Rear Ended

[Cattman]

First I'm fine. Bike is a little bent. I-75 NB in Kentucky on Labor day. Bumper to bumper stop and go traffic, I stopped, the guy behind me needed a few more feet. Adjuster is coming tomorrow. What should I be concerned with besides the obvious cosmetic ones. Bag rails, trunk rail, rear fender, right bag?, trunk mounting bracket, right exhaust and he made contact with the trailer hitch frame. I rode it home to Indiana, but the rear was making some noise by the time I got here. Bearings, tranny?? 

[Pete]

Bent frame or swing arm.
Look for obvious bends and cracks in the paint.
Does the front and rear wheel still line up?

Rear engine mounting points, tweaked, stressed, cracked.

[hubcapsc]

I'd hate to rebuild my bike from scratch, even if it was (insurance) mostly free.

The Cobra bling would be hard to get, but the main thing would be the
work involved in installing horns, moto-lights, heated-gear-hookup,
Cobra lights... the wiring stuff...

Even so, unless you can be pretty sure you don't have anything
wrong with your frame or swingarm or where they bolt together,
you might hope to get totaled and start again with some low mileage
Valkyrie...

Sorry it happened, being rear-ended is what I fear...

-Mike

[TJ]

Glad you're ok...

[KY,Dave (AKA Misunderstood)]

That stinks. I would think unless tearing into it to inspect you will miss things.........

[da prez]

cattman , I was also rear ended (last three accidents) Closely look at all suspension and drive line. Include the brakes. I had problems surface after settling to soon.   

                         da prez

[Jess from VA]

When a bike shop wrecked my bike pretty badly on a test ride (years ago), the shop's insurance company sent a guy clear up from Richmond to carefully inspect the bike.  I met him at the shop and watched his inspection.  In addition to doing my part in pointing out very hard to come-by OE parts, paint, and my bolt-ons, he did his part in checking the frame and mechanical function.  He knew what he was doing.

Many insurance company regular adjusters just do not know motorcycles well enough, beyond simple bump-and-fix stuff... and subcontract out more serious bike accidents to professionals.  Meet your adjuster and watch him work, and if he is obviously under-skilled, ask about an independent contractor adjuster.

And there is nothing wrong with insisting that any settlement agreement contain language like:    However, if any additional damage attributable to the accident is discovered during the rebuild, after verification by our representative (adjuster), we will supplement the settlement as necessary.    This lets the shop get started with payment guaranteed for known parts and labor, but leaves you a window if during rebuild/repair additional problems arise.   Of course a bent frame or other serious hidden damage could total a bike, and ideally it's better to know if that's the case, before the repair and parts collection is started.

[Hooter]

I'd hate to rebuild my bike from scratch, even if it was (insurance) mostly free.

The Cobra bling would be hard to get, but the main thing would be the
work involved in installing horns, moto-lights, heated-gear-hookup,
Cobra lights... the wiring stuff...

Even so, unless you can be pretty sure you don't have anything
wrong with your frame or swingarm or where they bolt together,
you might hope to get totaled and start again with some low mileage
Valkyrie...

Sorry it happened, being rear-ended is what I fear...

-Mike

Thats why we like winter...(if that is possible?  )  We get to fix stuff and clean where it wasn't cleaned all summer. Having a project like that passes the winter away better than setting in a chair.

[Willow]

Keep the bike in your possession.  They will likely total.  Fight for a reasonable price.  Make them show you where you can get a replacement withing a few hundred miles.

After they agree to a good price tell them you want to keep the totaled bike.  They will lower the settlement but the lowering will be less than the value of what you still have.  Maybe most importantly you will still have all your hard to get doodads.

Buy another Interstate and move your hard to get stuff onto it.  Advertise and sell the rest of the good parts on our Classifieds board.

Repeat.  Do not let that bike out of your possession.  While you have the bike you hold the advantage. 

[Pappy!]

Swing arm bearings! One of our Florida riders experienced a bearing failure several years after being hit with apparent but unchecked damage. Was not pretty. He is lucky to still be here.

[Ramie]

When my son flipped his Yamaha Bolt, I went through it twice, made a list of every part with part numbers and prices and gave it to the adjuster.  She had no database for the parts so she took our word for it.  Might be hard to do for you with some parts maybe not easily available but it sure worked for my son.  They added in money for labor and I did all the labor.  covered his deductible and had money left over to add a few accessories.

[Steve K (IA)]

Brian,
Glad to hear you are okay.  Sorry about the bike.  Sounds like you have gotten good advice.
Steve

[Thunderbolt]

Ouch, sorry the guy wasn't paying more attention Brian.  Glad you are O.K.  I think the others have it covered pretty well.  Been a while since we have seen y'all.  I think it was Maggie Valley several years ago.