I just can't win...

[Mark Olson]

That's the spirit 

Go ahead and strip off the broken shifter and foot peg and see if you need other parts and then post up what you need , somebody probably has them lying around .

It's ok to open the Jack and have a few sips , you made it through the crash in one piece .

[Firehawk068]

I don't have a spare bolt, but I do have a spare shifter assembly...............................I know Fred offered one also, but if you need mine it's yours!
And we'll have to share some sips of Jack at a rally sometime...............(I'm partial to Bourbon)

[novaraptor]

Yup..
Carpe Diem.
1. Open the Jack.
2. Make a toast to walking away.
3. Repair the FJ.
4. Ride the FJ to purchase more Jack.
5. Once home, Open the Jack.
6. Make a toast to the rebuilt FJ. Let us know when, so we can toast also..

[Burns]

So I got everything sorted with Progressive, and yeah, they called it totaled. Just as you said, Hooligan, they wanted to try and replace the fairings. Yikes; the price on that estimate that they came up with was scary. At any rate, I opted to do as a couple of you said and took what money they could give me, and bought the bike from them. I took some pictures of the damage and put them here: https://plus.google.com/photos/108064577079251029572/albums/6093548626882746833
I also got the parts list in the form of an estimate from the company. I'm pretty sure I won't bother just yet with half of the stuff they specified, but here's what they figured they would need to replace:
-Clutch Lever (I really don't think this is necessary for now)
-Left Cowl Vent Cover
-Left Footpeg
-Left Footrest Bracket
-Shifter
-Shifter Rod
-Left Mirror (Nor this)
-Generator Cover (I can probably live with this the way it is, or maybe just sand and buff? I dunno.)
-Generator Cover Gasket
-Upper Cowling
-Front Fender


1. If it was not your fault the other guy's insurance is on the hook and they owe you for your injuries.
  question: what did they pay you for the bike (it would be market value) I'd think 3 grand or so which will put you well ahead.
2. I didn't see much damage on the cover ( I think Yamaha calls it an "oil pump cover") but Randy sells "take-off's" pretty cheap (25 bucks if I recall).

[LtPwnzor]

Well, ya see, the police report stated that both drivers involved here were at fault. It sounds funky to me, and I can't figure out what I did to be put at fault along with the other guy. I called the local PD to ask about it, but they gave me a runaround of sorts. The officer who actually typed up the report on the computer doodad told me she was just typing it up as another officer had dictated it to her. He didn't want to handle all our personal effects (ID, insurance cards, etc.) because he was starting to come down with something, and didn't want to pass it on to us. Since he was out sick when I called, I asked the officer I had on the phone (the one who typed up the report) to please explain to me what I had done to be put at fault. I wasn't making a fuss, I was just curious. She gave me an explanation that really didn't help me out at all, and was hard to follow; sorta like trying read Japanese when you know nothing of the language. Basically, what I got out of it was that it was my fault for riding a motorcycle, rather than driving a car. So I'm gonna talk to the guy who supposedly dictated the events to that officer tomorrow, when he gets back from sick leave. Phew; quite the runaround, this whole thing. What a pain in my rear. Also, I had a better look at the damage to my shifter/footpeg area, and it looks like I should be good with just the shifter parts and a footpeg. The rest I think I can work with if I monkey with it. I'm gonna try and find someone (like a friend who has a friend kinda thing, preferably) who knows their way around plastics better than I do to have a look at fixing the fairings; if they try to ask too much, I'll study up, practice up, and do it myself.

[Arnie]

Your "at fault" contribution to the accident was most likely, 'not leaving sufficient distance to safely stop in the assured clear distance'.  Doesn't really matter now as you won't be able to get them to change it anyhow unless you go to court with a swag of "expert witness" testimony.  All of this will cost you many times what the repair will. :-(

If you need a footpeg from an Australian '91, let me know.  I think I also have a clutch lever.

Arnie

[ribbert]

Its called "contributory negligence" and even though the other guys at fault, a portion of the blame is attributed to you for not excercising due caution.
If someone comes through a Stop sign and cleans you up, he's in the wrong, however you cop a percentage of the blame for not approaching the intersection with caution.

Unless you are stationary at an intersection and get rear ended, you are never blameless in the eyes of the law and the insurers.

While this seems, and is, morally wrong, it is the system and you can't fight it.

I had a recent experience of this. I was legally stationary and a guy reversed out into my car door. The insurance company viewed it as 50/50 blame. I had reversed out from an angle car park and as I was about move off the guy next to me backed straight into the side of my car. Stuffed if I can see even remotely how I contributed to that, bit it just isn't worth fighting (and I get free high level legal representation).

Yeah it sucks, but don't dwell on it, move on, get the bike back on the road and enjoy.  You can't beat the system and its not worth trying.

Noel

[FJmonkey]

Here in the states you will be at some level of fault if you were moving. Even in a parking lot... Deal with it... Been there, done that... Fix it and ride it man.

[Burns]

What this discussion misses, is that while allocation of fault is (in some jurisdictions) GROUNDS for proprtionate recovery - with 50/50 being the "lick your own wounds" pivot point -  the DETERMINATION of such a relative allocation is within the power of the Courts, not the police nor the insurance industry.  In the context of the fact pattern presented here, none can state with any certainty what the likely proportions would be.

There is an old Maxim:  "the law does not favor he who sleeps on his rights"

I'm still curious as to what the "totaled" value of this FJ was as well as the salvage-title value (bottom line: net payoff) though.

[LtPwnzor]

Yeah; I was pretty indifferent to the whole contribution dealio. I never intended to make a big fuss over it; I just wanted an explanation from the guy who wrote it up. Turns out he was very nice about it, and gave me a good explanation and all that. We went on thereafter to have a lengthy (and pleasant) conversation about motorcycles, riding habits, bike preferences, etc. Real nice guy, and by the time we finished talking it was me and about 5 other guys (3 cops among them) having an entertaining conversation. So, that settled, all that's left is to get the bike repaired and get back to riding. Also, Burns, the insurance co. valued the bike at somewhere around $2100 or so (I don't remember the exact figures, just what I wound up with after the subtraction of my $500 deductible and the $300-400 salvage value, which came out to be $1300 or so). All in all, I suppose it's not bad for a bike I paid $1500 for. I think.

[Burns]

Not bad at all. Since you weren't hurt I'd chalk the whole thing up as a win. 

[aviationfred]

Made it up to see Mark and his injured FJ.   Spent about 2 hours chatting and talking FJ shop

Had the pleasure of riding 1 1/2 hours in the rain. Good thing it was not cold, 55-60 degrees.

Hopefully the shift linkage assembly will go back together and the frame bolt holes for the foot peg are not buggered up.

My FJ sitting in Lake Charleston. The good side of Marks FJ, the paint job is really gorgeous, even without sunlight.

[Steve_in_Florida]

Hopefully the shift linkage assembly will go back together and the frame bolt holes for the foot peg are not buggered up.

Did you guys attempt to remove the damaged shift linkage parts and foot peg to see any possible frame damage?

THAT will be the key.

Remember, the frame on the later bike features a box construction with an internal captive nut to secure the shifter bolt. (As opposed to the solid frame that's drilled and tapped on the `90 and earlier bikes.)

From the pictures, it looks like the whole foot peg assembly took quite a hit. All of this AND the side plate have to come off to fully assess the damage. Those are the pictures I was hoping to see.

Regardless, IT CAN BE FIXED!

Steve

[LtPwnzor]

Yeah, now that I got the pieces I need (thanks of course to Fred, who came a-riding through the rain to the rescue  ), I'll probably be taking all that apart to get it straightened out. I do know that one of mount points for the footpeg assembly wound up a little cockeyed, but it's pretty thin steel so it shouldn't be hard to coerce it back into its prior orientation. Also, the "captive nut" in question, after close inspection, looks to have been previously (and crummily) welded to a hole in the outer part of the box construct you mentioned, where presumably a previous shifter bolt tore free. Not surprisingly, the crummy weld was what broke rather than the bolt. At any rate, I'll post images and updates as I take this stuff apart.

[LtPwnzor]

https://plus.google.com/108064577079251029572/posts/L2KVjgftb7Q
So I did a little work getting the parts in order, and I think a little welding is going to be required. Luckily, I have a friend who lives just a block or so away that has several different welding machines at his house, and some talent with welding (unlike myself). So unless you guys think it inadvisable, I'm just gonna shift the bike into 1st and putt it over to his house so he can help me get that whiz nut (the one with the flange in the pictures; I had no idea what that particular type of nut was called before yesterday) welded into the spot where the other nut tore out from the crummy weld that held it in place previously. The other bolt there we're gonna try and use to bend the other mount point for the footpeg assembly back into place (hopefully). If that doesn't work, I'm open to suggestions, but I think I'd be able to live with it the way it is. After all that's sorted, all that's left is to put everything back on and she's rolling again. Then comes the plastics work.