Glad you're not hurt any worse than you are! You got off easy!

1. Don't stop riding! I've had two "get off's" and that didn't stop me. 1st was at 37. 2nd was at 38. 2nd one cracked my L1 vertebrae.

2. Be brutally honest about what happened and why. Wadding a bike sucks, but it sucks harder if you don't figure out the root cause and fix it. From the sounds of it you might have locked your throttle hand on a curve that freaked you out, and either target fixated, or just hit whatever was in your path when you lost the ability to steer.

3. Trash the gloves and helmet - Yes it's expensive, but they did their job which was to protect you from ONE crash.

4. Wear FULL GEAR always - Dress for the crash, not for the ride. Helmet, jacket, gloves, pants (not jeans), heavy duty leather boots, eye protection.

5. Put it into perspective - There are only two types of riders in the world - Those who have been down..and those who are going down.

Dust yourself off. Get back on and practice, practice, practice!

Best 'o luck to ya m8!

Hey Guys,
Just got the bike back. This is the first time I've seen it since the attempt at riding with the rubber side up. Looks to me like it might take a little more than duct tape to get it going again. I've got time though. My foot kept swelling and had lots of pretty colors showing up. I went back to the doctor, they did a CT scan. Guess what, I didn't sprain my right ankle, I fractured it. They tell me I'll be in a cast for 6 - 8 weeks.

Anyone interested in a pair of almost new Icon Tarmac boots? Hardly any damage or wear, they're going cheap. (Speaking as a crash test dummy, I would not recommend these boots.)











By the way, the one on the line is my Girlfriend, Elsa.

Oh dear!
That does look a bit of a mess.
More important, though, your ankle.
That really is bad news.
Much sympathy and good wishes to you from me.

On the lighter side, you appear to have a beautiful dog.

Dan

Here she is again. She's an absolutely wonderful dog. Her birthday is in July, she just turned 9. Got her when she was 9 weeks old. Had asked the new ex-wife if she could take her while I recovered. The wife had her over the weekend and was in a big hurry to give the dog back. (Dog was super excited to see me again.) I couldn't figure out the reason to return the dog so quickly. Well it seems the new boyfriend, who is about 6'3" 250lbs and has now parked his Harley in "my" garage is afraid of the dog.

I'd say it looks totalled,btw everyone should give it a second chance and if it happens again, stick to 50cc scooters

Sounds to me that most of the damage done will be plastic parts. You can order a service manual from Helm Inc. and order the plastic pieces from Motogrid. Should be much cheaper. removing and replacing the Tupperware isn't difficult and doesn't require much in the way of tools.

OK guys, more opinions please. This is somewhat of a moot point anyway, because I don't currently have the money to fix this one, never mind get another. But I'm wondering

MaxB wrote:

Slow speed and front brakes cause "falling down syndrome". Pot holes normally don't dump you like that. I would say you hit the pothole at low speed and clamped the front brake hard. This is just a guess.

john grinsel wrote:

but looks as mentioned above you gas with the bike bent over and used a bunch of front brake---result is almost always same.

A few other folks have told me the same thing, that locking up the wheel(s) is not beneficial to my health. A guy I used to work with was fond of saying that "there's no subsititue for knowing what you're doing" and I'm fully aware this applies to motorcycles as well, but...

I've read through the posts of people inquiring about the ABS. Seeing as I'm in the learning process (and I'm constantly looking for that easier, softer way), do you think it a good idea to get rid of this particular scooter and pick one up with ABS. If I am locking the wheels, wouldn't the ABS prevent this?

DuggleBogey wrote:

Statistically speaking, if you ride a bike for 5 years, you have 100% chance of having an injury accident. So think of it this way, you got yours out of the way early.

Doug, I no longer remember the exact quote, but when I was leaning how to fly, my instructor told me something similar. It was along the lines of engine failures and such stuff, but if you hadn't experienced them yet, you haven't been flying long enough.

Your dog is beautiful and apparently has good taste too!

I'm glad you did not get hurt....Ego? Anyway I see heated grips mentioned what brand and where did you get them cost etc.
Old Dave in Western Nebraska

Bill,
ABS is always good, but from the sound of this, it would not have stopped this from happening. ABS will only prevent locking the brake so that you don't skid and lose control. If you clamped down on the brake at a slow speed ABS would not have kicked in because you would have stopped your forward motion with the normal brakes already.

Stopping with your wheel turned more often then not will dump you.
Its just time and experience learning not to do that.

You say you can't afford to repair the bike...Don't you have insurance?

Dan

Abs is helpful at speed. I believe that at slow speeds it will not engage. I can't quote MPH #'s but someone will.

Get a manual and delve into it.

DO NO just rip off the broken parts.... take them off. this will save more broken parts.
without being there in person. take the parts off and see whats broken and look online for parts replacements and costs. Ebay is sometimes a good source , but then paint to match makes them almost as costly as new.

I doubt there is any frame damage just looking at it. Just needs new tupperware.

MaxB (who's ESP doen't work very well long distance)

I agree with MaxB and many of the others. I definitely wouldn't give up, but I would be counting my blessings! Could have been MUCH worse, like someone not seeing you when down and plowing over the top of you...

One additional thing I would add under the new tupperware since you'll need to put new on anyway, is a WOLO bad boy airhorn. Best $28 I ever spent on my bike. Horn was $20 at local discount freight store, additional wire and connector set another $8 or so. This was an easy install and made such a difference.

Recently went to meet friend for a short 50 mile jaunt down the interstate. I had only just merged into the needed lane and been there for about 2 minutes, 65 mph or so, when a truck from two lanes to right started my way. Waited for the car that was to right and ahead of me 1 1/2 cars lengths to get past him, then he commenced to try to kiss my right shoulder with his driver's door. I had been very aware of what looked like could happen as soon as I saw him start his manuever. I was heading toward the inner trouble lane on highway which was also approaching a left curve on bridge overpass. Laid my thumb on the horn button as I saw him proceeding my direction, my bike started strattling the pavement on the trouble lane. He heard the WOLO (thank you Jesus!) and jumped like there was a huge car right there. This horn IS louder than the one on my Chevy truck. I was extremely thankful to have installed this horn two weeks earlier.

Keep the bike and get it and you road worthy again.

I've seen mention of air horns on here before. Are we talking about what I think we are? The last air horn I bought was for my boat. It was a dual horn type, I'm thinking one horn 12" the other 9". It sounded like it belonged on a ship (I can't remember for sure, but I think it was 118dB).

Insurance, no. I mentioned that before, I was waiting for the divorce to be final. Supposed to be next week. Have to separate the cars then and figured I'd put the truck, car, bike, and RV all on the same policy.

They are what you think they are, but they aren't as big as you think they are. I won't knock the WOLO horn because I no nothing about it.
The Stebel Nautilus Air horn is a common upgrade. And because you don't have abs there is room for it where the abs used to go if you want to put it there.
You can see the line of compact air horns here.

http://www.stebel.it/stebel2009/default.asp?menu=news

The WOLO is just like the bottom airhorn on the link sent above. I believe it said 139Db... This thing is LOUD, especially compared to stock horn. Unit I bought seemed a quality build, can't complain about it at all. Hardest part of install was taking the tupperware off to get to a spot to mount unit.

Bill sorry about your loss bro I SO FEEL YA BROTHER!!!!!!!! But check this out IF AND I SAY IF YOU ORDER THE PARTS AND DO IT YOURSELF????????????????????????????? DONT THROW NOTHING OUT PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WITH NEW BODY PANELS THERES 0 ZERO ZILCH NADA SPEED CLIPS CLIPS OR SCREWS NO HARDWEAR WHATS SO EVER!!!!!!!!!!! So make sure you have each and every piece that has a screw going through it. Because youll need to remove every thing from the old panels and transfer it all to the new panels. Trsut me pal I me personally had to replace 3/4 of my 2007 from a stop and drop that what i called it from a dead stand still i went down. After throwing out all my old panels LUCKY THE GARBAGE MEN DIDNT COME i FOUND OUT ALL THE NEW PANELS CAME WITH NO ATTACHING HARDWEAR WHATS SO EVER. so go through every body panel and piece by piece bro. Best of luck my winged brother !!!!!!

the blingmeister

OK guys, here's the latest update and I'm once again seeking advice. I was at the doctor for a follow up visit, my ankle appears to be healing well, next visit is 10/25 when I expect to loose the crutches. So I figured I'd see what it would cost to get the bike fixed, that way it'd be ready when I could ride again.

I'm going to junk it. The estimate to fix it is just under $3500. He said the parts alone were $2500 and we were only planning on replacing the stuff that needed to be replaced in order to ride it, there would still be a lot of scratches and scrapes on the back. Right now in my area on Craig's List there's a 04 for $2750, an 07 for $3700, and an 08 for $5800. So I could buy one in better shape than mine for about the same or less money.

What I'd like to know is what do you think this thing would be worth as is? I bent the fork slightly. The motor and transmission are good and I just put new tires on it. What should be an acceptable offer from the junkie?
Bill

If you get $1k from the junkie, you'll be doing very well. Part it out yourself if you're willing/able. You'll get a lot more.

Definitely the most money would be realized by selling parts on eBay. A salvage yard isn't going to pay $500. Having been in the business of buying damaged Goldwings for rebuilding or parting I'd actually be surprised if you really got an offer much more than a couple hundred dollars from a salvage operation. If you just want to get rid of it with least bother I'd try Craigslist first then a wrecking yard.

If you're getting another Swing, one option might be to sell the larger components like the engine/trans, throw away anything that's damaged, and keep the other (more easily stored) components for spare parts. This option would obviously require a bit of a time commitment plus available space to store the stuff.