Introduction to my problem

[jayordan.b]

Hey, guys.  I've had a hard time with my GS500. Last fall a lady pulled out in front of me/on me. I re-insured it five days ago after a winter in storage. Sold my car this morning, and decided to make my  '08 GS500F my daily driver until at least October. Anyway, blah blah blah. I got slammed on my lunch break. Rear ended me and bent my frame/fender area up. Scraped up the engine casing... kinda beat it up. On a side note, as a lady driver none of this has been MY FAULT and I feel like a ding-dong every time I end up sitting on a curb talking to a cop.

I'm a broke college student, so I don't have like ANY money to get anything more than the bare-bones insurance. I'll get about $500 from the guy that hit me, and I'm anticipating doing some major work on this thing.
This is the introduction and prelude to my wonderful adventure into fixing my motorbike, and I will need lots of help and advice.

[Bluesmudge]

insurance will consider the bike totaled because of the frame damage. You should get more than $500 for it. I would guess at least $2000 but the insurance company usually gets your bike. Sometimes you can buy it back for cheap and fix it yourself. It is probably also a good idea not to sign anything from either insurance company until you know you don't have any injuries. Sometimes they can take a few days to present themselves. You are not at fault for the accident, so you should not be at a loss because of it. It doesn't matter that you have cheap insurance because the other driver's insurance has to pay up.

[jayordan.b]

I'm not totally familiar with the insurance rules, but Michigan has a no-fault insurance thaaang. Unfortunately.

Are these bikes invisible to people? Stock lights not enough? I understand people don't pay attention to motorcycles sometimes, but... TWO TIMES IN A YEAR! Holy cow!

[jdoorn14]

I'm not totally familiar with the insurance rules, but Michigan has a no-fault insurance thaaang. Unfortunately.

Michigan does have no fault for cars, but not for motorcycles. Since it doesn't sound like the OP was at fault, the OP's insurance company should be able to collect from the other driver's.

[jayordan.b]

Okay, so I tried to sell my bike on craigslist, just to see if I could get any hits at an unreasonable price (in my opinion), but parted out it's probably worth at least what I was asking for. I suppose it's just he subframe bent, I think? I'm by no means familiar with... mechanics. I can change my oil, and probably disassemble a bike, but putting it back together could result in the accidental construction of a time machine. Anyway.
Pinwall Motorcycle Parts gave me an estimate of about 1k parts and labor to replace the frame and everything else. Honestly, I could probably do the rest, like center stand, levers, foot pegs, and engine casing. IDK maybe more. The thing is, I'm a cheap ass and I'm not too keen on paying some guy in Ohio 800 bucks to do this for me. I hate the fairing on my bike. I wanted a naked bike, and this is probably the perfect time to do the conversion to gs500e, but the plastics aren't really in that terrible of shape.
Anyway, I've been trying to decide what to do because I really want to ride ASAP. Plus side to having somebody else do it, is that they can do it in 12 hours.
Blah blah blah blah. I'm trying to work this out in my head, but I guess I need some experienced advice.
I know, I could have searched, so please don't flame me!

http://nmi.craigslist.org/mcy/3110399392.html
That's my ad, not the best pictures or anything.
The last picture shows the rear without the seat/cowling, and it's on the center stand. I just added the picture, so depending on when and if anybody looks at this, you may not be able to see it yet.

[duffy]

two accidents in less than a year! think it's time to give up riding lady!

[BockinBboy]

two accidents in less than a year! think it's time to give up riding lady!

This guy needs to move on to another forum.  Every one of his posts have been completely useless and have insulted someone...


... On another note to the OP:
I think you need to get the insurance sorted out before you decide anything.  I don't know any motorcyclist who was determined not at fault in an accident with another vehicle only to come out with a bill - All of them have ended up with a new bike, or close to it.

- Bboy

[iclrag]

If you do get money and to keep the bike, i would recommend some basic repairs then sell it, you should get enough to get a bike of equal value, and if you fix + sell your totalled one you would have enough to buy one of greater value, just my 2 cents.

[jestercinti]

two accidents in less than a year! think it's time to give up riding lady!

This guy needs to move on to another forum.  Every one of his posts have been completely useless and have insulted someone...

- Bboy

^^ Agreed.

[jayordan.b]

Wanna know the shittiest part? I ride like A LOT. I've cut my commute down about forty minutes and over 30 miles, and all of my accidents have happened within one mile of my house. I could have definitely upped the defensiveness of my driving, but as it is I'm grinding my teeth riding because I'm thinking every one of these idiots on the road are going to slam me.
Ideally, I would like to get rid of the bike. Joke is that it's cursed or something. I never, ever had any problems with my last bike, and I had that for 3 or 4 years, and put in a ton of miles in on it, not to mention the 8,000+ moped miles I've put in since I was 15.

I'm pretty positive I'll get $500 from the insurance company, and if I sell it as it sits, is the $1,800 way too much to be asking? The tank is in perfect condition, the engine's swell, lights are good. I could part it out and sell it on ebay or something, but that's just about as much time as it would take me to fix it. 

[djslowmo]

It just boggles my mind that if you got rear ended you're getting less than the repair costs of the bike or if its totaled less than the cost of a new bike.  And what I understand about no fault is that it transfers liability costs to the non liable person's insurance company, not that you don't get paid.  Every scenario that I can think of puts the person doing the rear ending 100% at fault legally speaking whether they like it or not.  I feel like maybe you should be making some calls and laying down some attitude because there's no way you're getting a square deal.  Was there ever a policeman on the scene or an incident report made?