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Crashed bike...


enenen

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But I wasn't riding. And I'm even one of those "never let anybody ride my bike" kinda people. Here's the story...

Went out for a ride through the valley today. Great weather, great ride. Rode for a couple hours, and was close to my mom's boyfriends house, so I called her to see if they were. They were, so I stopped by. Her boyfriend was about to throw some steaks on the grill and they invited me to stay for dinner, so I did. After dinner, her boyfriend asked if I would show him how to ride the bike. I obviously said no. He asked again, and I told him I don't let anybody ride it, especially if they don't have any experience. He said "I had dirtbikes as a kid. I won't go over 20, I just want to ride it around for a minute." So, not wanting to look like a dick, I relented. He got on, and I gave him the lecture about how touchy the throttle is, and how powerful the bike is. He gave it some gas to get moving, and I told him he was giving it too much, and to jus give it a little. He gets going, turns he corner and GUNS it. So much for staying under 20. He goes out of my sight, and 2 seconds later, WHAM. I run around the corner and see him picking the bike up off its side.

He ran into a mailbox, going probably 60mph, and then laid it down. Front fairing and windshield are shattered. Both mid fairings are toast. Guage cluster is broken. Left mirror is broken. Some random wires hanging down. Both headlights are shattered. He was riding in shorts and a t-shirt, and wih no helmet, since none of my stuff would have fit him, and he was gonna "keep it under 20." Luckily he was alright. Scraped up knee and arm, but no worse than a bicycle crash, somehow. Thank god he didn't get seriously hurt, or I would have felt extremely guilty for letting him ride it.

Obviously, I'm a dumbass for letting him ride it. But at the same time, I didn't want to be a dick. He's a really generous guy, and has done a lot for me, so I gave in. It sucks, but at least he was alright.

He wrote me a check for $5,000 to either get it fixed, or buy a new one. Not sure what I'm going to do yet. I could buy another one and make this one a track bike, but I don't want to take advantage of him and end up wih 2 bikes either.

Man is this a shitty feeling though. Could have ended so much worse than it did. Luckily the bike is the only thing with serious damage. And the mail box. Lesson learned. Last time I give in and let anybody else ride my bike.

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There's lots of "that sucks" in that story. There's a large amount of "squid" There's 5,000 dollars you didn't have before.

And a good lesson learned. I would have been a dick, but that's just me.

Anyways glad the mothers b/f is ok and the bike is salvageable to a point and you've got another $5000 you didn't have when you woke up this morning. The day could have been much worse.

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Well, that is were I usually come in cause many stories when someone drops off a bike to get painted start "I let my friend ride my bike...." I have been in that same situation and yeah you don't wanna be a dick, but its better that the alternative. the silver lining is he had the money to replace what had happened. He is a pretty straight up guy........... it is a good thing he didn't up and kill himself.

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actually, that dude isn't too far off.... only thing to think about is what the POSSIBLE insurance increase is.... and how much the repairs are.

If the repairs are 1k.... don't claim it... pocket 4k and/or buy another bike.....

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this would be the honest thing to do

meh @ honest, he gave you "hush" money basically.... "man I'm really sorry, here's a bunch of money so you can do whatever you want and not be mad at me"

If you like your bike fix it + mods.... if you want a new bike, salvage out your bike and buy a new ride for salvage + 5k and you got a new bike.

Or, buy me some parts... I'd really appreciate that :)

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I think the real dick move was that the guy finally got you to trust him to take the bike out and "keep it under 20", then he guns it. What an ass. You're lucky he had the money to hand you and you shouldn't feel bad about taking/using it. I would NEVER let anyone take my bike out, unless I absolutely trusted the person 100%. If somebody wants to try a bike that badly, they can get their own. With the money he handed you he could have bought and wrecked his own bike instead of yours. Just my two cents and yes I'm a little bit of a selfish bitch sometimes. :)

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Letting someone ride my bike has never worked out for me. At the least, it won't shift the same when I get it back. At worst, I have to go fetch it back, in whatever condition I find it.

People do not realize, that a sport bike is an extreme event, capable of killing the inexperienced in less than two seconds. (Ok, less than one second for some bikes.)

Do them a favor, and say "no". For their own safety, just no.

Also, don't leave your bike keys lying around where people can find them, heh...

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I'm one of those guys who doesn't loan my bike out either. There's been some guys offer to let me ride their more expensive bikes and I still am leery about trading even if it is for a little while because you never know - shit like this happens.

I've still never loaned my bike out, and the one and only time I've ever took someone else up on their offer to let me ride their bike was this past Thursday. A coworker let me take out his Vrod Night Rod. It was a rental from the dealership, so even if I did dump it, it wasn't HIS bike. Which is really the only reason I didn't think it was a bad idea. And I agreed to cover any/all deductibles if I wrecked it. I took it for a 5 mile ride and filled it up w/ gas for him. I'll keep my sportbikes, thanks.

But your situation, glad it wasn't worse for either of you. You lucked out that you loaned it to Mr. moneybags. But after an accident, and maybe it's just me, but the bike is never the same. I'd fix it to stock, sell it, and then get an updated model unless the bike holds some sort of tremendous sentimental value for you.

What you don't want to do is turn it into your insurance, because the title may not come back clear. You want to sell a used bike with a clear title, not a rebuilt one.

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That will definitely be the last time I let anybody ride my bike. Unless maybe I have ridden with them, and know that they know what they are doing. I'm not going to go through the insurance company. No way do I want my rate to go up.

I'm not looking to profit off the whole ordeal. I just want to be able to ride again. I could fix it myself for pretty cheap, but it will take a while and I don't want to waste the whole summer looking for parts. I could take it somewhere, but they will charge me a ton, and I don't want to spend $4,000 on a $3,000 bike. I do have my eye on a real nice white and silver '07 CBR600RR.

I still don't know what I'm going to do. Like I said, I'm just glad nobody got hurt. The bike can be repaired/replaced.

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Well since you asked I will give my 2cents. get the bike fixed do a few mods to the bike and give back the rest. $$$$ Having a story like this for the next couple of yrs is priceless..

Glade he and the bike are doing well.

+1 If he's been a good guy and all it's only fair that you repair the damage and refund him the balance. (No reason to get greedy) Mistakes were made by both of you to create this situation. You for lettting an unexperienced, unlicensed driver with no gear on your bike, him for pushing the issue, saying he has experience and getting on a bike with no license and no gear.:rolleyes:

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why don't you buy another bike, and give him your old bike, so he can fix it ? and then teach him to ride, and ride together ?

this way you can consider his check a buying your bike, you won't take any advantage of him, and you both will be having bikes. .... ?

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nobody rides the 750 unless you got a lot of cash to put into my hand..do something before summers over

which is why I let him ride it. I wasn't worried about the financial aspect, but it does piss me off that he said he wasn't going to go over 20, and then went flying down the street. And yeah, I want to waste as little riding time as possible.

And like I said, as much as I would like to buy another bike, and then make the 03 a track bike, I don't want to take advantage of him or the situation. I'll probably end up just fixing it and giving him back the leftover money. Just sucks that I'll probably miss out on a month of riding.

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why don't you buy another bike, and give him your old bike, so he can fix it ? and then teach him to ride, and ride together ?

this way you can consider his check a buying your bike, you won't take any advantage of him, and you both will be having bikes. .... ?

Hmm, kind of a good idea. However, the crasher hasn't given the crashee any confidence in his riding skills or his decision making skills.

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