn't been in a group, i would have pulled over right away. if you watch the video, you can see me leaning over and slowing down after the hit to watch my wheel. bully for me, that's something, but really i should have known better and i'm a bit ashamed that i didn't have the balls to pull the whole train of riders over to the shoulder to check out my rim. i knew that our stop was fairly soon, 15 minutes or so, and i figured i'd just check it there. pretty much restating what Tim already expressed, but i had the same thoughts running through my head.

anyway, thank god everyone's alright and that's really all that matters.

i had a surprisingly pleasant 30mph ride home on county route 506. it's odd how rarely i bother riding slowly - i'm usually speeding by 10mph at the least, and it changed the ride entirely to be going 20-30mph and really take in what i was passing instead of looking for road hazards. got to really watch the scenery change as i left montclair and verona and passed through newark, all down the "main street" with plenty of shops and people. good reminder to slow down and take in the world through that visor. while i would certainly rather have been carving the twistys out in the delaware water gap, this was a pretty nice way to end a day that went sour, but could have been far worse. on the whole, no complaints.

oh, and ardbeglily is coming through with a front wheel for me. he has a rear as well which i may pick up - i can't tell visually if mine has a dent, and i think i'm looking for one where there might not be. will probably go back out with a ruler in a bit and see if i can get any more definite determination.

 

[Tim Tom]

hahah it really did!
lesson 1: leave more distance between riders, don't worry about taking up extra length of road. the cagers will figure it out.

This is the best thing you can do for a group ride. Too often things get in trouble when everyone is too close together. It was partly my mistake as I didn't realize not everyone knew group ride etiquette / experience. Next time for sure we will go over it before we leave.

Here is the video of me going down... IT happens at 4:10 into the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt-vMKV09uk

 

[JEEPRUSTY]

I saw the first clip and was a bit shocked that the schwartz did not get to a safe stop and do an inspection. That thing was not a pothole it was a sharp damaged expansion joint by the looks of it.

We have em here and I suppose locals get used to them but new users of a stretch of highway are in for the joy of discovery.

As for suing the dept of hwys. I had my insurance company do this sucessfully once. It was a situation where neglect had caused a clear hazard and they made em cough up for my repairs. I had to sign a waiver against future issues related to the accident but that is normal I suppose.

 

[tkent02]

Tim Tom, was the tire cut? I still can't believe it lost air from that little dent.

 

[JEEPRUSTY]

Oh and not to be a tool do you have the clip with just the ambient noise instead of the music?

 

[Tim Tom]

Tim Tom, was the tire cut? I still can't believe it lost air from that little dent.

I'm thinking this is likely the case. Neither of the other two bikes that bent rims experienced such a blowout, so it's possible that it cut my tire. I'll have to investigate closely.

Oh and not to be a tool do you have the clip with just the ambient noise instead of the music?

Sorry Jeep, I didn't post / edit the video, the rider who filmed it did. I didn't even realize there was music as my laptop is always on mute ...

The three of us will be contacting the state about this, its very dangerous to other people, and they need to get it fixed. How would I go about suing for damages done to my bike?

 

[JEEPRUSTY]

I have no idea how things work in your area but my insurance company decided that the MOT was to blame for the dangerous condition which caused the accident. In that Insurance companies will always try to avoid paying out of their own pockets they sued the MOT and the MOT caved no contest end of story.

 

[duaneage]

IN New Jersey? Get real.

Tim is lucky he didn't get a ticket for failing to keep the bike upright.

Watch your mail, Tim, they might mail you a fine for failing to stay in your lane.

Not kidding.

 

[Tim Tom]

Tim is lucky he didn't get a ticket for failing to keep the bike upright.

Watch your mail, Tim, they might mail you a fine for failing to stay in your lane.

Not kidding.

I wish I knew you were kidding, but if my past experience with the NJ Justice System is any indication, I don't think you are...

I did stay in my lane. A bit on the ground, but still in my lane.
And I have video to prove it. It's bad enough that they stuck me with a mandatory $200 tow. If they try to ticket me as well it is not gonna fly.

 

[Agemax]

blimey, sounds like they want to punish you even more for having an accident that was beyond your control ! glad i dont live in that state.
dont understand how they can ticket you for your bike changing lanes when you aren't on it?

 

[Tim Tom]

blimey, sounds like they want to punish you even more for having an accident that was beyond your control ! glad i dont live in that state.
dont understand how they can ticket you for your bike changing lanes when you aren't on it?

Well I haven't received any tickets from it yet. Duaneage was saying that it is a possibility to get a fine in the mail. It wouldn't surprise me if this was the case. However if I do get such a fine, I will put on my nice suit, go to the court date. Talk the the prosecutor, show the video showing me staying in my lane the whole time to the judge, and get the fine thrown out. That would be the plan at least.

Lets hope it does not come to that though.

 

[duaneage]

Another member here received a ticket in the mail a week later for failure to stay in lane. Nice touch when you are laid up and fixing your bike.

 

[duaneage]

It's bad enough that they stuck me with a mandatory $200 tow.

I have free towing and roadside support, I would not be paying them for a tow. See if your insurance offers it, mine is only 16$ a year

 

[shwaz]

I have free towing and roadside support, I would not be paying them for a tow. See if your insurance offers it, mine is only 16$ a year

It may be possible to get your insurance to reimburse you for the tow. They'll note the accident, however, and it will go onto your insurance as a claim, and I don't know enough about when/how they handle rates but I'd suspect you're better off just eating the tow fee and not involving the insurance company unless you think you can get money for all the rest (rim, tire, leathers, fairing)... then it starts to become worthwhile.

I was considering getting a tow via my insurance rather than limping hte bike home as I did. By admitting that I'd hit a pothole, however, they transferred me from roadside assistance to claims, at which point I said I was mistaken and hung up.

 

[duaneage]

I have a different number for RA, it's not the insurance company. I also have comp on my bike which covers accessories like fairings at 100% with no deductable, 250 on the bike. I also can get a new tire up to 100 dollars, installation not included. It's a pretty good deal I think.

Taking a claim isn't the worst thing in the world, even if they raise your rates 15% it's not that bad. that would be a 24 dollar a year increase, worth it to me.

 

[lurch12_2000]

Tim Tom, glad you're ok, but I'd move out of Newark and out to western NJ for some enjoyable riding from looking at your video(maybe not heavy traffic but still crap). I've done my share of commuting in and around Boston and down I-95 along the Bridgeport/New Haven CT jam ups on the bike but would never consider riding with a group in that situation for fun. Every man for himself you know and very difficult to lead a ride through that stuff even if you got a nice destination in mind. Looks like you have lots of crap riding just to get anywhere nice and enjoyable.