Totaled bike, I think, what to do???

[rhend...@blue-60.com]

Looks like my 1997 Triumph Sprint Sport is totaled.

I hit a deer on November 1st, I was going between 50 and 60mph going
around a left hand curve and I never saw the whole deer, I saw a
movement on the right and then it was right in front of the bike.
Pretty much see it, hit it.

Looking at the bike, my helmet, jacket, chaps, boots and gloves I am
pretty sure that the bike and I went down on our right side, once on
the ground the bike and I stayed down and slide to a stop. I was
knocked out immediately and woke up with at least 3 people standing
near me all talking on their cell phones. I never got up, when the
ambulance arrived they strapped me to a back board. Before I got
hauled away I was told the deer was dead and the bike was about 30
feet down the road from me.

I took a ride in the ambulance to the trauma center and got a lot of
x-rays and a cat scan of my head. Net for me was a broken collarbone.

The bike has about $5,000+ worth of damage. Most of it is cosmetic,
but the front end is currently twisted and it is difficult to tell if
there is any damage to the frame. Service manager and mechanic at
the dealership advise against trying to repair. This has been a
really good bike for me, but I don't want to try and fix it all up
and then end up unhappy with the way it rides.

The bike had 56,000 miles and was in excellent condition, all
maintenance was current. Michelin Pilot II tires w/ 3200 miles on
them. Brake rotors had been replaced and the calipers were cleaned
and all seals replaced 10,000 miles ago. It has an Ohlins shock,
gold valved forks, corbin seat, heated grips, Genmar risers
Yoshimura silencers (one is pretty scuffed). I started it up when I
viewed it at the dealers and it runs just as sweet as ever. In the
56k miles, I have never had to add any oil between changes and all
oil changes were done at 3000 mile intervals.

So, my questions for the wisdom of the group, based on that information,...

Anybody repaired a Sprint with damage like this?

Any ideas/guesses on the frame being bent?

The insurance company values the bike at "blue book" $2,300 then they
cover cost of up to $3,000 for added parts for a total of $5,300.
Is this a reasonable valuation?

The insurance company values the salvage at $1,200. I can keep the
bike if I take $1,200 less. Anyone with experience parting a Triumph
of this vintage out? Is there more than $1,200 worth of parts there?
Worth doing it yourself?

And if there is someone looking for a bike like this to part out or
rebuild I'd be happy to talk.

By the way, wearing a full face helmet and all the other gear really
worked out for me in all this. If you are riding in something other
than a full face helmet, I'd be glad to send you a picture of my
helmet.

Thanks for the help.

Ridge Henderson

[Ken Thompson]

At 03:03 PM 11/25/2008 - rhend...@blue-60.com offered:

>This has been a
>really good bike for me, but I don't want to try and fix it all up
>and then end up unhappy with the way it rides.

At 56K, it's prolly not worth repair, LOL but I'll give you $200 for the carbs

Ken T. from Ca.

don't ask me about oil prices

95' Trident, 02' Bonneville, 06' Tiger
http://sites.google.com/site/kentfrmca/

[Ian Ellison]

Buy another, buy the salvage, and put your bling on the new bike then
part and sell the rest. A friend here in the UK broke a tatty early
Tiger and got twice the market value for the parts.

IanE

[willi...@comcast.net]

Glad you made it as well as you did, lad! Whew. Out of curiosity, what time of day was this? I've stopped riding at twilight/night because of the deer problem.

The recent general move these days, as unfortunate as it may be, is that once your bike is worth less than about $3,500 complete, it becomes worth more broken for parts. If you really love the bike, then it may be worth it to you ... but all in all it doesn't sound to me like it would be worth the expense.

Bill

1996 Sprint

-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: rhend...@blue-60.com
>
> Looks like my 1997 Triumph Sprint Sport is totaled.
>
> I hit a deer on November 1st, I was going between 50 and 60mph going
> around a left hand curve and I never saw the whole deer, I saw a
> movement on the right and then it was right in front of the bike.
> Pretty much see it, hit it.
>
> Looking at the bike, my helmet, jacket, chaps, boots and gloves I am
> pretty sure that the bike and I went down on our right side, once on
> the ground the bike and I stayed down and slide to a stop. I was
> knocked out immediately and woke up with at least 3 people standing
> near me all talking on their cell phones. I never got up, when the
> ambulance arrived they strapped me to a back board. Before I got
> hauled away I was told the deer was dead and the bike was about 30
> feet down the road from me.
>
> I took a ride in the ambulance to the trauma center and got a lot of
> x-rays and a cat scan of my head. Net for me was a broken collarbone.
>
> The bike has about $5,000+ worth of damage. Most of it is cosmetic,
> but the front end is currently twisted and it is difficult to tell if
> there is any damage to the frame. Service manager and mechanic at

> the dealership advise against trying to repair. This has been a

> really good bike for me, but I don't want to try and fix it all up
> and then end up unhappy with the way it rides.
>

[willi...@comcast.net]