Kim's Shadow crashed, rider & bike on the mend.

[Tropic traveler]

First things first, it was her brother riding it & he is sore but OK. Seventeen stitches in his head, 2 fractured ribs & the usual road rash. His skillful "laying down" of the bike probably saved his life. We loaned him the Shadow a couple of years ago when he hit a rough patch in his life & it has been his sole mode of transportation ever since.
On Feb. 20 in Palm Bay four "youths" ran from the police after a B & E & during the pursuit they ran him off the road. Some of you Central Florida folks may have seen the story as the dash cam footage was all over the Orlando news. They went on to ditch the smoking car in a back yard then jumped out & ran while the car was still moving. I had arrived home from work that day & flipped on the tube just in time to see the story. I kinda thought the guy in the footage resembled Roland {Kim's brother} but the paramedics were blocking his face. The camera panned over to the bike & I kinda thought the bike looked like a Honda. Naw... what are the chances?
Kim arrives home about 5 minutes later saying that Roland had a wreck on the bike, I said no kidding, just saw it on the TV news. Weird.


Anyhow, since the bike is in her name the towing company would not release it to her brother & we had to drive to Palm Bay Saturday 2/23 to pick it up before the tow bill got any higher. $249.81 later it was on the trailer & on it's way back to Ocala. It was about a 340 mile round trip.

Well, the damage was not as bad as I expected, even rode the bike up on the trailer.



Tweaked the bars, mangled the rear brake pedal & RH footpeg, ruined the Roadhouse 65's slip-ons, both RH signal lamps, mirrors & RH grip, ripped the backrest, & put a little scrape on the tank.
Bike now has 46,000 miles & only books out for around $2500 pre crash, but.... It's Kim's first bike & she wants me to fix it regardless of whether the insurance {HA!} comes through or not.
Since I have it down I'm going to go through it completely maintenencewise. It also needs some TLC as the close to the ocean location it has been in has started to take it's toll.
Started teardown the same day we brought it home.



The teardown continues.

Soaking the rusty chrome in Oxalic acid, kills the rust leaves the chrome.


Found a set of new Roadhouse 65's minus the hardware on E-bay for $209 which is a really good find since all I need are the slip-ons & they are discontinued. Also have about $250 worth of parts on order from HDL & other sources to replace the damaged pieces. Still looking for a nice set of rectangle shaped mirrors similar to Valkyrie mirrors. The ones he had on there were junky.
I will post some more pics as things progress.

[old2soon]

Thank GOD Roland is mostly allright. M/C crashes are like aitcraft crashes in one aspect-anyone you can walk away from is a good one. Prayers up from the Ozarks for Roland. RIDE SAFE.

[R J]

Hope you let the Insurance Company look at it before ya started the tear down.

If not, they, Ins CO, just might walk away and say we won't pay nothing.

Tell your Bro-in-law, sending some long thoughts and prayers hoping he heals well, correctly and in a short time.

PS:  These thoughts and prayers are headed to you from Iowa, and I'm hoping the dang Snow they have predicted for us doesn't drop his low.    Supposedly it is out of Alaska.

[Hooter]

   Lucky boy! Glad he is ok. Isn't this the way it always goes, the innocent pay for someone elses stupidity! May be some restitution in this so you need to keep track of parts and receipts. I'd go after the little asses, but use LE to do it if you can. Not sure how y our prosecutors office works either. My have to seek civil litigation if you wish to pursue it too.  LE did take a report from him right along with some pics?  EDIT:  I went back and looked at the pic again and I see in the 1st pic that there is a LEO (see a sholder patch ?) doing what I believe IS taking pics, and that it is a good thing.

  Got interrupted:  You have pics too so you are in good shape should there be some litigation. Don't lose em they are good evidence. Good luck!  

[WilliamRS]

maybe you can get some money from the state for repairs?
Perhaps from the criminals who were running? or from a 'victims' fund?  or from the inevitable class action lawsuit because, "if the cops weren't chasing them, they wouldn't have been running, so it must be the city/state fault for creating the hazardous conditions"

[Valkernaut]

Be careful with Oxalic acid. The caution on mine says "if injested, death cannot be avoided"!

Jim

[bscrive]

I gather from the 17 stitches in the head that he was not wearing a helmet?  Lucky guy and I am glad he is on the mend and still with us.

[cookiedough]

Bikes can be replaced but people cannot, glad he is doing as well as can be expected.

I just hope your insurance rates do NOT go up because of it.   I would never loan any of my vehicles under my insurance out to anybody for this reason.  The insurance companies don't care who was driving or what happened, it is under your name and that is all they see or care about. 

Even have my dad's old 1986 caprice classic brougham that my mom who is still living doesn't want to sell for 'sentimental' reasons I guess???  but have buyers lined up for it for 800 bucks all day long.  All it does is sit in her garage at her house and since she has no drivers license the DMV now requires someone with a valid drivers license to insure it so the title and insurance are in my name and moms both.  She pays me about 80 bucks every 6 months of NON-use for insurance and keep telling her to sell it since have paid more for insurance now the past 4 years than what the car is worth.   

[Tropic traveler]

Thanks for the kind words & prayers for Kim's brother. He is doing very well, back to work after only 3 or so days off but he is still pretty sore. He was not wearing his helmet. 
Florida does not require insurance on a motorcycle but if you have no insurance you must wear a helmet. So far no LE has noticed that he wasn't. 
Even if the perps family's insurance doesn't pan out I'll foot the repair bill on the bike. Roland has retained a lawyer & hopefully is pursuing all avenues to get his medical bills paid. If there is any left over for the bike repair I'll gladly take it.  I have already contacted the perps insurance company,  the contact info was supplied on the accident report. I am saving all receipts & the damaged parts just in case I see an adjuster. Been over a week & I have heard zippo from them.
Kind of a strange situation here with the injured rider not being the owner of the bike. Throw in the fact that the wreck occured as a result of a police chase & I have no idea what direction any settlement will take. I hope that some of his riding buds will have a "fund run" or something for him. He could use it at this point!
Regardless the bike will be back on the road & probably back to Roland before too long. I hope he will learn something from this accident & keep his lid on always! He has one but I think he suffers from the "don't I look cool" syndrome. 
When I get done the little Shadow will be in tip top shape with very little evidence of it's rough time. I am going to leave the quarter sized scrape on the right side of the gas tank as a reminder. Call it "character". 

How it used to look.

[Hooter]

   Now I've learned something today. No insurance necessary on scooters in Florida. Didn't know that! Need to talk with the investigating officers and request restitution so when this puke goes to court. It may then become part of the record if the prosecuting attourney knows this. IF there should be a plea agreement this may be part of it as well. A plea is a very good possibility with dash cams now. IT may also show the accident??

[Tropic traveler]

   Now I've learned something today. No insurance necessary on scooters in Florida. Didn't know that! Need to talk with the investigating officers and request restitution so when this puke goes to court. It may then become part of the record if the prosecuting attourney knows this. IF there should be a plea agreement this may be part of it as well. A plea is a very good possibility with dash cams now. IT may also show the accident??

I don't think the LEO dash cam caught the bike wreck. Roland was 50 yards or so behind the LEOs & the perp was traveling the opposite way. When the LEOs started to turn on the perp he immediately hit the gas & turned right in front of Roland forcing him to lay it down or hit them directly in the side. The dash cams were pointed the opposite way of the bike incident. I'm assuming the LEOs called in the bike wreck while pursueing.
A correction on the Florida insurance requirements. You can go lid-less with a minimum of $10,000 injury coverage, otherwise helmet is required. 

Roland is healing & I'm waitin' on parts.   

[Tropic traveler]

Well, here is the Shadow today, not done but gettin' closer. All new pipes except for the repainted tips. Looks cool in black!


Put a bullethole sticker over the sealed with paint tank scrape.

Haven't started on the front end but I did polish the risers, cleaned & fixed the cables, levers, & handlebars. Headlight is cleaned & ready to be reinstalled.

Cleaned up the RH fork tube a bit. Looks much better than the LH side! When I get the forks off to replace the seals I'm going to polish the fork lowers... they are nasty!


Also I made an executive decision & Roland is not going to get the Shadow back. The Shadow has sentimental value to Kim & I so to that end I snagged this for Roland.

Super clean 1995 Virago 750. Lots of accessories & only 20,000 miles. It will be all his to do with as he sees fit. He is doing very well & just needs a way to get back & forth to work.
I think this will do just fine. 



I'll post more pics when the Shadow is done. 

[donaldcc]

Also I made an executive decision & Roland is not going to get the Shadow back. The Shadow has sentimental value to Kim & I so to that end I snagged this for Roland.

Super clean 1995 Virago 750. Lots of accessories & only 20,000 miles. It will be all his to do with as he sees fit. He is doing very well & just needs a way to get back & forth to work.
I think this will do just fine. 

What a NICE guy! 

[Tropic traveler]

Also I made an executive decision & Roland is not going to get the Shadow back. The Shadow has sentimental value to Kim & I so to that end I snagged this for Roland.

Super clean 1995 Virago 750. Lots of accessories & only 20,000 miles. It will be all his to do with as he sees fit. He is doing very well & just needs a way to get back & forth to work.
I think this will do just fine. 

What a NICE guy! 

Yeah, I guess I am.
I'm a bit selfish though, I may start riding the Shadow back & forth to work.    That damn thing gets high 50's MPG! Might have to weld me on some "highway pegs" where they should be... right under the rider!!

[Tropic traveler]

Progress report.
Forks & front wheel removed.


Rusty fork dust seals. They don't like salt air!


Before pic. Gonna clean up & try my new found aluminum polishing skills on the lowers.



Ordered a cat-eye tail light kit to clean up the back end of the bike & get rid of that "lunch box" stock light.  Also have some other little goodies coming to replace some of the scarred or rusted pieces. Thinking about making a custom sissy bar just to change the look up a bit. 

I'm having way too much fun doing this!

[old2soon]

Can't recollect the year Virago i had but i believe it was like 920 C Cs? I do KNOW the first time i twisted the wick hard-the pinion tried to climb the ring gear. And that to say the least is a weird feeling the first couple of times.  Was a fun little M/C that was easy on gas.  Good luck on Kims ride and good catch on the Yammy.  RIDE SAFE.

[Tropic traveler]

The one I bought is a 750. HP is rated at 53 I think. Kim's Shadow is rated at 45. Having only distant memories of how the Honda felt when I twisted the throttle, the Virago felt a bit stronger. Yamaha always did know how to make horsepower!

[old2soon]

When i was stationed in Japan i raced Yamaha. I had direct access to factory racing parts. Got back to the states and went mostly Honda til i found that Virago. And needless to say-VERY happy with my Valkyrie.  RIDE SAFE.

[Tropic traveler]

Been trying out my amateur polishing skills on the forks.
From this...


To this...


This was with one pass. I have worn the buffing wheel down to a nub! Gonna buy a couple more buffing wheels & try the finest polishing compound I have. Not trying to make a show bike but just wanna make it stand out a bit. Going to turn it into a solo rider only, maybe fab up a taller sissy bar to give it a little attitude.
This is fun!

[Tundra]

Looks great Eddie Did you wet sand or just go straight to the buffer?

[Tropic traveler]

Looks great Eddie Did you wet sand or just go straight to the buffer?

Had to wire wheel off the Honda clearcoating but after that straight to the buffer using the red compound. I was amazed at how much better it looked after just one pass. 

Doug, if you have the time tomorrow, why don't y'all ride up to Champions Honda with John? I can't attend the lunch but would still like to see you guys!