I was in an accident ;car ran a stop sign. I ended up t-boning the car. It wasn't high speed but the front forks ,triple trees and neck/frame were damaged. It's cheaper for the insurance company to replace the frame & damaged parts (bike value is higher than the repair). I can take the money ,sell the bike with a salvage title and then decide my next step. My question is ,if I choose to get my bike fixed ,even with a competent shop, will my bike have the same reliability it had before the crash? My bike is an 07 Night Train with 25,000 miles. I got it used six years ago ,do my own maintenance and it ran like a watch.

 

Hard to say. Some problems might not appear until you put some miles on the bike. For example, a BMW K1100RS I used to ride was rear-ended in a highway rest stop by some bonehead who didn't know how to park. The bike's monoshock started leaking a couple weeks after it was repaired. My insurance adjuster said he's seen this happen. He authorized a new shock, mounting hardware and labor.

 

Check and see if the frames available from the factory or do you have to go aftermarket. Someone in here posted not long ago how he cut the neck off his wrecked frame at the dealers advice then found the moco no longer makes that frame and bike wasn't that old.

Another option is tear it down and send it off to a professional frame shop, I've had several pan & shovel frames reworked back to or better than factory.

 

Replacing the frame 12.4 hours book time (includes removal and installation of all accessories and motorcycle components) for a stock 2007 Softail. Figure an average of 100- per hour, that is 12,400- in labor alone for just replacing the frame. That is not including the cost of a new frame or any parts.

Sounds like either your insurance adjuster or place that did the estimate made a mistake that will end up costing you a fortune.

 

you might want to look at your math again buddy..... 12.4x $100 is only $1240.

my local HD shop is $92 I believe, and I'd think most are between $80-95. so thats less than $1200 to replace the frame at most shops buy the book time... most techs, probably could get it done a little quicker

 

Reliabilty after a build depends on the attention to detail while rebuilding.

 

Far as cost, I'm only out my deductible. The new frame is coming from Harley ,the shop cuts out the neck (with the VIN) and sends it back to Harley. So the VIN still matches the title and there are not 2 frames out there with the same VIN. I'm confident in the shop doing the work. Only time will tell if my decisions were good.

 

Does the insurance company guarantee repairs for life?

 

Math was off but still a major job.

 

I know I wouldn't consider such a relatively common machine with a salvage title if I were shopping...we sometimes get too attached or too cheap for our own good I think. JMO