A Tangled Web

Don't ride a rare bike to work....

I just learned a hard lesson the week before last - don't ride a rare, irreplaceable bike to work! I was on my way to the office on my newly-acquired 1996 Bimota BB1 Supermono on a sunny Tuesday morning, when all of a sudden a car changed lanes right into me. This was on I-238 between I-580 and I-880 where they're doing construction and there's no shoulder, just a temporary concrete divider. It happened so fast that I had almost no time to react, and the car hit my right side, knocking me straight towards the concrete divider. I managed to veer away from that but the bike went completely out of control (even though I couldn't have been going more than 35mph) and finally fell down on its left side. My helmet never even hit the pavement but I got some nasty bruises on my right thigh, left knee, right forearm, and both hands. Of course I was wearing full protective gear so there was no road rash. I'm lying on the pavement and the driver of the car stopped behind me, got out, ran up and asked if I was ok, then started apologizing, saying she didn't see me.

Eventually the paramedics and CHP arrived, and the paramedics insisted on strapping me to a backboard and taking me to the ER in an ambulance even though I had been walking around when they arrived. I should have just refused to go, there was nothing wrong with me other than some bruises. My bike got towed away, and I am sure I could have ridden it home even though the shift lever was broken.

Oh, and here's the really good part - the insurance information I was given by the other driver is invalid! Perfect. Add insult to injury. Thank you very much.

Here are a few pictures of the damage. It looks minor, but there's no way to get replacement bodywork, or even the decals for a full paint job. I'm trying to get a shift lever as it's the same one used on a few other Bimota models (you can see where it is broken off in the second picture). It might take some time to find a painter who can restore this to its original look. I may be able to get custom decals made too, at a cost. The only lucky thing is that the bodywork is not plastic, it's fiberglass, so it can be repaired.

Posted at 10:56PM Oct 08, 2008 by mwhite in Motorcycle Mania  |  Comments[2]