rear ended by a tow truck. Looking for frame dimensions

[tirebiter]

Sad story ...

I stopped to let an ambulance cross the road in front of me. Tow truck stopped about 10 feet too late. My little Suzy and I ended up about 40 feet down the road sprawled out, laying on the street, directly in front of the ambulance. The ambulance stopped in time ...

A couple of weeks later I'm still a little sore. Of course the tow truck insurance company is dragging their feet to do anything about it. I won't mention the company Flo works for. This bike has gotten me to and from work diligently for over a year, more than 15,000 miles. I don't want to give up on her. She started and ran fine after being picked back upright by the - at the time - apologetic tow tuck driver. Certainly is a rugged bike.

I managed to drive home VERY slowly on all back roads after a short trip up and down the block. The cop was a little concerned but ok'd the idea after seeing the bike drove, turned and stopped. Probably not the smartest move I've ever made but I did NOT want to loose all my tools being carried with me, if the bike got towed away.

Rear swing arm looks like it got shifted to the right. Rear axle nut is now almost touching the right side exhaust mount.

I have been trying to locate specifications for the frame dimensions. Has anyone seem any of these measurements ? I want to make sure the frame is not bent. It's obvious the swing arm is shifted. That's why I didn't want to take the highway home after being rear-ended.

 

[Steve]

WOW, glad to here that you are basically OK.

Yes, these bikes are definitely "robust", but I'll bet that your swingarm is just fine. It is more likely that the frame was impacted enough to push it closer to the swingarm. It is also possible that that muffler got pushed in and the frame is just fine.

I just looked at my wife's bike ('82 850L), there is about 1/2" between the axle and each muffler. If you have that much clearance on just one side, pull the other muffler out. If you have about 1" total clearance, but more on one side than the other, the frame is shifted.

.

 

[1074cm3]

yikes! Scary story indeed. Hope you're feeling better. Hate to think how ugly that COULD have turned out.

 

[Guest]

Sad story ...

I stopped to let an ambulance cross the road in front of me. Tow truck stopped about 10 feet too late. My little Suzy and I ended up about 40 feet down the road sprawled out, laying on the street, directly in front of the ambulance. The ambulance stopped in time ...

A couple of weeks later I'm still a little sore. Of course the tow truck insurance company is dragging their feet to do anything about it. I won't mention the company Flo works for. This bike has gotten me to and from work diligently for over a year, more than 15,000 miles. I don't want to give up on her. She started and ran fine after being picked back upright by the - at the time - apologetic tow tuck driver. Certainly is a rugged bike.

I managed to drive home VERY slowly on all back roads after a short trip up and down the block. The cop was a little concerned but ok'd the idea after seeing the bike drove, turned and stopped. Probably not the smartest move I've ever made but I did NOT want to loose all my tools being carried with me, if the bike got towed away.

Rear swing arm looks like it got shifted to the right. Rear axle nut is now almost touching the right side exhaust mount.

I have been trying to locate specifications for the frame dimensions. Has anyone seem any of these measurements ? I want to make sure the frame is not bent. It's obvious the swing arm is shifted. That's why I didn't want to take the highway home after being rear-ended.

You could have someone ride behind you and see how your tracking down the road.

 

[alke46]

Sorry for the mishap. Glad you are relatively unscathed. Best of luck moving forward with the bike and monetary reparations from the offending tow truck company.

 

[tirebiter]

Thanks for the thought everyone. I'm considering the brightest most blinding tail lights I can find. Don't really want to be that obnoxious going down the road but WOW. What else can prevent this from happening again ? I'm definitely going to get the mirrors farther apart. Maybe I would have seen it coming.


Steve,
It looks like the frame supports that go to the right side muffler mount might be bent in a little. I have the 1/2" on the left side. 1/16" or less on the right side.

A little more explanation. The solid metal/chrome front bumper of the tow truck lined up perfectly height-wise, with the rearmost part of the main frame of the GS. The truck bumper was pushed in about a foot. My rear fender and tail lights were crumpled exactly to the point under where the main frame ends. I glanced at the tire but did not see any damage to it, that night. Admittedly I was somewhat rattled at the time.

The luggage rack and storage pod/luggage mounted to the rack went through the tow truck front grill and pushed the center of radiator and AC condensor back about 6". Tow truck driver said it was leaking coolant.. To be honest I think the pod and a couple of other items strapped in front of it saved me from MUCH worse injury. Thinking along the lines of a back rest for the driver from now on. Maybe a LOT heavier than what is normally available.

gsrick,
Not bad idea to have an observer look at it while underway. I'm pretty sure I can accurately check the rear wheel alignment while it's on the center stand and then double check it on the road.

 

[Guest]

I would pull all the body panels off and the tank. Give a visual eyeballing of the lines, then start measuring for squareness. When I had my bike apart, discovered the frame was out of square about 1/4 inch. It had been in two front end crashes in the early years. Thing is everything went back together no problem, engine fell back in and even the alloy swing arm lined up straight as could be. Tires track true. My thoughts are these bikes are never really true to begin with from the factory.

And to answer your question how to prevent it again, you really can't, all you can do is help just a bit by adding brighter stop lights, Hi vis clothing, and leaving yourself an escape route in that kind of situation ( never ever stop directly in the middle, always to a side and keep the bike in gear and keep your eyes moving) thing is most times they still won't see you in time.

 

[tom203]

Glad you're ok. Yes, make sure mirrors stick out beyond your shoulders- hondas of this era had good ones. Add light bars to be visible;I got two to supplement the stock tail/ brake setup.
if you suspect serious damage, consider another bike. Since you're in "New England", here's a recent CL maine posting

http://maine.craigslist.org/mcy/5288265261.html

 

[tirebiter]

Tom,

I saw that Craigslist ad. Not sure yet if I'm going to have to replace the frame. Would not mind owning that one though.

Insurance adjuster (works for the same company as Flo) was finally dispatched today, a couple of weeks after the damage was done, to see poor "Little Suzy". Probably totalled "high mileage already" ... I was told ... at less than 50K miles

When I mentioned these 850s are known for going to 150K they were aghast. Does anybody know how to get through to these insurance company representatives ?

 

[tirebiter]

I took a few photographs of the damage on the bike. Please excuse my multi-posting to get several of them on here. This is looking down at the driveshaft housing. I never noticed how close it is to the sidewall of the tire:

 

[tirebiter]

This photograph is looking down on the right side. I never noticed how close the brake reaction bar is to the sidewall of the tire :

 

[tirebiter]

Except for where the right muffler/passenger footrest support is bent in around the trailing arm, I do not see any other frame pieces that are obviously bent. I never noticed if this bend is usually there or not. I cannot feel a dent on the trailing arm but there is s small area where the dirt and road grit has been cleared off, as if the bent area made contact with the trailing arm. This is the side the bike came to rest on :

 

[tirebiter]

The luggage rack took some of the hit. The two top frame tubes seem ok :

 

[tirebiter]

Where the two top frame tubes meet the frame just behind the gas tank all seems ok there. I don't see any waver in the curve and I can't feel any kink there or the other side. This is looking down on the left side:

 

[tirebiter]

Here's the right side top tube where it joins the frame :

 

[tirebiter]

All engine mounts seem ok. Ignition pickups cover needs to be replaced but it does not appear the the end of the crankshaft got bent. It ran ok at low RPM for a few hours on the way home, after the accident.

My main concern now is that the rear wheel does seem to be pointed towards the left. The bike always needed a bit of leaning to the left in order to go straight with my hands off the handlebar. I always attributed that to the 4 into 1 exhaust and all it's weight - not that it's all that heavy - is entirely on the right side of the bike. I have not studied the Factory Repair Manual yet to see if the rear axle can be aligned or not. Does anybody know ?


I'm thinking I may even be able to save the rear fender by doing some tin knocking to hammer it back into a reasonably close match to what it was.

The tow truck driver produced a long prybar and was able to pry the fender off of the tire. I don't see any marks whatsoever on the tire tread.

 

[tatu]

The luggage rack took some of the hit. The two top frame tubes seem ok :

View attachment 42738

The rack has shifted forwards, you can see where the tubes bolt onto the shock mounts have bent. That plus the rear fender acting like crumple zones might have saved more extensive/expensive damage.

 

[tirebiter]

Well the bike is back together and I was able to do a little highway miles to make sure it's OK. Discovered the front brake switch became damaged and the choke knob got bent somehow. Must have been my helmet ??? Turn signal/hi-Lo beam switch nub fell off on my way home after the accident. Was able to pull out the bent passenger foot rest/muffler support tubes enough to give clearance for the end of the rear axle. It rides ok, seems fine now.

Now it's just a matter of time before I'm back 100%. Alls well that ends well, I guess.