Went down over the weekend. Only by the grace of God did my passenger and I walk away with a skinned up shin for her, and a bruised ego for me.

The bike took the impact for us and we slid in the soft mud of a ditch. Not even a scratch on the gas tank.

However, outside of a hole in the primary, the frame is bent on the right side.

The guys at the local dealership said the bike will be better than the factory condition when they get done straightning and tweeking. Is this accurate, or should I be thinking of a new bike.

Thanking everyone in advance,

 

I took my FLHT off in a ditch last July.....no passenger...but like you, a very bruised EGO! Bike's damage was cosmetic....to the approximate tune of $5300. Didnt have any frame damage, but like you considered buying a new bike. As of today....Im having no 'after effects'....other than a little MUD falling out from time to time. Ive washed it time and time again......still comes out.

https://www.hdforums.com/m_1902971/tm.htm

Thank God you and your passenger weren'tseriously hurt...fix the bike...and get back in the wind.

Billy G

 

I know a little about this subject. First of all, without the proper equipment it is impossible to get the frame straight. Does your dealership have the correct equipment? Ask them to show it to you. This is what you need. We are too far from you to help but if you search locally, you can find one. The equipment must have the ability to repeat the same measurement over and over (while you are modifying it) to make sure it is correct. This is just some of what is needed for reference. BTW, you do not have to remove major parts to straighten the frame. Anyhow, if you like, take a peek and if you need any free advice, give a call toll free. Good luck and with proper measurement, modification, & alignment you bike will be as good or even better than new. Count yourself lucky no one got hurt.

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Harley dealers don't straighten the frame.
It is a no no factory policy.
Factory recommends new frame anytime bike is in accident.
Frame is approx $2k. they cut neck off yours (hs vin stamped in it)
send to factory factory sends new frame same vin.
Many states require title to be stamped as such.

 

The dealer told me the same thing when they changed the frame on my SG in '06.
They didn't do a bad job but I think I feel more vibration than before the accident.
Maybe it's mental. I've had them ckeck engine allignment, steering head adjustment and so many other things that they must think I'm a little loco. Of course they always say, "everything is normal!" Even experienced the dreaded "Wobble"

 

Choochoo is 100% correct

 

I deal with these all the time... Key word in the statement is "RECOMMENDS" - I have taken the So Cal HD Rep with a Softail & Tour frame to a Frame en here (DR Johns) to prove to him that even from the facory the Frames are not true.... With a Good Frame Shop that can bend it it +\- 1 degree...
So YES the frame in the most part wan be repairs to better then what the factory is...

 

All insurance companies I have ever heard of want NOTHING to do with straightning a frame on a Harley. If your does I would question it.. Heating tubes with a torch and tweaking with a pipe wrench is not straightning a frame...I would be more demanding on how the fix is made, like a new frame for starters.

 

Steve,
I want to talk about what might have caused this accident. I can't tell you why, but I can talk about an idea I have that might have contributed to the accident.
I want to mention that I teach high performance driving at a local track and though I teach sportscar driving, a lot of the principals apply to what we do on motorcycles. I just have an idea to float around, not a definitive answer.

It is possible that you fixated on a object to the outside of the turn, or became distracted by thoughts other than your riding and probably for only a brief moment. That's all it takes to throw off your timing and setup for the turn. It sounds like it happened just as you appoached the turn and when you broke back to the mental process of making the turn, you realized that you were already into the turn and were not prepared to negociate the turn as you would have liked to.

This has happened to me a couple of times, especially if I am riding in a very scenic location. Once I looked off to the right at a river for only a brief moment as I was approaching a turn and when I returned my eyes to the road I was much further into the turn than I realized. I thought for a moment that I would have to brake hard and wish for the best, but instead I just leaned the bike over to its max lean angle and rode it out through the turn.

There is a certain segment of road before each turn that is very important piece of road, that is where we determine what we need to do to make the turn. If we miss that segment, we miss an important opportunity to adjust the bike for the upcoming turn and we might not have enough time to make the necessary adjustments before the turn. Sometimes we miss this process because we are looking at something off line (such as I did), or sometimes we miss it because our mind is distracted by other thoughts than concentrating on the ride. When this has happened to me, itwas very confusing at first, as to why am I fighting this turn.

One other issue to mention here, is the common cause of accidents when people go off the road and that is "target fixation". That is where we go off the road heading right for the object we are staring at. It is a well known fact that we go where we are looking. Ever wondered why cars that go off the road seem to always hit a power pole or tree? That's because when the driver looses control and knows they are going to go off the road, they almost always look at the objects they do not want to hit, like the big tree or power pole and yep, that' exactly where they go.
In your case, you made the decission to brake and stop the bike as quickly as possible and not go for the turn, which might have been the only action you had left, but had you decided to ride it out and go for the turn, you would have needed to get your eyes looking around the turn in the direction you needed to go and bend the bike around the turn as best as you can with very little braking or no braking at all. No one can tell you if that would have been a better reaction, without being there to see the whole cituation.

The biggest lesson I see here is for riders to be totally honest. Ifwe want to continue to ride,we must be totally honest withour assessment of what happened and decide if it is something thatwe can correct.We must know if it is something thatwe do all the time or just this one time and make a plan to eliminate a repeat of the mistake. We don't want to identify something that went wrong that only sounds or looks good to our peers and ignore the real problem and have it happen again.

I do not know how much experience you have and I hope I haven't insulted you by my assessment. I am just bringing a point of view to this topic that might or might not be of any value.

 

new frame on my rk and it performs better than ever and ive been down that muddy road before