I was just in the city indicating right to get into motorcycle turning area (see what following the law gets me) when some kid on a scooter comes out of nowhere and hits me side-on at 60km/h. He openly admitted that he was riding too fast and wasn’t looking. I’m so frigging annoyed because I was actively thinking at this intersection whether I should just turn left with the cars or do it all-legal-like. The impact was so hard that I’m surprised he was almost completely unscathed. I’m pretty certain that my helmet just saved my life and I’m so glad right now that I invested in a good one. I’ll try and post pics later in the hope it will scare someone into buying a proper full-face helmet… the visor is ground almost right down and there are two visible cracks in the hard coating. If I had skimped on buying a full-face helmet I would be in hospital getting facial grafts right now. Fortunately my skin is mostly okay because my clothes (All Of The Gear, All Of The Time) took the beating for me and apart from a very stiff neck and right leg I’ve not come out too badly.
My bike was leaking a serious amount of gas from somewhere so in the interests of safety I called The Law in the hope that they might actually, you know, do something. Okay, you can stop laughing now. Obviously they didn’t do anything and suggested that we sort it out ourselves. I told them to forget it, shut off the petcock and wheeled it to my friend’s garden until the morning.
More distressing than anything, the RZX is in a really sad shape… the front end is so bent up it’s impossible to ride and the brakes, throttle, electrics have all stopped working. There seemed to be transmission oil leaking out from somewhere. The kid was a dozy student so I told him that I was going to ask him to cover just the repairs and a new helmet on the condition that he throws away his toy plastic hat, buys a real helmet and stops riding like an asshole at intersections.
[quote=“llary”]
The kid was a dozy student so I told him that I was going to ask him to cover just the repairs and a new helmet on the condition that he throws away his toy plastic hat, buys a real helmet and stops riding like an asshole at intersections.[/quote]
Great response llary. That will come back to you. :bravo:
Yes, a high quality full-face helmet is imperative, and I can’t believe that so many people ride motorcycles with inadequate headgear. A good helmet can save your life.
Hey Im glad to hear you are ok (apart from your trashed bike and sore leg). I was stunned to see how many people rode scooters around without any head protection at all…
And then there were the scooters with an entire family balanced precariously on the top… wow…
If I ever buy a scooter in Taiwan - full face helmet all the way - even in Summer!
[quote=“llary”]The kid was a dozy student so I told him that I was going to ask him to cover just the repairs and a new helmet on the condition that he throws away his toy plastic hat, buys a real helmet and stops riding like an asshole at intersections.[/quote]:lol: Nice line, but I think taking him to the cleaners is going to be a better aid to memory retention.
Glad you’re okay man.
Sounds like you were very fortunate to have such minor injuries.
I just wanted to add a comment about the Police (having been in a few of these incidents over the years). They have a very “unique” way of handling things, but as with some (but not all!) of what the locals do, its not entirely stupid. They tend to stand back and encourage those involved to settle the matter on their own, this can save people fines and the embarrasment of being officially charged. For axample this ass taxi driver cut me off once and I hit the side of his cab, the cops came and asked for my non exsitent license and when I couldnt produce it said, well if you want to press it, we will first have to charge you for driving without a licese, then we will rule on who is at fault. I ended up paying $5,00 to the cabbie instead of the $6k for the fine for driving without a license. However, you are well within your rights to tell them you want the guy charged, only with this do you have the right to enforce his paying for your repairs etc in the future. Without it you don’t have a leg to strand on with regards to him paying for repairs or replacing your helmet.
[quote=“redwagon”][quote=“llary”]The kid was a dozy student so I told him that I was going to ask him to cover just the repairs and a new helmet on the condition that he throws away his toy plastic hat, buys a real helmet and stops riding like an asshole at intersections.[/quote]:lol: Nice line, but I think taking him to the cleaners is going to be a better aid to memory retention.
Glad you’re okay man.[/quote]
I’m beginning to wish I wasn’t in automatic nice mode now. I woke up this morning and can’t move my neck, left arm or right leg. Do you think I can wangle anything out of his insurance company? I’m not really sure if I can be bothered with the charade of going to a doctor and doing the ‘oh it hurts so bad!’ routine but this has put a real bummer on my weekend. I imagine most Taiwanese would be crying blue murder right now and shouting that their head was about to fall off so maybe I should do as the Romans… My mechanic just called to say he picked up the bike and the bill currently stands at NT$12,000 for repairs and a new helmet.
Unless you got an offical report of the accident from the Police you will not get a dime from the insurance company and relying on good faith to get anything out of the student, in which case I would follow up on it as soon as possible.
I bought the bike from MJB for 10,000 A few k is gone on the helmet and I asked my mechanic to sort out every little problem. I’m sure any RZX owner will tell you that parts are damn near impossible to find and pretty much everything that could be mangled has got mangled. NT$4,600 will get the thing in working order so I told him to wait until (if) I get paid before he goes all out.
The police took photos and said on the spot that the other guy was clearly at fault (I didn’t know they were supposed to do that?) I’m good friends with the owner of a store across from the intersection who saw everything and came over to offer himself as a witness. I made it very clear to the kid that I was being more than fair with him and would continue to be fair right up to the point he begins to give me any shit whatsoever. I’m not out to fleece anyone and the full repair bill is looking pretty hefty so I’ll be happy just to get my bike back along with a new helmet. Life’s too short to start wondering what I should have done or what I can possible wring out of this… que sera sera and all that.
I bought the bike from MJB for 10,000 A few k is gone on the helmet and I asked my mechanic to sort out every little problem. I’m sure any RZX owner will tell you that parts are damn near impossible to find and pretty much everything that could be mangled has got mangled. NT$4,600 will get the thing in working order so I told him to wait until (if) I get paid before he goes all out.[/quote]
Glad you are ok…
The thought of my bike all mangled though…that really sucks. Yeah, new forks alone will be 6-8k (If you can even find them) and the light, small front fairing a few thousand more.
Good luck sourcing the parts, that might be harder than you think. But there are always a few shops that have some spares buried in their basements.
The thought of my bike all mangled though…that really sucks. Yeah, new forks alone will be 6-8k (If you can even find them) and the light, small front fairing a few thousand more.
Good luck sourcing the parts, that might be harder than you think. But there are always a few shops that have some spares buried in their basements.
Pics…[/quote]
It’s weird… apart from the bent levers, scratches etc. it looked like I could ride it home. I got on it though and it felt like a truck was pushing against me from the front right hand side. Looked at this morning and the forks were bent six ways to Sunday. Didn’t take any pics, sorry, but nothing exciting enough to satisfy your bloodlust anyway.
This mechanic is a really good guy, I’ve known him for a while now. He’s doing the forks, levers, general repairs for $4,600 as long as I can wait until next week. Fixing some aesthetic things will be another few k.
I’m sorry about your bike, mate. Being an RZ it’s not like you can just get it repaired and have it back within a couple of days.
I do have a huge gripe with those boxes and I never use them. I once saw a blue truck plough into one of these boxes and wipe out several scooters in one go - I think one person actually died. Many are positioned in the way of oncoming traffic. They can be leathal.
While I try to follow the laws as much as possible, some of them are just too stupid and dangerous to adhere to and it is worth getting a 600NT fine occasionally in order to increase your chances of staying alive.
Plus waiting for two traffic light flows is incredibly annoying and a waste of time.
[quote=“Dangermouse”]I do have a huge gripe with those boxes and I never use them. I once saw a blue truck plough into one of these boxes and wipe out several scooters in one go - I think one person actually died. Many are positioned in the way of oncoming traffic. They can be leathal.
While I try to follow the laws as much as possible, some of them are just too stupid and dangerous to adhere to and it is worth getting a 600NT fine occasionally in order to increase your chances of staying alive.
Plus waiting for two traffic light flows is incredibly annoying and a waste of time.[/quote]
Down here nobody pays any attention to the damn things. I try to use them, but 90% of the time they are occupied by a vehicle, or have 20 scooters in front anyway. How much do they enforce the box rule in Taipei city? And do people actually use them?
[quote=“Dangermouse”]I’m sorry about your bike, mate. Being an RZ it’s not like you can just get it repaired and have it back within a couple of days.
I do have a huge gripe with those boxes and I never use them. I once saw a blue truck plough into one of these boxes and wipe out several scooters in one go - I think one person actually died. Many are positioned in the way of oncoming traffic. They can be leathal.
While I try to follow the laws as much as possible, some of them are just too stupid and dangerous to adhere to and it is worth getting a 600NT fine occasionally in order to increase your chances of staying alive.
Plus waiting for two traffic light flows is incredibly annoying and a waste of time.[/quote]
Me too. Also the riding-next-to-parked-cars-and-joining-traffic-bus-taxi-criss-cross lane on the right is a suicidal place to ride a motorbike.
llary, glad you’re OK. Those injuries will start to hurt like hell in a week or so. You may have to take time off work. I let a gyu off who T-boned me when he was going through a red light and I regret it now. I couldn’t lift my arm up for a week. Obviously this happened right under the nose of a cop who did absolutely nothing. Literally. He didn’t even direct the traffic around me.
A few k is gone on the helmet and I asked my mechanic to sort out every little problem. I’m sure any RZX owner will tell you that parts are damn near impossible to find and pretty much everything that could be mangled has got mangled. NT$4,600 will get the thing in working order so I told him to wait until (if) I get paid before he goes all out.