Aaaargh, steering's broken

Help & Advice
1

Got home last night to find the Duchess having a nap on the floor. My neighbour clipped it with her car, and she went down. Nothing seemed to be obviously wrong, but this morning, when I looked at it in more detail, somethings’s seriously wrong: the handlebars were touching the tank on the left hand side (the side it fell on), and it took me ages to unlock the steering. Now, I can’t lock it again.

So, what kind of damage & cost am I looking at? Tank looks OK, steering feels OK, but then it’s always had a turning circle of a London bus, and I’m still learning the bike, so I doubt I could tell the difference.

Am taking it to my man in Wandsworth for an assessment, but as soon as I mentioned the bars touching the tank, there followed a shart intake of breath, and talk about an insurance claim. So, what is he possibly going to find, and how much are we talking about? I rather think that if I give my neighbour a bill for a grand, she’s going to deny all liability. And, to think that I let the scooterist who helped me pick the bike up go, as he was there to witness her admitting it!

As soon as that damage is fixed, and the brakelight turned off, I’m bloody selling the jinxed bike. Transfer the hassle to somebody else.

2

Fear not. It is common for the forks to be twisted when a bike falls over. The simple remedy is to hold the front wheel (eg. between the knees) and pull the bars until everything lines up. There’ll be a queue of machismo shortly to offer this service. I’ll try if you like, but I’m not very strong.

Duncan

3

Hopefully duncans right, has happened to me a number of times (ahem!) and twisted it back into shape. Check neighbours car for damage pretaining to your bike and kick up a fuss (in a polite Chelsea sort of way) and then run over her shitsu!

4

No damage to her car, as it was a tiny impact, but with the Ducati having a side stand the size of a toothpick that impact was enough.

She doesn’t have a Shitzu either, nor would I ever run over a dog. Let’s hope she’s got a pedigree cat, though…

The only good thing here is that she knows that I know where she lives…

For sale: a jinxed Ducati…

5

But good to see you still have a good sense of humour after it. That’s the thing about bikes, we never have small things happen to them, always a pain to deal with but then we do love them (or not in your case).

6

Bugger!

Hope you get it sorted asap.

7

If not, do you want to swap…

8

Suggest you take it to a garage and get it done properly. Give her the bill. The bikes new and you will be surpised (perhaps) just how much damage a little topple can cause.

Quite often the forks will twist in the yolkes, used to get it on my dirt bike when it went down. I used to find a tree or wooden post, lean the front wheel against it and give the handlebars a whack, always used to come back online. the bike was built for minor impacts though, your Ducatti isn’t. I have had twists in the forks on road bikes before and had to loosen the yolkes to sort it out, not something I suggest that you do.

So hit her with a nice big bill for repairs.

9

She hit the bike in my absence, and was seen by somebody, but he walked off. I got in later to find the bike on the floor. Flagged down a passing scooterist who helped me lift it up, at which stage the neighbour came up and owned up. So, the scooterist would be a witness to her confessing, but like a numpty, I didn’t take his details or even a licence plate number. There wouldn’t have been any damage to her car, as the impact was so low speed, and the bike was covered up anyway, so there’d be no transfer of paint.

The problem is that I’ve not nothing to prove it was her if she gets difficult when I hit her with a bill. She did say yesterday that if I do find something wrong with the bike, I know where she lives. But, she may change her mind if I come armed with an estimate of several hundred of pounds. The only thing I have is her confession, which of course, she may withdraw at any moment. I just have to hope she’s good for it. If not, there go either my savings or the ridiculously low insurance premium (just £200 pa).

I’m taking the bike to Dave Robinson in Wandsworth this evening to get an estimate of what’s gone wrong and how expensive it is to repair it. He’s highly recommended by several other Ducatisti, including our own Vinnie (more a Brutale than a Monster), so hopefully he’ll do it more cheaply and better than Daytona, especially if, as I suspect, it’s coming out of my pocket.

So, yep, not happy at all. The bike’s only three weeks old.

10

Bad luck Paivi, but don’t jack it all in, we all have incidents, it’s part of being a biker after-all. Bikes aren’t the most stable of objects I would be inclined though to always park my bike in a way that meant nobody could see, or hit it.

Your neighbour would be an idiot not to pay it, regardless of cost, they’ve admited it, and you live next door to them. If they don’t pay, they don’t to keep their car nice, it’s that simple!

11

Sorry to hear that, it is such a lovely bike, don’t sell yet. Have your mechanic do an estimate for you and if you don’t like it go somewhere else, ideally somewhere that looks greasy/oily and has lots of couriers hanging around. In my experience they tend to be quite good. If your neighbour doesn’t pay up, you could always have an accident with your keys involving her car ?

The R6 had a flat tyre the second day and a flat battery on day 10, I had serious words with it at this point and threatened to sell it back to some boring man who would have it standing in the garage and look at it every now and again and it would not get the opportunity to be out every day meeting new bikes. It’s behaved admirably since then. Threats do work. I am just glad I am not the only one talking to my bike

12

OK, knocking it over is one thing, accidents happen, but did you ask her why she then just left it laying in road until you got home ? Even if she couldn’t pick it up herself, I’m sure she could have asked a passer by to help put it back on the stand.

13

sorry about the bike paivi,

get an estimate, go see your bike destroyer & make some small talk…ask her if there was any damage to her car, i know she already said but ask again as this will get her to confess again but this time have someone with you or take a dictaphone

the next day hit her with the bill…all sorted

Good luck with it all…

Alex

14

Unlikely to be the forks twisted in the yokes. Likely to be bent bars or even a damaged frame, oh yes the lock stops get broken off nice and easily and then its time for a new frame. If the bars hit to tank the tank mounts bend as well.

Dave’s a good bloke, his mechanics are good as well.

15

OK, now you’re really scaring me, Sickpup!!!

Right, the plan is to get her plate (forgot to do it last night, so will have to find her car today and get the plate) and call my insurance company to report the accident.

In the meantime, Dave’s going to do me an estimate, but I’ll keep this under my hat. I’ll go and see the neighbour, and ask for her details, saying that I’ve had to take the bike in for a check-up, it being brand new and all that, and my insurance company wants her details just in case. But, “I’m sure it’s nothing serious, it’s just that they need this info”. If she falls for that, she can’t then wriggle out of it later, as if she had nothing to do with it, why would she have given me her details. I can then pass these on to my insurance company, and then later go to her with the estimate and take it from there, either her insurance company will pay or she will, but one way or the other, somebody will pay. :huge evil grin:

If she won’t give me her details, I’ll just have to produce the scooterist who helped me lift the bike up, or another passing motorist who came back the next day to leave details…

As for her not picking it up, she couldn’t: she’s elderly and recovering from a hip operation. It’s a quiet road, and she couldn’t get anybody to help her. She didn’t leave a note (damn!), as she knew it’s my bike and she’d see my coming back.

I don’t think I’ll bother going anywhere else but Dave for an estimate (unless I have to), as he’s highly recommended by several other Ducatisti, and endorsed even by Sickpup. He’s also bound to be cheaper and take more care than e.g., Daytona (who I’ve heard quite bad reviews for).

16

Frame isn’t cheap to buy but I can swop one on a monster in an afternoon or reweld lock stops.

17

Is anybody around this afternoon to have a look at the bike to make sure it’s safe to ride? I rode it to work today, but can’t say if it felt normal or not, as haven’t got enough experience on the bike to say otherwise. Was wondering if I should get it recovered to Dave’s instead of riding it. Only prob is that I’m planning to leave around 5.30pm.

The bike’s in the City.

Tbh, I’ll be hopping mad if I have to start putting new frames on a brand new bike! Quite apart from anything else, that’s got to reduce the resale value. Not sure I’d even like to buy a used bike that has had a new frame put in.

18

When my neighbour’s Multistrudle got knocked over in the same way he had a bill for £2k

19

£2k!!! picks herself off the floor

I can see an insurance company being happy to pay £2k damage for a bike costing £5k new. But at least, the bike’s so new it wouldn’t have depreciated that much that the insurance company would argue write-off, surely…?

Honestly guys, you’re now seriously scaring me!

20

My bike has been down the road several times and never has the yokes been moved so much that the bars touch the tank. Last time it was damage to the lock stop. Only a 1mm of damage/indentaion on the lock stop translates to a cm or 2 at the end of the bar. It can be fixed but if you went through the insurance they would quote a frame and as the bike is realy new they may just write it off.