[Guest]

Well for all interested, I picked up a Roulette Green 2002 Triumph Speed Triple with 4200 miles from Hermy's that was on consignment. I picked the bike up on Wed 11/8/06 at around 6pm.

Unfortunately, I was unable to keep the bike a full week. I totaled the bike yesterday afternoon approximately 3:30pm. Details - the bike is/was certainly not a BMW with ABS and Hossack front suspension. I grabbed a "little" too much front brake while setting up for a corner. The front end tucked and the bike low sided. The bike and I both slid for approximately 200 feet crossing a lane of oncoming traffic (thankfully no cars at that moment). I came to a stop is a muddy field, with the bike ending up about another 30-40 feet from me and about 20 feet down into a ditch.

Fortunately a fellow Mac-Pac'r/Advrider was driving by about 10 minutes after the incident. Gary Christman from Kempton, PA has a Sanitation service right about a 1 mile from where I was. He was kind enough to take quite a few pics and helped me with some ice for my now swollen hand and wrist.

After few phone calls to my insurance company, Hermy's BMW/Triumph Kramer's towing service (at Hermy's recommendation) and finally my wife -who of course didn't answer the phone A cherry picker tow truck showed up about 20 minutes later, they strapped the bike and picked it up from the ditch. They placed the bike into a front wheel chock and strapped the bars down, and delivered the bike to Hermy's for an assessment of damages. Hermy says the bike is totaled.

Gary kindly drove me to my house about 10 or so miles from his shop. I took a trip over to Hermy's to take care of the tow bill - $225 D*MN! Then I went to the Cedar Crest Emergency Center for a few x-rays. I have no broken bones or cuts. I have some bruising on my left palm and wrist as well as my right foot.

The Aerostich 1 pc suit definitely did its job well. The left & right elbow and left knee ballistic patches were worn almost all the way through. The rear reflective patch was all scuffed up with some areas worn through / melted. My helmet touched down on the back, then I tucked my chin to my chest to keep from bouncing my head on the ground. My boots and gloves got a little shredded. All in all - I'm very glad for a term I've read on here - ATGATT (all the gear all the time)

Here is a link to a zip file of the pics.

http://home.comcast.net/~mattmor-gs/triumph.zip

Matt

 

[BUCKET]

Glad to hear you are alright mbeebe900,sounds like a very arse puckering moment especially go over onto the oncoming traffic.Hope this doesn't deter you from riding and we all make mistakes now and then,ride on. :hammer:

 

[ssregal39]

i think there is a virus here

 

[BUCKET]

Sorry mattmor,got the name wrong,it is 5 am in the morning and all. :-D :hammer:

 

[scratch]

Sorry to hear about your crash, but at least you landed in a fairly soft spot. I went down in a similar situation last year at @ 70 mph and strongly second your ATGATT comment.

Was the bike totalled due to frame damage? It doesn't look all that bad in your pictures. Might consider buying it back and fixing it.

 

[Captain_Rat]

Glad you're okay. Picture 8 makes it look like you left a bone in that field. It's pretty hard to see the extent of the damage to the bike because the pics are from pretty far away. But my guess is that if they're calling it totalled, it's because frame is bent at the neck.

Capt.

 

[R100Pilot]

Did you slip on leaves or debris in the road? Looks kinda wintry there.

At least you're okay.

As for the bike, it probably wouldn't take a lot to call a 2002 totalled - they'll add up every little bit and piece it needs to be perfect, at list price from Triumph. You start adding bars, new switchgear and controls, engine covers, footpegs, a new tank, etc., and it adds up real quick.

After her low-side, the Redhead's America basically had a dent in the tank, bent bars, one mirror missing and a busted clutch lever. Everything else was functional - I even rode it to the shop.

When I saw the insurance adjuster's estimate, it had everything - and I mean everything - that "needed" to be replaced. If it had a scratch on it, it went on the list. Close to $6k worth. Insurance wanted to total it, but ended up negotiating "cosmetic" allowances that brought the repair bill down to around $3K and therefore not totalled.

If you have full coverage, you may be able to do something similar - if there's no frame damage, fix the necessary functional bits now and do the cosmetics bit by bit.

Or, you could just total it out and sell me the whole lot for $500 :-D

 

[Limey]

That sucks. Glad you are ok though, thats really all that matters.

on a lighter note, you can now contribute to the "my worst riding habits " thread. :-D

 

[Guest]

on a lighter note, you can now contribute to the "my worst riding habits " thread. :-D

Yeah - don't think the brakes on a speed triple are the brakes on a new BMW k1200GT with ABS and linked braking

Matt

 

[zooplancton]

man, glad your ok there. that could have gone way wrong!
hard to see a speedy in that position. hope you get back on soon amigo.

how fast were you going? was there any moisture on the road? even the slightest bit?
did the corner sneek up on you? how are the brakes on your bike?

i'm trying to learn from a lot of the posts of riders down just to add to the knowlege belt.
thanks for the pics!
-b

 

[Triple_Rider]

Glad you're ok, too bad about your bike.

 

[Litlgi74]

Hey Mattmor...

Sorry to hear about your crash! I am new here and hoping to get a new Speedy next spring. I just thought it was interesting to hear how close you are to me. I know the road you dumped your bike on... Be glad it wasn't a deer you hit before you dumped your baby! I am from New Tripoli, maybe after you get your new toy fixed up and I actually get one next year, we could take on some twisties in our incredible area...

John

 

[ORCA]

Dude!I was hurting just looking at the pics! I know of a turn off H Hiway that is almost identical to that.. I always hit it low and off seat! Now I think I might slow down. Hey Cheap does that make me a pu--y! Yep it does! I do not have a suit like that. If I went down like that I would be dogfood! I am glad you came out like you did...now its time for the new 1050 right? God was on your shoulder. Sean....

 

[bkrbil]

Ouch! Glad you're okay.

 

[Guest]

On 2006-11-16 14:20, R100Pilot wrote:
Did you slip on leaves or debris in the road? Looks kinda wintry there.

It had been raining for days past. The rode was relatively dry and no leaves. I'm sure it was stictly rider error. Over-zealous braking.

Matt

 

[Guest]

On 2006-11-16 17:23, zooplancton wrote:
man, glad your ok there. that could have gone way wrong!
hard to see a speedy in that position. hope you get back on soon amigo.

how fast were you going? was there any moisture on the road? even the slightest bit?
did the corner sneek up on you? how are the brakes on your bike?

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts.

I had been going probably 60-70 mph. It had been raining in days past - but dried out pretty well. I know the corner well and I was slowing for the corner - obviously a bit too quickly.

The brakes are good (obviously :hammer: ) I had just flushed the whole brake system with new fluid.

Matt

 

[BlackOakTree]

Good to see you walked away from that!

 

[YrfuneralMytrial]

Just went down last Thursday myself. It makes a hell of a story but isn't worth a ***** at the time. It's a terrible feeling huh? Anyway, glad you're okay. Hopefully, we're both "paid up" in the crash dept. for a while. :wink:

 

[Catenaccio]

"Glad you're OK. Bikes can be replaced. You can't."

(Something my father said to me after each vehicle of his I wrecked.)