I’m ok, just have some road rash on the side of my leg from my knee to half way down to my calf. I was wearing my joe rocket phenix jacket, and gloves. I had jeans on, obviously they didn’t do much for me. I would be worse off for sure if I didn’t have the jacket on.
Anyways, I was traveling south on parkside ave and went down where Florence runs into parkside over by delaware park. I locked up the rear wheel on the slick brick crosswalk and went down at about 30-35mph. Bike slid into a parked car and I slid off to the side of the car. It all happened so fast but I believe I rolled myself out of the way of an on coming car as I was sliding.
Good news is my jacket saved me and my favorite shirt, bad news is the bike didn’t fair so well. I was able to drive it home with no problems tho. Bike is an 08 ninja 500. The exhaust is a bit mangled and leaks now, it is pushed up on the one side. The rear brake is bent/twisted up. The bottom of the side fairing is cracked and all scraped up. My speedometer doesn’t work, did work but than stopped working about 5 minutes into the ride home. Bike doesn’t have the pep it use to but that could be because of the exhaust. The oil light was on but only came on when I put pressure on the exhaust with my foot, maybe the sensor is fucked up? I really don’t know that much about my bike as I just got it a few weeks ago. No leaks from the bike just ground/bent metal, scraped/broken plastics. The chain rubs on the center stand to, unless I hold the stand out of the way with my left foot while riding.
The only damage to the suv that my bike hit was to the plastic splash guard, license plate frame, and it ruptured something in the coolant system. Hoping it is something simple and doesn’t cost to much. The guy got my insurance info but said it was ok if I didn’t want to go threw insurance. Police did come to file a report, no ticket was issued.
I just don’t know what to do from here, bike’s value before was around $2800 and idk what it takes to total a bike out and how much money I get back. Is it worth it to total it out and cash out. I would jump back on a bike in a heart beat but if this bike is totaled I think I would be ok waiting to get another bike. I really don’t want to throw money in it to fix it ether. I am fully insured but going threw the insurance company, will it effect my insurance rates? Both car and bike. Bike is insured threw a separate company, nationwide.
Just let insurance handle everything, it’s not worth trying to fix it yourself and go around the insurance company.
If they total it, you’ve got the perfect opportunity to get into a liter bike. If you had a liter bike you would have been home quicker and on the road for less time, thus lowering your chances of crashing. Simple math really and also the reason I will only own 1000cc and up bikes.
Feel free to give me a call… I have some thoughts, I wish that i was more local and I’d swing by.
Good news is parts for that bike are cheap. Bad news is making a claim may increase rates for many years to come… Unlikely, but still possible.
Post pics of the damage. Did your radiator get punctured? Or did a hose pop off? Is the exhaust stock? Repost this on kawi forums and see who has parts or knowledge of your model
If the suv driver wants $200, have him give it to you in ink and pay the man, if he wants, $5000, have him call your ins. Fix your bike yourself, lesson learned. Never own a bike you can’t afford to write off or pay for. And as stated, you obv need a liter bike, for the same stated reasons. Less than 150hp on the blvd en route to mighty is for fggts.
Thanks for the kind words and for the suggestions. I think I’ll take the bike to hebelers tomorrow for a quote. Still up in the air on the insurance but I will just have to wait and see.
Glad you are ok man. Honestly ive never gone through an insurance company for repairs to my bike. Then again ive only downed 2 since i have been riding (started in high school). Id try to do a rough estimate myself with parts on ebay. Simply because all the aftermarket places i know of charge dealer prices for parts. A perfect example was my ninja. Bikebandit wanted like over 500 bucks for for just the top nose fairing. When it was all said and done i managed to source all the fairing pieces from ebay for less than 400 bucks.
Not sure since its not in front of me to see but if your chain is rubbing and your rear brake is acting up you could have potentially bent the swing arm. Though you could have just snapped a wheel adjuster on the rear in which case yoir rear wheel might just be out of alignment. Id send willie some pics and take ot from there.
As for the people that told you to get a litter bike…dont do it. Learn to handle the lighter bikes first and really develop a feel for them before you go to anything bigger, more powerfull, and heavier.
Insirance bs: when i insured my current bike i got a Geico quote online which was super reasonable. When i actually called to get the policy set up, the douche on the phone gave me a price that was like 30 bucks over what the interwebz quoted me. His reason? My wife got rear ended 2 years ago. It was a low speed accident…the other driver was and fault and was also a geico customer. The other guy fessed up to the accident and took responcibility. Geico covered the repairs to the wifes car( like 600 bucks worth of prep and paint and a rental). But because it was a “reported accident” my premium went up. Total bs imho but whatever.
The bike rode home alright, the only thing rubbing on the chain was the center stand. Thinking the bracket that holds it in place could have got bent causing it to rub. The bike got wedged under the front end of the suv, the rear wheel hit the passenger side tire of the suv. I don’t think there is any swing arm damage or structural damage as the bike rode like it did before I went down.
Liter bike jokes were funny but I didn’t catch on till the 2nd one. It doesn’t bother me.
Parts for a ninja 500 are silly cheap if bought used… also insurance will likely give you more than its worth if its been totalled…
I agree with most people so far, if its totalled and the other guy is making a claim against you, you might as well claim the bike and start new.
Once I wreck a bike, I feel its never the same and it almost disgusts me to ride it. It will cost a bunch of money to make it PERFECT again, so my suggestion there is “if you dont care if its perfect and you’re going to sell it next year… then buy used parts and fix it up as you can”
If you were thinking about getting something new… total it out, stash the check for another month and people will start ditching bikes for cheap because they dont want to store them over the winter… use that to your advantage, heck maybe your insurance carrier will allow you to buy the bike back for 500 bucks (unfortunately lately insurers are asking a premium for a wrecked bike and its almost not worth buying them back)
I’m kinda hoping it does get totaled out because then I can upgrade to a 600. I don’t think that it will tho, but it’s questionable. I put about a thousand miles on the 500 and was quite comfortable on it.
Took a look at the bike today in the daylight. All fairings will need replaced except for the rear, it was untouched. Brake lever needs to be replaced, whole exhaust, front brake lever could be replaced, half of the ball on the end is ground off. Found out where the exhaust is leaking, right where the header bolts to the head. the leak isn’t coming from the header itself but from where it bolts in place, wondering if the mounting point on the head is cracked. Also the rear wheel is bent a little on the lip and there seems to be a bit of slop in the wheel when I push from side to side on it. as long as the head isn’t cracked in all reality all I would need to do really is replace fairings and exhaust and bent the rear brake lever back. Still need to figure out why my oil light is on, I should have looked up some info online before I checked out the bike.
Ah man thats not that bad. Dont bother straightening the rear brake lever. In all likelyhood it will probably snap because usually those are cast pieces. Or at the least be super fatigued in which case i wouldnt trust it. Im actually surprised your clutch cover didnt crack. As for the oil light check your level first then take off the fairings and look for smashed/ torn wires or sensors. Or even a ground down valey plug that may have pissed oil out under pressure. Though the bike does look pretty dry. The exhaust will need to be replaced fron to back. Not sure about the newer bikes but i have had some friends wreck their bikes pretty hard and never managed to crack a head but u never know. I would just take the center stand off unless you actually use it. Didnt you also mention something about your spedo not working?
Get a quote, wait for the quote from the SUV owner and go from there. If the total is more than a couple hundred over your deductible go through insurance.
I never get why people pay for collision and never use it. Last summer i hit “something” with my boat in a marked channel. Even after hitting it we never saw it and based on the prop damaged I’d guess it was a large submerged log or possibly railroad tie. About an hour after hitting it the upper gearcase let go. $7800 claim paid out by Progressive. Guess what my renewal was this year? $20 less than the year before. Just because you have a claim doesn’t mean your rates skyrocket.
My guess is when you get the call back from the SUV owner you’re going to end up going through insurance. Even minor body work adds up FAST, and stuff that looks minor always seems to get worse once a body shop starts really looking at it.
