On August 22, '98 I got the chance to test my protective gear -- I was rear-ended by another motorcycle! Three of us had ridden to eastern Oregon to spend a weekend exploring. We were about 30 miles south of Baker City when, after just pulling away from a stop sign, one of the other bikes hit me. I was only going about 20 mph so the impact wasn't too bad, but I was thrown to the ground, landing on my leather hip pack, shoulder, and helmet. The leathers and helmet did their jobs; I wasn't hurt, just sore for a few days.
But my bike wasn't so lucky: the attacking BMW broke the taillight assembly, cracked the rear cowling, and bent the muffler bracket, then pushed the bike down on its right side. When it hit the ground it broke the front turn signal and the fairing lower, scraped the Krauser hardbag, muffler, front brake lever, and right mirror, chewed some holes in the vinyl trim tape on the fairing and side cover, and bent the brake pedal and scratched the clutch cover. No harm to running gear, but lots of cosmetic damage. Fortunately both bikes were rideable so we spent the rest of the day heading home on the freeway.
A few days later a National General Rider's Insurance Plan appraiser (the other biker's company) examined my bike and came up with a total of $2400 to fix it plus $250 to replace my fairly new RF-700 helmet. Since $2400 is pretty close to my bike's market value, I thought they'd total it or offer me less for the bike damage, but they didn't even try to cut a deal. They just wrote me a check for the full $2650! (Moral: If you're going to be hit by another bike, make sure it's insured by the Rider plan.)
Since some of the broken plastic bits aren't available any more, I went looking for someone who could weld and paint ABS. Some friends recommended I call a guy who had done some auto restoration work for them. He looked things over and gave me a bid of $350 to repair the fairing lower, rear cowling, Krauser hardbag, side cover, muffler, and mirror. He went to work on those and I ordered a new taillight, turn signal, and brake lever.
Here's a right side view. You can see most of the damage: the broken tail light, the missing right front turn signal, and the broken fairing lower.
Here's a close up of the fairing lower before and after repair. A few years ago I dropped the bike in gravel and broke the right fairing lower. I glued it back together, but finding no black that matched the factory paint I painted the bottom part of both lowers with a burgundy that pretty well matched the upper fairing color. As part of this repair, the restoration guy welded the right lower and painted both lowers with the original color. It's hard to see the repaired fairing in the right picture because it's now glossy black. It looks better than it has in years.
Left - A shot of the rear end damage. Note the sprung fairing straps, the broken taillight, and the yellow paint (from the BMW's headlight guard) on the rear cowling. What you can't see are several cracks in the cowling.
Right - Post-repair, taillight replaced and cowling welded and painted.
Left - A view of the Krauser, side cover, and muffler damage. The Krauser and muffler lost more material than it looks like here.
Right - Post-repair, side cover tape filled and painted, Krauser textured and painted, and muffler painted.
Here it is back in one piece. So far I've spent about $500 of the $2400 settlement repairing it, and the bike is back on the road in virtually pre-crash condition. I came out well ahead in this accident! I think I'll use some of the leftover cash for an oil mod, and a new rear shock, and .. . . . .
