The Remains of the Bike
Many people have emailed, telephoned, etc. asking about the condition of my motorcycle. I usually reply that the situation is critical.It is a little difficult to explain the extent of the damage. I didn’t quite understand it until I saw it myself. I had asked my friend who is repairing it how long it would take. He said it would take about two months to fix. When I asked why it took so long, he said it would take about one month to get all of the parts together (many have to be ordered from the US) and about one month to do the actual repair work.
I asked why it was going to take a month to do the repair work. My friend sighed on the other end of the telephone and said something to the effect of, “think of it this way….I am not repairing your old bike. I am basically building you a new bike.”
My reply was, “what do you mean building me a new bike.” He paused for a moment and said, “basically you’ve got a rear fender, a seat, a frame, and an engine…well, most of an engine anyway. Everything else is getting replaced.”
I couldn’t really wrap my mind around what he was saying. Eventually, he visited me in the hospital with about 200 pictures of the damage to various parts of the bike. The list of parts to be replaced is two pages long.
I picked out a few pictures that are fairly representative of the damages.
One of the first things to hit the concrete pole was my gas tank.
As the bike flipped over and sent me flying, the bike landed on the other side of the gas tank and tumbled up the road.
Unfortunately, before I went off the bike, the concrete pole basically sheared off the right side of my bike, crushing my leg in the process. This next picture is the right foot peg and one of the exhaust pipes coming from the engine. The pipes are pancaked flat and the foot peg is bent upwards. My foot was on that peg when I hit the pole. There was literally no space between the side of my bike at the pole. My thigh was smashed into that “no space.”
Here is a picture of the right side of my bike before the accident:
Here is a picture of what the right side of my bike looks like now. However, this is not a very accurate representation of the damage, because the front end is still on the bike. Everything in front of the gas tank will be replaced….everything…forks, fender, handle bars, mirrors, levers, everything.
I am anxiously awaiting the day when she will look like the “before” picture again… except with a few cool modifications.