[Chad Albrecht]

I was on a business trip on a very rainy morning, when I came to the NY Thruway in Albany. It was pouring rain and I was behind a large semi-truck in heavy traffic as we passed through the toll booths. Stuck behind the truck in heavy traffic, acceleration was slow. Then the trailer of the truck in front of me hit a major bump and there was little distance for me to prepare as I rode into a pothole that consumed an entire traffic lane. The rear of the bike went down, but never returned to my butt. I could smell rubber burning and the bike was slowing rapidly as I made my way abruptly to the side of the road.

The rear suspension had a catastrophic failure. Once I made it to the side of the road, the bike was sitting so low that I could not deploy a kick stand, so I had to lay her down gently on her side. Police arrived and dispatched a vehicle ambulance to take my girl to Max BMW's motorcycle hospital in Troy, NY.

I went to visit Tickets a couple of days ago when the doctors and insurance company told me that she could be saved. Poor Tickets had a broken bolt (the cause), broken shock, a bent swing arm, shredded tire, scraped up fender and a couple of bruises on her right side. My only consolation was that she still remains in a coma because her battery had died when she gave her last remaining energy to warn other vehicles of her traumatized condition along the side of the road on that rainy day. I had to leave. I didn't want to cry in front of her.

At $4800 to repair, I thought they were going to total her since she has lived for 15 or 16 years and traveled 92.5k exotic miles. However, I was informed that her custom paint job and Wilber after market shocks placed her value in the $6200 range.

 

[james216]

Thank god your ok. That's a nightmare. That's a great looking bike. I like the color combo. Absolutely inexcusable for that crater not to be filled. Lucky it didn't seriously hurt you.

 

[Sleuth]

Glad you were ok, and that she was not put down.

Is it possible for you to file a claim against the road maintenance department? Perhaps they will provide some of the costs of her recovery.

Best regards
Sleuth

 

[Voyager]

Glad you were ok, and that she was not put down.

Is it possible for you to file a claim against the road maintenance department? Perhaps they will provide some of the costs of her recovery.

Best regards
Sleuth

I agree with contacting the NYS DOT, however, half of NY's roads are that bad so I wouldn't get my hopes too high. Another lesson in the perils of following too closely.

Do you know high bolt broke? Shock mount? FD pivot pin? Swing arm pin?

Glad only the bike was injured. They can be repaired or replaced at reasonable cost.

 

[Chad Albrecht]

It was the bolt that holds the shock onto the swing arm. The bolt is an $8 part but they won't pay for a new one, because insurance will not cover the cost of the part that failed, but they will cover all the other damage that resulted from the failure. I'm glad the shock didn't snap in half and scratch the bolt. Whew!

I believe that the insurance company is collecting from NYDOT. They are in much too good of a mood to be footing the bill on their own. They are finding every little thing....like missing cover screws (like the pot-hole shook those loose too?) and they put the cost of a new engine guard cover and new chrome trim on the saddle bag into the final tally. I plasti-dip the entire bike, so a little scratch on the saddle bag trim and engine guard cover only helps to eliminate my deductible....and I think they know that. So, I'm guessing that NYDOT is putting up some/most of the money and the insurance company is taking all the credit.

 

[MarkF]

Ouch! I've been that route plenty of times. It's usually the best maintained roads in upstate NY! MAX are great and glad your INS company is going the distance.

I guess you could say the paint job saved her life.

 

[fatbob307]

Who's your insurance company? Good riding keeping her upright by the way!

 

[Chad Albrecht]

Progressive is my insurance company.

 

[MarkF]

Progressive is my insurance company.

I totaled my Ducati with Progressive. Totally my fault. They paid well & fast. A few months later I got a "did we do o.k." survey. Then a couple months later they insured my next bike at a great price. I've been with them off and on over 30 years!

 

[Chad Albrecht]

Yes, thus far, I've been quite pleased with Progressive's response and handling of the claim. Even the agent laughed when I called him a cheap bastard for not covering the cost of the bolt that broke, which is only $8. I told him that I was glad that the shock didn't break and damage the bolt.

But I've been through it all with a water heater.....they cover all damages that were caused by the part that failed, but they won't cover the cost of the failed part itself. I understand if the bike is sitting on its kickstand and the bolt fails due to age and the static forces of 1 g of gravity, but this was a high g impact caused by an object that was struck while in motion?