VFR down, hopefully not out

I have just got back from a 10 day stay in hospital. Hit a dog last week and went down. I broke my wrist pretty badly and my beloved bike is wrecked (forks and front wheel bent, fairing all smashed up) All in all I thank God that I'm still here to talk about it though, 2 guys in my ward are paralysed, and they were in CARS! Anyway, here's hoping that I can restore my baby to something like her former glory.

 

Bryan, you are lucky to have escaped with "only" the badly broken wrist. What did you hit, a freakin mastiff?? That looks like a lot of damage. The important thing is you will ride again.

 

Wow, from the looks of the damage are you sure you didn't hit a bear? Did you have surgery on the wrist or are you now in the healing stages? I'm glad to hear that you're already looking beyond this and getting the bike back to where it needs to be. Here's to a speedy recovery.

 

Thanks guys. Yeah, it was a pretty solid dog, but unfortunately the bike also found a telephone pole, which is the cause of the damage to the headlight ect. (I can honestly say it wasn't target fixation on my part, as by this time I was rollin' an 'a tumblin',:smile: glad it wasn't me that hit the pole though!) I broke my "distal radius" (which is on the arm side of the wrist, as apposed to the hand side if that makes any sense) and needed surgery. Not having any kind of insurance, I was at the mercy of a state hospital, hence the 10 day wait. Also, when you get a bed, you stay in it, so I was going mad with boredom, as they only only operated yesterday morning! Even worse, it looks like I missed out on the strippers!:biggrin:

 

Sorry to hear about your mishaps Bryan. Get well soon and glad you are here to tell us your story. God speed recovery.

 

Glad you're ok! happy to see you're typing away already! Sounds like you'll be back in the saddle in no time. Just remember to do all those hand therapy exercises so you can get all of your motion back. Those distal radius fractures can get pretty stiff if you slack off. Anyway, you need to be able to grab those bars again once you rebuild.

Thanks for sticking around.:smile:

So how did the dog do?

 

The dog died, luckily I don't think it suffered much, just lay whimpering for a minute or so before it died. Yeah, I play/teach guitar for a living so REALLY need my hand to come right again. Went to look at the bike today, fairings ect are all there, will need to be slowly pieced together though. I'm mad about the headlight, the unit is intact, just the lens broken, but it seems like the lens is not a seperate part? I seem to remember a thread where somebody compiled a list of forks that were the same diameter/length as the VFR, does anybody know off-hand where it is? Thanks

 

Sorry for your mishap. Glad that you are OK. The bike looks pretty bad. Have you thought about replacing it?

 

Replacing it is not really an option as it was a lucky set of circumstances that allowed me to buy it in the first place. I could never afford something even remotely as good again. I do see your point though. I've got other bikes, and a 6-8 week break before I can even start riding again so not gonna rush into any major decisions just yet.

 

Any idea who the dog belonged to? ..the option of going after the dog owner seems rather viable.

 

That is a good point. I hit a dog a couple of years ago. My crash wasn't nearly as bad. I went around the neighborhood looking for the owner and never found them.

 

Finally got the bike running again! It has been quite a long process. Found a set of forks and oil cooler in Ireland (P+T's Used Parts, nice guys to deal with they even threw in a front brake lever) Took it for a ride round the block this morning and all seems ok. I was a bit worried that the forks would be too stiff because I used 10wt oil but they seem fine. Now begins the long ordeal of piecing the fairings together, but now I know she runs I can put the time in. The headlight is going to be the biggest problem, so if anybody has any creative ideas/alternatives I would appreciate them (or one they want to send me for Christmas :smile

 

Hey Bryan, I am glad you got the ole girl back on the road (Maybe). Good luck getting the replacement parts, might want to post a thread with a list of parts you need peeps will chimp in with offer.

 

Don't you have insurance that would cover the repairs or replacement?

 

Finally got my plastics back from painting last night so I am just about done. Still need a non glued together headlight and some decals, but I will do that over time. Used it today and realised what a magic bike it is. My little Suzuki has done an admirable job over the last few months and I love it to bits, but its no VFR! Here's a link (hopefully) to my imageshack page for those who are interested in the whole job.

 

Nice!

Glad to see it's back together. Great work.

 

Shit. He rides a bike and plays a guitar for a living too. I am surprised they didn't ship you right off to the phsyc ward while they had you in the hospital.

I'm late to this thread. How's the arm doing? Any complications to the rehab for that? I, and I am sure many others here, cannot stress enough to properly follow the directions of the health care professionals, (doctors and re-hab people) in order to facilitate a proper return to your usual activities. We don't need to necessarily know what those are mind you.

 

Thanks guys. The arm is getting there thanks Randy. You are right about the rehab though. I always used to see people who had broken something and after about a year they would still not be right and think "what a wimp". Now I know 1st hand how long it takes! After 8 months I'm about 70% back in terms of strength and mobility, so it's all good.

 

Great job with the restoration. I'm glad to see that you actually followed it through and are getting back to normal. Your wrist will get there. It sounds like you've got a realistic attitude about how long these things can take. That will only help you.