Triumphrat

jimmyj900 · 09-24-2005

I picked up the remains of the Adventurer yesterday with a U-Haul motorcycle trailer rather than continue screwing around with the Geico clowns. It will be a month this Sunday since the accident and while Geico has made some small and clumsy steps toward resolution, it hasn't happened yet.

Since my Geico towing insurance turned out to be worth the princely sum of $50, professional towing was out of the question. The total cost for DIY towing was $25 for the trailer rental and another $35 for gasoline and I may be able to recover some of that.

My wife went with me and her reactions were interesting. She was seeing what was bent and broken and I was seeing what wasn't! For the broken parts, she was in the "How much is one of those?" mode while I was in the "That's fixable." mode. I kept telling her "The tail light's fine! I can fix the rest." but somehow I don't think she believes me.

The long (expensive) estimate I got from the shop was a good inventory of everything that wasn't in showroom perfect condition, but that in itself was a bit misleading. The dealer approach is replace everything while I was looking in terms of 'must replace' items, 'can repair' parts and 'cool battle scars!" :wink:

The major damage to the bike is the front end. The fork tubes are visibly bent and the front wheel is rotated about 30 deegrees to the left. I found the brake rotor a bit bent while pushing the bike into the garage, but the front wheel looks pretty good. I can't check runout until I can get the bike jacked up and the wheel spinning freely.

I don't know the condition of the triple clamps yet -- can't tell until the fork is disassembled -- but there was enough force in the crash to rip the weld off the turn stop on the frame!

So, here are the dealer list price replacement parts for the front suspension:

L-Fork........... $650
R-Fork........... $650
Lower Yoke.... $295
Upper Yoke.... $175
Front Wheel... $420
Brake Disc..... $185
==============
Dealer Total : $2375

Here are the high guesstimates for repair:

Wheel Repair....... $200
Rotor Straighten... $100
Fork Tube (pair).... $200
Triple Clamps....... $200
=================
Reasonable Total: $700

Of course, no repair work is going to happen until Geico gets their excrement together and everything is settled. :???:

There's some other damage here and there with the instrument cluster having taken the biggest hammering. The speedo is trash but the tacho might be OK.

Surprisingly the Ma's crash bars are only bent -- the highway pegs took nearly all of the road rash -- so I should be able to get the bars straightened. The bars really did their job though -- there's no damage to the engine and the shift lever doesn't even seem to be bent!

The main thing is that the engine runs.... :upthumb: :-D

Jim

bobshields55 · 09-24-2005

"The main thing is that the engine runs"

I won't hestitate to add that another "main thing" is that you survived it and will be OK to do your own repair. :-D

p.s. looking forward to all the tips we are gonna pick up from you!!

[ This message was edited by: bobshields55 on 2005-09-24 10:41 ]

johnyC · 09-24-2005

Jimmy,

in the next couple of weeks I'm rebuilding my front wheel. I'll be left over with a wheel I don't need: 17" chrome TBS front rim which I'm lacing to a single disc t'bird hub. If you want it you can have it for the usual donation to the "lifeboat tin" to help get you back on the road.

ps. couldn't send you a pm because the system is down. hope the wounds are healing

crosstie · 09-24-2005

And since I just put USD forks on my legend, I have both forks and triple clamps available... also the front brake caliper, headlight brackets, and the brake M/C.

Oh, and the front fender...

I assume the parts are more-or-less interchangeable?

Send me a PM (when it's working again) if you're interested... it will be much less than the dealer! I owe a bit into the TriumphRat Karma Jar at the moment...

...speaking of which, Johny the pipes arrived yesterday, they are wicked! I'll send you a PM when the system's back up. :-D

jimmyj900 · 09-24-2005

JohnyC: Thanks, but the stock wheel is straight by eyeball so may only need a small tweek of the spokes to put it back into spec.

The rib finally reattached in back, but it's still a bit sore.

I guess I need to make a "thank you" drop in the lifeboat karma tin anynow :wink:

bobshields55: Definately the headlight mounts (one broken, one bent) and probably the fender (it's got a kind of Gaudi / Nightmare Before Christmas look to it) and maybe the triple clamps if they're no longer square. I can't tell until the thing is apart.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with a 6-piston caliper on the rebuild. The stock one is OK although the rotor is a bit warped but can be straightened.

I'm just waiting for Geico before I do anything with the bike -- they've still got plenty of latitude to screw things up. :flam:

Thanks guys! :-D

Jim

Shaunlee · 09-24-2005

This spring when I had my incident the shop total was $4300. Thank god the little old ladies insurance paid that plus some for the out of pocket. Be thankful you didn't damage the tank, that will only set you back a cool grand! Walking away is the most important thing though. :-D

jimmyj900 · 09-25-2005

Quote:

Be thankful you didn't damage the tank, that will only set you back a cool grand!

The tank is dented in two places. When the triple clamp tore the stop loose from the frame it swung around and crunched the tank. There's also a gouge in the upper left side of the tank but I'm not sure what impacted there.

Fortunately the tank badges are intact and there's no damage to that part of the tank.

Dealer list price on the tank is $700 but there are a couple of inexpensive repair options.

There are a bunch of "paintless dent removal" outfits around here that charge $50 per dent to remove hail damage. That should minimize the dents and make body filler a lot easier.

The other option is to just fill the dents myself with Bondo and lots of wet sanding. That will take the cost down to painting and only reduce the capacity by a couple of ounces. A tolerable exchange for the price.

Jim

02redbird · 09-25-2005

Jim,
The only item I have is a Left turn indicator and stem, but it looks as though yours are okay. I do have two lenses for the indicators also. If you want this stuff it's yours.

Eric

JWoodsie · 09-25-2005

Good luck with it Jim. Bloddy insurance companies are a pain in the *&%$. I hope its all sorted promptly, I look forward to reading your rebuild stories and future mods. I'm sorry I cant offer any parts, I'm on the lookout for a few myself. A set of mag wheel in 17" would be nice, but wrecked Triumphs are as scarce as rocking horse poo in Australia.
Cheers ..............Woodsie

jimmyj900 · 09-26-2005

Well, Geico finally came through and I found out what took so long. It seems that the Midwest (Minnesota included) somehow wound up in the same business region as the Gulf Coast and they're a *bit* overloaded at the moment. I wish they'd have mentioned that sooner.

The value they came up with is $5650 which is actually higher than the Kelly Blue Book dealer price -- a very pleasant surprise there! Salvage value was $850 so after all the nickel & dime stuff they're sending me a check for $4685 in a couple of days.

Now if their towing insurance was worth a *****...

Jim