Glad you are OK.
Personally, I would have traded up.
60K miles, frame damage, I would not have done the tires, I would have saluted it, been a good steed, say some farewells, compare insurance offerings with dealer offer, look over the new models, pick one, ride and smile.

 

yeah poobah, i didn't realize it was quite so bad. I'm thinking about trading up. might get a road glide ultra, looked at one yesterday. although, a new FLHTK sounds nice. gonna be a week before the adjuster can look at it since i'm going out of town.

 

I'm rather with 2black1s, I'd just ride it. Pretty easy to fix it with a hammer and dolly this winter, though you'll want to pull the engine and transmission for access. Though you can fix a lot of it from the underside with the drivetrain in place.

any take away learning about following distance and lane placement? Things you might change so you don't have a repeat with other road debris?

 

I am with Black, Foxtrapper and the others.

They are aiming to rip you, or rather the insurance company, off.

They are rubbing their hands in glee. The question to ask first, before anything is, "how much is it going to raise your insurance premium next year?" Is it going to kill any bonus you have?


The thing is about steel, is you can - extremely safely - bend it and weld it. All you need to do, if it really bothers you, is to cut out the section, weld in another bit of plate, and spray it. Difference to your ride ... absolutely zero.

Actually, while you are doing that, weld in a tab to attach a True-Track-type or similar stablizer, and it will end up being better than new.

And if it is goign to kill your insurance next year, why don't you just buy a used replacement frame off Ebay? I've seem them go for about $1,500 or less?

Why have to have a new?

I wonder what the assessor will say? As soon as there is frame damage and the engine and transmission has to come out, pretty quickly bikes get written off as "salvage". Like Black writes, it becomes a whole other equation to consider.

I'd thinking it through very carefully before reporting it to your insurance because as soon as you do, "ker-ching" your policy goes up.

 

all this 'before reporting to your insurance' talk is all moot. it has already been reported. can't put the toothpaste back in the bottle. and whether or not he avails himself of the claim, the mark is already on his record.

 

Has it? I may have missed that.

Has he actually started and committed to the claim?

I'd still be doing some serious thought about how I wanted this to pan out and cost me. Or how it could be exploited to work out a better deal.

You could just replace the plate but there's nothing to encourage factory dealers to do so. Quite the opposite. The industry is not set up like that any more.

FYI, there's a fresh powder coated frame up right now for $1,200. It would be worth calling around custom bike builders to see if they have any kicking around.

A number of salvage shop will sell sections of damaged frame for around hundred bucks, try Pinwall or AZ Cycle Parts.

A factory shop's going to be squeezing your FUD over this one.

 

yeah, i did start the claim process, but i haven't done anything other than have a claim number assigned. no adjuster till the first week in October. like i said earlier, i now a great welder. i might just do it that way. it wasn't an accident, it was a road hazard, isn't there a difference?

 

I would fight to have it totaled! Collect your money and start over

 

yeah, think i might try that, especially if i think they're gonna raise my rates.

 

If it were me, tell your agent you're not ready for adjuster to come out. Agent doesn't' really care one way or another. Then, pay some non Allstate adjuster to give you his best assessment of what he thinks will happen (totaled vs fix). Then go from there. Just cuz you reported and set up a claim doesn't mean you still have to do it.