Ok... I just T-boned a car tonight?

[Mongo]

Ok.... I just T-bone a car tonight, I almost got the bike stopped before the crash and didn't break any bones just very sore. Front fender is trashed. I hit the Ranger pickup between his front wheel and the front bumber. My question is HOW DO I TELL IF MY FORKS ARE OK OR NOT ????? The driver was ticketed and has State Farms.

[Big Rig]

Mongo,

Tough break ...Glad you are ok. Some one was watching over you

[ChromeDome]

Glad to hear you are OK ... don't know the answer to your question ... just gladd you are OK.

[R J]

Ok.... I just T-bone a car tonight, I almost got the bike stopped before the crash and didn't break any bones just very sore. Front fender is trashed. I hit the Ranger pickup between his front wheel and the front bumber. My question is HOW DO I TELL IF MY FORKS ARE OK OR NOT ????? The driver was ticketed and has State Farms.

If you trashed the front fender, you can be pretty safe in saying the forks are bent.....

Also look up by the steer head and see if the paint has cracked or buckled.  If it has, you have a bent frame also......

[ArmyValker]

wow... your are extra lucky. Hope insurance will cover some of your cost!

[valk2128]

Had a similiar accident last year with my prior motorcycle, a 2003 Honda Sabre.  I wound up laying the bike down. I was sore for a week or 2. The other driver was ticket for failure to yield the right of way and leaving the scene.  I  contacted there insurance and they paid for everything (emergency room visit, rental car, and my bike).  Their insurance comany totaled my bike, when the cost of repair reaches 80 % of the value of the bike the insurance copany total it.  Just stay on top of their insurance company.  There is a good article on dealing with insurance companies after an accindent on one of the forums, I will try to find it and forward it to you.  Glad you are okay.

[Slyk Willy]

Sorry 'bout the accident Mongo, glad you're OK! Not smart enuf to tell you about your forks, just glad you're OK.

[Keith in SC]

To see if the forks are bent will take some work once your up and about.

Gotta remove them from the bike, the lay them on a large flat surface.  (Kitchen counter when Momma aint home???)  Give the forks a roll, if there is any bend, you'll see it real quick.  You might be able to do it without removing from the bike, but the wheel and brakes will still need to be removed.  Once you have those off, try to rotate the lowers, you might see some runout if bent.

Fancy way is if you can  chuck them up in some 'Vee' blocks  (ask a machinist friend), and rotate against a dial indicator.


Good luck, and hope your back on the road soon.

Keith in SC

[R J]

I forgot one thing.

Replace the steer head bearings and races regardless if the forks are bent.

I'll guarantee you they have little dents in them from the ball bearings smacking then in the impact.

Those are overlooked by most Insurance adjusters.

[Mongo]

I think I remember more this morning.  It seems my front wheel went into his wheelwell, with my tire hitting the front edge of his tire and the top side of my fender hitting his fender. The wheel and handlebars swung to the right and tossed me off the bike to the left. Right wrist and right side ribs are very sore, I guess the handlebars jammed them. Had my ZEUS Modular helmet on but still got a bloody nose. The I/S bike came to rest on the highway pegs and the bars under the saddlebags. It did not go all the way over  My brother in-law came over and pulled the fender off the wheel and was able to ride it home.

Thanks everyone for all of the advice

[SANDMAN5]

Glad you're OK!!!! Been there, done that! Make SURE you check the
frame as mentioned!!

[LemonDrop]

Glad you are okay...  I'm thankful it wasn't any worse

[Ken Tarver]

Hey Mongo
I'm glad you are not hurt too bad, and mostly just have some soreness. You and I are in the lucky club. I almost t-boned one myself about 10 days ago on my GW. Was able to swerve around, but in the push-push manuever, the force of the trailer against the rear of the bike threw me like a high side. The bike is fine, 2 little "dings" and like you, I'm beat up some and still sore.
By the way, the woman left the scene as soon as the intersection cleared, no one got a tag number.
I hope you are all better real soon.
Ken

[RedValk]

I'd say it sounds like you did the correct thing.....and braked and maintained control to the bitter end. And therefore, no doubt, things turned out MUCH BETTER...than the situation where folks "lay a bike down". i always preach brake, brake, brake...to the bitter end...cause you just might stop before impact, and if not, the damage is MUCH less.

Sounds like you did all you could. Glad to hear things didn't turn out too bad....and sounds like you did some good braking technique to minimize impact! 

hope the bike is not too bad too........

[stormrider]

Glad you are okay. As for "Snake Farm Insurance" They are horrible to deal with, at least my expericence. My son was rearended by one of their clients in Sept 07. Minor injuries. Bike totaled. The crash was not real significant, dealing with State Farm was. I put in over a hundred hours collecting info and forwarding it to them so they could lose it and have to start all over again. They only paid out $3500 to my son but if I had it to do over again I'd turn it over to an attorney just for all the paper work. Even the three attorneys I talked to said to expect that amount but still not worth the hassle for any amount. BTW, they were supposed to pay all medical bills as well. They overlooked one. We were notified by the sherrifs office that we had x number of days to respond or go to court. Jeeze. This was Feb 09, a year and a half later.
No matter how trivial, I'd get an attorney to deal with those guys. The lady we had at Progressive, my sons carrier, said she used to work for State Farm. They have laid off lots of workers and that things had gotten to be a shamble before she left several years ago.

Hope you get your bike back up soon.

[C908]

Just remember like a good neighbor State Farm is there. Ha!

[R J]

Just remember like a good neighbor State Farm is there. Ha!

Yup, they are there alright, with their damn hands out for your $$$$, and if ya have a claim you can't find em.  They had covered all my stuff, house, jewelry, vehicles, furniture and etc for about 40 + years.

So, 6 years ago they pulled that crap on me and raised my rate(s) on everything.   Peed me off and their excuse was not in my tone of acceptance, so canceled every firkin policy I had with them and went with Shelter, and added a million $$$ Umbrella policy for about $300 less than I was paying to State Farm..

Finally 6 months later I get a call asking why I canceled everything out.       Told em why and he said, oh that rate increase was a mistake, can we issue new policies.   I said, ya, you can, but when ya get em done, walk into the head honcho's office, tell him to drop his drawers, bend over and grab his ankles, from there, you already know where to put em, the SOB hung up on me.... LOL.

[Mongo]

Here are a couple of photos. The truck shows more damage then the Valk. If you look at the Bike fender it doesn't look like it was a very hard hit, but then looking at the truck's bent steel bumber you have to wonder how the forks can't be damaged?