Maria's Fully Repaired

Even though she's been back home with me since 08JUL08, she came home with her damaged fairings replacements on backorder through the Beemer dealer: LINK

Yesterday I rode her to the dealer and left her with them since they finally had time to take off her damaged right main panel and her front panel surrounding the headlight and put on the new ones which had been sitting in their staging area since the end of July I think.

There had been no rush or need for me to pressure them for an earlier date since I had Brigitta to supply my daily riding "fix" and you could hardly tell the plastic was damaged on Maria. Heck, I usually had to point it out to people.

Today was a rainy day here in the Denver Metro Area, but no matter, for I was able to pick up Maria at the dealer and ride her to work. The rain was light and soft on the way there, so light I didn't bother to put on my rain gear.

Maria was alone in the work parking lot, getting soaked all day as I worked, waiting for the worst of the rain to clear.

By 1530, I was ready to go, it was still raining pretty good so I went through the PITA ritual of donning my raingear. My loving wife calls it the banana suit since it's bright yellow. I figure it keeps me dry and perhaps the cagers out there in the rain with me will actually see me.

The ride home was pretty uneventful, just rain and droplets on the helmet visor to deal with. As always, I rode very timidly on the curves where normally I like to exercise good "lean" angles. Cagers pretty much gave me my space, possibly to avoid burning out their retinas as their headlights shone on my yellow rain gear.

Maria is Home!

I rode to and from work today on Brigitta, came home in some light rain with some strong winds thrown in for good measure.

After failing to line up a ride to the beemer dealer with my neighbor, I had a thought and called the dealer...they agreed to send their truck out to pick me up! Now that's service, or they couldn't put up with another day of me asking about my motorcycle! : )

I got there shortly before 530pm, exchanged some clamps for the R80, and took receipt of Maria....she looked....GREAT! The right fairing is still on order but her damaged fairing mounts up well, the new mirror seemed secure enough and the damage is barely noticeable under the right mirror mount:

The rough triangular area is all that's visible of the damaged area

I have to tell you, she felt like the size of the Titanic when I got on her after more than 32 days of not riding her and riding Brigitta instead during most of that period! Wow, I thought, she's a big beastie, was my initial thought!

All grins, I think the people nearby must have heard me chuckling to myself in my glee, I fired her up and felt her big bulk come to life under me. It was a great feeling.

I rode her home in rush hour traffic and was not able to open her up till I got on Quincy Road. By then I had somewhat re-familiarized myself with her shifting requirements and throttle response. Very much different from the R80 which requires more forceful shifting motions shall we say?

I was all grins as I got used to riding Maria again, taking familiar delight on the curves and remembering how quiet she is really, I believe the R80 is louder!

Back to one foot being on the ball of the foot when standing astride her at stoplights though. She's definitely wider and higher up than Brigitta in that respect! Its remarkable how different the two motorcycles are from each other.

I did a victory circle around the cul-de-sac once I got home before parking her next to Brigitta and making the introductions:

The Girls

You'll note the missing reflective black material I need to replace

Introductions over with, I took some pictures of her new right profile items, excepting of course the big right-side fairing. That'll come in some day. In the meantime, her old fairing looks just fine to my eyes:

New mirror housing, valve cover and valve cover guard

Those Beemer "Jugs" sure are tough, the cover took all the damage along with some wiring to the spark plug!

I am still grinning as I type this, I called my loving wife with the good news and she sounded glad as well that Maria was back home where she belongs.

Her replacement topcase is on order as well, I recovered the damaged one for parts and such. I have to now find out if the insurance company will pay for the black reflective stickers I had on the old lid that was damaged.

Hoping to bring Maria home tomorrow

Not sure why I did not think of this before today, it should have been the first thing out of my mouth when the BMW of Denver's service manager told me they had all the parts needed for Maria except for the right side main fairing which was on backorder.

I got a call from Progressive Insurance "updating" me with this information again today and I asked the agent if I could just ride Maria without the fairings while I waited for the backordered fairing to arrive. The agent said he was fine with it, up to the dealer really.

I hung up with Progressive and called up the dealer. Took me a while to get through to them since they were really busy today. Ended up going through the General Manager who got the word to the service manager about me taking Maria home sans fairings.

I am happy to report they both agreed and they'll start putting Maria back together tomorrow, there's a good chance I'll be getting a call from them saying to come pick her up. Just in time for the long weekend! Here's pictures of when I had Maria without fairings on a test ride after her 54k Miles Services:





Not too bad looking, am sure it'll catch people's eye, specially other RT riders!

I sure hope I can bring her home tomorrow. She's a much better long distance tourer, I bet, even without her fairings than the R80. Wish me luck.

A Delay due to Plastic and minor sorting out for Brigitta

I went by the Beemer dealer yesterday to pick up some sundry parts of Brigitta that were either missing or needed OEM replacement.

While I was there, the service manager stopped to talk to me and said all the repair parts had arrived for Maria, the 1150RT except for the large right side plastic fairing piece. This piece is on backorder with no real status as to it's arrival. I guess it's good that I got my spare bike Brigitta eh? I can't imagine how I would deal with no riding for however long that backordered item takes to arrive! It could be weeks, perhaps months! Arrrrgggghh.

Part #1 above is what's backordered

About Brigitta, my now main motorcycle for the near future, she needed a new brake line clamp, #11 in below diagram:



She was also missing one of two tension springs for her centerstand, #2 below:

Brigitta came to me with only two keys, one for the ignition (not the original one) and one key for the hardbags. Neither key would lock the seat and so someone could remove the seat and steal the toolkit and whatever else I'd stored in the tail section. Not good, so I decided to get a key coded with original keycode from BMW and lo and behold, now I can lock the seat. One more key to carry around of course, someday I'll probably remove the seat lock mechanism and have it keyed to the hardbag key perhaps.

The only thing I can't lock on Brigitta now is her steering lock. Not sure it's a priority.

Finally, I had the vintage bike mechanic at the beemer dealer look at Brigitta's rubber fork covers, #18 below. He approved of their use but confirmed I need to order the clamps for the upper end, #19 below:

So far, no major expensive parts needed for Brigitta, which is good since we recently received the bill for my Emergency Room visit after the accident. Yikes.

Riding Skittishly

So, while I do have a great excuse for doing so, its still weighing on my mind that I am riding the R80 in a very skittish fashion.

Yeah, I recently had a crash and it's a new to me bike the R80, I'm relearning the art of manual braking instead of ABS braking and my shoulder still has the occasional twinge (but not while riding).

So I've got plenty of excuses for my ultraconservative riding style; I have to build up my confidence up a bit more on the R80, she and I are getting used to each other slowly but surely. She sure is a different motorcycle than what I am used to. Her lack of any fairings and windshield increase one's "exposed" feeling as well.

This is not to say I rode like a squid before the crash! Not at all, but I used to lean the motorcycle more into the turns before, and barely do much leaning now.

Hopefully, as my confidence on the R80's cornering abilities grows; and I know they can turn much better than my 1150RT; it will bring back some of the "fun" of riding a motorcycle. You know, the feeling that you are "one" with the motorcycle and you don't have to concentrate to make it go where you want it to, that feeling. Right now, it's mostly a mechanical exercise to me, still better than a car. : )

Apparently, I've a KBC Head

My first and only motorcycling helmet has been a KBC Silver FFR helmet.

I bought it, in the dazed minutes after signing the contract for my first bike, a 2006 Honda Shadow Aero. It fit well, was a flip up that I could keep my glasses on while putting it on and the color matched my new bike. How little I knew of motorcycling then.

My recent crash now necessitates my buying a new replacement helmet as the integrity and soundness of mine is in question. It's also pretty scratched up from apparently rubbing on the pavement during my sliding on the I-70 superslab.


Over the last week, I've gone to several helmet dealers looking at SHOEIs, ARAIs, ICONs, and HJCs. They either did not fit in terms of my chin touching or nearly touching the chinbar, or did not have the right color available (ICON) or simply I did not like their fit.

Yeah, my hurt shoulder hurt each and every time I pulled a new helmet onto my head, specially the full face versions.

There I was ready to spend almost $500 for a Shoei and it wouldn't fit!

So I ordered online for the same model helmet from KBC but in White this time for more conspicuity. It should be here Tuesday of this week I hope.

The above pic shows the helmet I ordered

Though in Silver, these pics show the flipup and dark visor options I'll have

Overall, I've been satisfied with the KBC FFR Flipup helmet:

It protected my noggin obviously during the crash. I apparently did not impact on the chin bar since there's no scratches though.

It vents "ok" in the summer though I confess I tend to crack the visor open a bit for more air.

Great during winter riding, with a balaclava underneath of course.

It's subject to wind noise at highway speeds while on Maria but not on Brigitta, so Maria's fairings are causing part of the problem? Hmmm.

It's not the lightest of helmets, it starts hurting the top of my head a bit after about 4-6hrs of riding, specially if I don't take it off during fuel stops.

During heavy rain, it tends to allow a drop or two in, on the inside of the visor.

Check the screws holding the flipup component in place, they do come loose sometimes!

It lasted over 36k miles, a little over two years....probably would have been fine for at least two more if not for the accident.

I love the dark green visor option. I'll be keeping the visors when I turn the old helmet in to the insurance office, once my new helmet is on my head!

Cleared to Ride

Saw my "regular" doctor today, he looked at the xrays, confirmed the separated shoulder diagnosis given by the ER. After conferring with the ortho guys, he said that surgery for this type of injury usually is ineffective and same for physical therapy.

I just have to let things heal on their own and do exercises that build up the muscles around the shoulder area.

The important question was: When can I ride a motorcycle again? He said, up to you, anytime you feel ready to do so! This was, of course, the answer I sought and hoped for.

Hopefully the insurance guy gets around to looking at Maria soon, I'm being told there were several claims this weekend and they're quite busy apparently. Wednesday looks like the earliest they can get to my motorcycle. Hopefully I'll hear from the beemer dealer soon after with an estimate on how long it'll take to fix her up.

Since my cage gets 11mpg, and I commute 44 miles round trip to work every day, I even got the green light from my loving wife to explore the purchase of a "spare" bike for such occasions when Maria is down for repairs or maintenance or the weather is just crappy for large street bikes.

I am thinking a URAL sidecar rig perhaps. Perhaps the 2WD model which can handle snow/mud/gravel with no problems. Whether I seriously pursue one now or do more research will depend on how long before Maria is repaired of course.

Any suggestions from the peanut gallery on what to get as a spare bike? A 650GS perhaps, or a KTM? Not another big bike like Maria, a small commuter type bike.

The Nokia N800 Tablet comes through the crash just fine

My Nokia N800 Internet Tablet which I use for GPS, Music Player and Internet access was on the motorcycle when I had my crash two days ago.

It was mounted using the Proclip holder and Ram mount accessories as mentioned previously on this blog: LINK

Since it's only friction and gravity that hold the N800 in place with the Proclip holder, it naturally came loose during the crash and subsequent sliding on I-70.

When I got to my motorcycle to try and pick it up, I noticed it lying on the ground beside Maria and figured it was toast; though the display was still lit up. I threw it in my tankbag along with all the other contents that had come out (I had it only half zipped up) and went to try and pick up my bike.

I was perusing all the gear I got from my motorcycle yesterday and set aside the N800 since it was all crusted over with dried up mud and pretty scratched up, gave it a day to "dry" since last I'd seen it on the highway, it had ice particles all over it.

I turned it on yesterday and she works just fine! Wheeew! As you can see below, the faceplate is pretty scratched up but the LCD screen is undamaged. Not too bad eh?

N800 while using rdesktop to remote into my laptop at home

yep, pretty scratched up

While I surely don't recommend trying this out with electronics such as the N800, its gratifying to know that the events leading to its getting scratched up did not lead to its destruction. Once I get my motorcycle back, will have to figure out a way to keep the N800 in its holder, no matter what until I want it out.

Here's what an AC separation looks like

AC Separation: Acromioclavicular Separation

In addition to quick and efficient treatment from the St. Anthony's Summit Health Center ER, they sent me home with a CD containing the x-ray shots they'd taken of my shoulder. I am supposed to give them to my regular physician on Monday for his examination I guess.

Here's a graphic of the shoulder area from steadman-hawkins.com: LINK





Following are the x-rays I was provided, the first one makes the separation look really bad, but I think its the angle it was shot at. The second one seems more reasonable?


I am thinking that the ligament that binds the end of the clavicle to the acromion is invisible to X-rays, so it looks like there's a complete separation between the bones when there's actually still something holding them together. Looks kind of freaky though, doesn't it?

I am hoping its a Type 1 separation as shown above. I'll find out tomorrow I guess.

I've been able to dispense with using the arm sling since yesterday afternoon. I've got perhaps 80-90% range of motion back in my shoulder and can lift light objects like helmets above my head now. I am, like the ER nurse told me, using "pain as my guide". If I sit for a while without moving the right shoulder, it's a little sore when I move it again but gets better for a while.

Visiting Maria at the dealer's "awaiting repairs" lot

I went to see Maria today, she's waiting for the insurance agency's inspection this coming week to see if she's fixable and at what cost. Kind of depressing to see her in the lot like this:


I took her top case off and used it to hold all the stuff I carry both under her pillion seat and in the "glove compartment". Man, I carry a lot of stuff. This is probably a good time to review why I carry this stuff around with me.

I put the damaged right side system case back on for the insurance agent's review, I think it only needs to have the lid replaced:

Road Rash City

This lid is toast

Here's some more shots of the areas which took the brunt of the sliding on pavement:

The mirror mounting studs are "ground down", note the fused plastic on the fairing

The right side mirror housing, toast...amazingly the mirror itself is fine

Finally, some closeup shots of the right side valve cover:





Not much else to say for today, guess I'll go get myself a drink for "medicinal" purposes.

Went down on way to Two Bits Rally

Today was supposed to be the day for the Two Bits Rally starting in Frisco, CO. My first taste of Rally activities similar to a "scavenger" hunt while riding a motorcycle along a base route.

Instead it was my first taste of a high speed crash on a motorcycle.

BLUF: Bottom Line Up Front: I am ok, just a separated shoulder. Practicing ATGATT and wearing a helmet and Cycleport gear paid off today I am here to tell you.

Frisco, CO is on the other side of the Eisenhower Tunnel on I-70, enabling people to cross the Continental Divide. I was approaching this tunnel and had just passed the Loveland Pass Exit when I saw a car with a boat trailer in tow almost jackknife several cars ahead. All traffic started slowing down as they saw this including me.

At the same time I was slowing, what had been wet roads with dry channels made by previous cars became just wet roads and temperatures dropped into the mid thirties. They'd been dropping steadily since Idaho Springs.


I was considering moving over to the shoulder and slowing way down when I felt the front wheel of the bike sliding over to the left on its own volition. I believe I hit a patch of ice that caused this. Yep, ice in June. I wrongly but instinctively rolled off the throttle and I believe that caused my rear wheel to spin and it started moving sideways and forwards on my right. Before I could react, I had hit the pavement and was sliding. I could hear Maria sliding away from me as I finally slid to a stop.

I got up quickly and found myself in the right lane of the two lane I-70 westbound superslab. I looked back and saw that the cars behind me had managed to stop upon seeing me go down. My right shoulder hurt but I trotted over to my motorcycle and used the kill switch. The four way flashers were on, I did not activate them, I wonder if that's some kind of feature?

Regardless, I went to position myself to pick up the bike and that's when I felt a shooting pain in my right shoulder! I could not pick her up. Two guys from two different cars ran over and helped me pick Maria up and wheel her to the north side shoulder of the road.

Upon ascertaining I seemed to be OK, one of the two left to keep going. Randy the one who stayed offered to give me a ride to the hospital in Silverthorne which was the next town past the tunnel. I gladly accepted his offer. Thanks very much Randy and Rhonda, you are truly good samaritans and I will be forever grateful.

All this happened between 0630 and 0645 I think as I was riding to Frisco to check in to the Two bits Rally.

We briefly surveyed the damage to Maria. Her right side mirror had popped off and was toast. The right side valve cover had worn through to the inside and oil was leaking out. The spark plug connector and wire were also toast. Where the mirror mounts, the fairing itself had been ground down by the sliding on the pavement. Damn.

So we left Maria by the side of the road and went to Silverthorne. Turns out they don't have a hospital so we continued on to Frisco, the next town. On the way through Frisco I spotted the Holiday Inn where the other motorcyclists were gathered and pointed them out to Randy and his wife. On the way to Frisco, Randy offered up his cellphone and I checked in with my wife to tell her I was OK and that I'd been in an accident. I had a phone, just could not dig it out of my side pocket.

We get to the ER at St. Anthony's Summit Health Center and I was processed in. Randy and Rhonda took off at this point to notify the guys at the rally that I'd gone down.

The nurse and doctor checked me out and I diagnosed me as having a separated shoulder. They gave me some ibuprofen at my request and gave me a sling and after some x-rays, I was discharged. I am so glad I was wearing ATGATT, that helmet and cycleport gear paid for themselves today.

The helmet was scratched up on the right side, I guess I ended up scraping it along the pavement. The Cycleport jacket's shoulder and right sleeve took the brunt of the crash apparently where I slid along the pavement. That kevlar stuff was barely scuffed! The only damage was that the reflective strip on the right slip had come loose along a 5 inch portion. This is good gear! I believe the shoulder armor was responsible for preventing really major damage to my right shoulder.

While being treated, Phil of the COG (Concours Owners Group), one of the riders in the Two Bits Rally stopped by to check on me and make sure all was well. Thanks Phil!

I was discharged by 0830 or so and I started making calls, to the insurance company (Progressive, great service so far), arrange a tow by Motorcycle Transportation Services who'd done right by me before when I had a flat tire (another good outfit) and the beemer dealer to let them know a wounded bike was going to be showing up.

Matt, of Motorcycle Transportation Services, made it up to Frisco just before noon. There'd been construction traffic slowing things down on the slab. He'd picked up Maria beforehand and then he picked me up at the hospital in Frisco and took me home! Now that's service above and beyond the call!

Maria inside Matt's Motorcycle Towing Van

Hard to tell, but the mounting studs and part of the plastic
were ground down by the slide on pavement

This valve cover is toast as is the spark plug assembly/wiring

I was home shortly after 1400hrs, Matt continued on to the beemer dealer to drop off Maria. I spend the afternoon taking it easy and sorting out the gear I'd taken off the bike before Matt took her to the dealer to await Progressive Insurance's verdict and hopefully eventual repair.

My helmet on the other hand, is toast, I'll be getting a new one through Progressive Insurance.



RE the Cycleport gear, it came through and did its job with flying colors. The parts that did get scuffed up by the pavement don't even show on the camera! Very mild scuffing is what it looks like. Like a I mentioned the only damage I could really find was the seams had ripped that held part of the reflective strip on the right sleeve in place. I think I'll be sending it back to Cycleport for their evaluation though to make sure all is well.

All in all, I was pretty fortunate with this 40mph+ fall off my motorcycle. I've always been a follower of ATGATT and now have the personal proof to go with it. If the motorcycle is repairable, I expect she'll be fixed way before I'm healed up and ready to ride again. It appears to be six to eight weeks before I heal.