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General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: blackbuell on June 04, 2017, 09:56:34 AM

Title: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: blackbuell on June 04, 2017, 09:56:34 AM
Earlier in the year I had considered trading in my '09 Norge on a new, leftover 2015 version. After I learned how little I could get for a trade-in, I decided to keep the ole' Fridge; in fact, I set as a goal to put 100,000 miles on it. Unfortunately, on the ride home last night from the Red Mile flat track race in Lexington, KY, we hit a deer when we were going 70 mph on Interstate 75. My wife broke her left radius and ulna, plus has numerous bumps and bruises. I broke no bones, but despite having on an armored jacket, received a lot of road rash; this was complicated by the fact that I take xarelto for a clotting issue; lots of blood oozed out of my limbs.

Though I haven't had a good look at the bike yet, from how it was described to me by folks who towed it, it is certainly totaled, even though it still runs and can be rolled.

True, at times the bike has been a royal pain-in-the-ass. However, it was a spectacular road bike with wonderful character; certainly my favorite bike of all time. I will definitely miss it.

Jon
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: Moto on June 04, 2017, 10:00:35 AM
Very sorry to learn this. Glad you and your survived without more extensive injuries!

Moto
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: blackcat on June 04, 2017, 10:01:10 AM
Jon,

So glad that you and your wife are OK.
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: guzzi4me on June 04, 2017, 10:01:29 AM
Wow!!!! Glad you both were not hurt worse......of course bikes can be replaced...humans not.

May you both heal well and quickly.....

Jeff
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: Farmer Dan on June 04, 2017, 10:03:17 AM
Glad you two survived.  Good luck with your new bike.
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: Denis on June 04, 2017, 10:10:13 AM
Glad you came out relatively ok.
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: oldbike54 on June 04, 2017, 10:11:16 AM
 At least this happened after and not before the races  :laugh:

 Seriously , just glad both of you are mostly OK  :thumb:

 Dusty
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: Nic in Western NYS on June 04, 2017, 10:20:02 AM
I guess this is one of those 'real bad but could have been much worse.'  Glad you survived. The bike is the least of it.
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: Zoom Zoom on June 04, 2017, 10:29:26 AM
That stinks. I'm glad to hear you're both OK.

John Henry
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: Bill Hagan on June 04, 2017, 10:53:13 AM

Whew.

Just read that to Kathi, too.

Best wishes from us both to you both for quick return to normalcy.

We love our machines, but they are only metal (and plastic and etc.!).  They matter not a whit.

You and the wife are precious to yourselves and so many others.  Heal soon and well.

Bill & Kathi
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: LowRyter on June 04, 2017, 11:05:51 AM
Get well. 

Best to the Mrs.  Best wishes for a complete recovery.
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: SemperVee on June 04, 2017, 11:12:17 AM

 Hope you heal quickly with no remaining problems following..
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: ohiorider on June 04, 2017, 11:13:09 AM
Jon, I'm so very sorry to read about your deer encounter.  I'm amazed that deer can run at breakneck speed through a thicket of trees without hitting nary a one, but will run broadside into a motor vehicle.  Anyway, glad you felt well enough to notify us.  Best wishes to both your wife and you for a very quick recovery.

Bob

Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: JJ on June 04, 2017, 11:38:48 AM
You were lucky...glad to know you are both OK....Motorcycles can always be replaced...human life cannot....
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: guzzisteve on June 04, 2017, 11:45:14 AM
Sorry to hear about the wreck Jon. Lot's of roller 8V Norges out there, some at reasonable prices. Low mileage 2V out there too. Hope you both heal up well.
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: Carlo DeSantis on June 04, 2017, 11:59:43 AM
Glad it wasn't worse.

Heal well and quickly!

Best,

Carlo
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: dcardo021 on June 04, 2017, 12:04:41 PM
Glad you survived! Heal quickly!

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: ITSec on June 04, 2017, 12:14:42 PM
Relieved to hear the injuries weren't worse - both of you, take time to heal properly; it doesn't happen as quickly as it once did.

Sad to hear of the loss of your bike. Most Interstates have deer fencing in many areas, but closer to urban centers and developed areas they tend to rely on the local farms and development to provide that protection.
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: Lannis on June 04, 2017, 12:34:35 PM
I hate those deer.   The ones in my freezer can't hit my motorcycle, but they've got lots of buddies who can.

Hitting one at 70 and coming out alive is pretty good luck.   Glad you're both fixable and thinking about the next bike.   As has been said, LOTS of Norges out there and you already know they don't sell for much money .....

Lannis
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: Adk.IBO on June 04, 2017, 12:53:51 PM
Don't like to hear of deer strikes ever. Glad you're mostly ok and you both will heal up. My '09 is almost ready to be for sale. Keep an eye on the classifieds here, maybe the timing and/or desires might work, maybe not. Either way mending is most important. Usually the only way they end up in my freezer is fresh roadkill either by me or others. Still tastes good.
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: Psychopasta on June 04, 2017, 01:22:03 PM
Glad to hear you're mostly OK, and hope your wife heals up soon.

That said, looking forward to the 'Replacing my Norge' thread... :popcorn:

- Pasta
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: Tom on June 04, 2017, 01:25:00 PM
Good to hear that you and wife survived.  Hope the mending is going well.  The deer is dead right?  Are you retrieving the bike for rebuild or parting out? 
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: Arizona Wayne on June 04, 2017, 01:35:07 PM
Too bad you folks don't hit deer like me....hit them but they get hurt , not me or my bike.

Yeah, your bike is totalled and if you have full coverage you should be able to get it cheap from your insurance co. if you want to even after they settle with you on it's value.  They will auction it off to the highest bidder (if any) and you can have the option to match that price if you want to keep it for parts. BTDT.  Depending on its condition you may have a whole drive train left.
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: Tom on June 04, 2017, 01:49:14 PM
 :1:
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: Chuck in Indiana on June 04, 2017, 01:57:13 PM
Dang deer. Heal well..glad to see you are feeling well enough to post about it.
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: timonbik on June 04, 2017, 08:04:30 PM
You're extremely lucky that you both faired so well.  I had a good friend who was killed when he hit a deer on his scooter at 30mph at three in the afternoon.  Buy a lottery ticket before you luck changes,
Heal quickly. 
Timonbik
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: azguzzirep on June 05, 2017, 01:41:46 AM
Rotten luck!

Best wishes for a full and quick recovery!
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: kingoffleece on June 05, 2017, 06:54:21 AM
Most important part is you both are OK.
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: pebra on June 05, 2017, 08:06:56 AM
Whew, that could easily have been much worse!
I hope both of you will heal well and quickly and soon be back on a Norge again!
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: Northern Bill on June 05, 2017, 08:55:16 AM
Glad to hear you both survived the crash. Hope you mend quickly.  Makes me wonder if those deer whistles work?

Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: Adk.IBO on June 05, 2017, 10:24:46 AM
Glad to hear you both survived the crash. Hope you mend quickly.  Makes me wonder if those deer whistles work?

I've had them on quite a few bikes for quite a few years. They've seemed to work better on some bikes which leads me to believe it's dependent on placement. They won't stop the deer but they tend to wonder what the heck that strange noise is and they pause. 3 deer at dusk in Wisconsin paused as I was leading 1 of 2 buddies couldn't avoid 1 of them. Fortunately zero damage and no injuries, fatal mistake for the deer. The front axle nut of the R90S clipped the deer on the side of it's head doing it in. Really lucky. Many other instances where they pause just enough to get me by. So yes I think they work.
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: Kev m on June 05, 2017, 10:33:44 AM
Ouch, very sorry to hear. But I think we're gonna have to give you a new moniker - isn't that the 2nd Guzzi you've killed?


Blackbuell nah - GuzziKiller

 :boozing:
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: Two Checks on June 05, 2017, 12:26:46 PM
I imagine the deer whistles would work but how do you get the deer to blow on them?
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: John A on June 05, 2017, 12:34:21 PM
that's rough news, bad as it is, Im glad it wasn't worse. I hope you both heal quickly.
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: wirespokes on June 05, 2017, 10:41:22 PM
Well done escaping with only minor injuries. Consider yourself very lucky!

I hit an elk at 65 - possibly slower than that, but not sure if the ABS was working or not. Kind of think it wasn't. Went over a 20ft embankment and got knocked out. Had an out-of-body experience and thought I'd died. Normally I'd have been super depressed about hurting the bike, but instead when I came to, was super happy just to be alive. Looked at the bike and figured - there are more bikes, not a big deal. Really out of character for me!

Sounds like you're doing well, and hopefully, unlike me, carried full coverage on the Norge.
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: H-E-ROSS on June 05, 2017, 11:20:31 PM
Wishing a speedy recovery to you and yours!
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: pete roper on June 06, 2017, 02:04:38 AM
Well, that sucks bigger than a very large sucky thing! Heal well.

Then go out and grab an 8V! :thumb:

Pete
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: blackbuell on June 06, 2017, 07:32:47 AM
Ouch, very sorry to hear. But I think we're gonna have to give you a new moniker - isn't that the 2nd Guzzi you've killed?


Blackbuell nah - GuzziKiller

 :boozing:

Yep, this is the 2nd Guzzi lost in 3 years, the first, of course, was the very cool jackal that I bought from you. The jackal was rear-ended by a young lady playing with her cell phone, I wasn't hurt too bad in that wreck; this latest deer-strike was a lot more painful; it is my second motorcycle deer-strike in 13 years; the earlier one was NOT on a Guzzi; it was on a Kawasaki ZZR12. These wrecks are starting to take their toll on my body and on my enthusiasm for riding.

Jon
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: Kev m on June 06, 2017, 07:52:33 AM
Yep, this is the 2nd Guzzi lost in 3 years, the first, of course, was the very cool jackal that I bought from you. The jackal was rear-ended by a young lady playing with her cell phone, I wasn't hurt too bad in that wreck; this latest deer-strike was a lot more painful; it is my second motorcycle deer-strike in 13 years; the earlier one was NOT on a Guzzi; it was on a Kawasaki ZZR12. These wrecks are starting to take their toll on my body and on my enthusiasm for riding.

Jon

Deer strikes are the worst because there's so little we can do. Around here the forest rats are thick and you might come across em in broad daylight too so I try to be extra careful. At least most of the big forest roads are extra wide (large bicycle lanes on each shoulder, so it's like having at least an extra lane of sight, plug there's usually some cutback past the shoulders too. Still, I don't do much night riding as they get extra busy.

Didn't safety guru Lawrence Grodsky (sp?) get taken out by a deer at night too.

I totally get the rethinking thing. I shattered my right radius (Shotokan training) just behind the wrist almost 2 months ago now and it made me rethink a lot of things, but in the end I'm still riding and still training, just trying to remember I'm not 25 anymore.

Heal up man!
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: Northern Bill on June 06, 2017, 10:14:35 AM
Again, I am glad you two are on the mend.

I think I will put on one of those whistles .

I did a trip a couple of years ago to Newfoundland.  It is said that there are more moose than people on the island?  Anyway I got off the ferry in a complete fog.  You could see 10 feet at best so I parked the bike at the Tim Hortons by the ferry and waited about an hour for a little more visibility.  I hadn't gone 100 yards and I saw an Astro Van with the whole front of it missing.  He had hit a moose.  After that I made a point of finishing every day in the light but one day I got caught out.  I had booked a B+B and I was a bit late getting off the Labrador ferry so I rode very slowly for about an hour in the dusk.  It was quite unnerving so when I finally got to the small town where the B+B was I started to relax but that was only temporary. There were 3 or 4 moose wandering down the mainstreet. Don't let the moose put you off though. Newfoundland and Labrador are great places to visit.
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: nobleswood on June 06, 2017, 10:50:31 AM
Glad to hear you survived. That was fast to be hitting a deer.

Rest & heal. Best wishes for you & your wife.  :thumb:
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: blackbuell on June 08, 2017, 10:06:16 AM
Big surprise to me, but I just heard from my insurance rep (Progressive) that, in their opinion, the damage to my Norge is largely superficial and that the bike might be repairable. He is having it towed to the nearest MG dealership, Cadre Cycle of Cincinnati, to see what they have to say about the repair cost. Apparently the estimate made by Progressive is close to, but below the totaling cut-off.  I have mixed feelings about it; I do want the bike back, but I am concerned that some hidden issues, like a slightly tweaked frame, might remain, and that the bike will never be the same.

Turns out my wife does not need surgery on her arm; she is doing much better. I am still making periodic visits to a wound center to take care of my road rash, but am otherwise OK. Could have ended up much worse, given the circumstances.

Thanks for all of the well-wishing,

Jon
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: Lannis on June 08, 2017, 10:21:19 AM
Big surprise to me, but I just heard from my insurance rep (Progressive) that, in their opinion, the damage to my Norge is largely superficial and that the bike might be repairable. He is having it towed to the nearest MG dealership, Cadre Cycle of Cincinnati, to see what they have to say about the repair cost. Apparently the estimate made by Progressive is close to, but below the totaling cut-off.  I have mixed feelings about it; I do want the bike back, but I am concerned that some hidden issues, like a slightly tweaked frame, might remain, and that the bike will never be the same.

Turns out my wife does not need surgery on her arm; she is doing much better. I am still making periodic visits to a wound center to take care of my road rash, but am otherwise OK. Could have ended up much worse, given the circumstances.

Thanks for all of the well-wishing,

Jon

The "totalled" vs "repair" thing depends entirely on the shop.

We had a new Pontiac Firebird (1984 model).   In 1985, a woman hit Fay head-on - knocked the radiator off its mounts, broke the windshield (Fay's hand did that), pushed the left front wheel six inches back.

At the time, "book value" on the car was $8600, and the repair estimate was $8000.   I never would have believed they could fix it, but that's what the insurance decided to do.   We were very suspicious that it would ever be right ... but it was.   We couldn't tell it from new when we got it back.   A fellow named Dick Almony (RIP May 2017) from "Dick's Body Shop" fixed it and it was right, frame straightening and all.

So it might work out for you IF IF IF you have a caring, competent shop ....

Lannis
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: jpv7 on June 08, 2017, 10:40:12 AM
Glad to hear things are looking a bit better.

I just got back from a few days of glorious riding in Virginia, and was surprised by the number of fresh, well-fed, deer road kills on the shoulders.  Pennsylvania was surprising too.
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: mojohand on June 08, 2017, 12:35:36 PM
So sorry to hear, but glad the injuries are fairly minimal.

FYI, I have an Atlanta-area pal who's selling his low-mileage 2008 silver Norge. Let me know by PM if you'll wanna talk about that, when you're up for talking about such.
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: Arizona Wayne on June 08, 2017, 08:49:18 PM
It doesn't take much to bend a MC frame.  If the frame is bent then the whole bike needs to be disassembled to straighten the frame properly and  just the labor cost involved doing that + reassembly is why MCs are usually totaled.
Title: Re: Beloved Norge is toast
Post by: Tennmoto on June 08, 2017, 08:53:51 PM
It really hard to avoid deer at 70mph, at least there weren't any big trucks or cars to finish you off
I think those times that deer move is a bag time to be out but unavoidable sometimes.
I ditto all the support you're getting.