Cars... Why Did It Have to be Cars?

[Phantasm]

Greetings all, I'm new here. I've had my 2003 250R for 6 years, she has been my pride and joy since the day I got her. I've learned a lot over the years, some lessons like maintenance cost a bit, while others like handling and gearing preferences came with time.

I had just returned from a summer abroad, pulled my blue baby out of storage, given her a full check up and cleaning, and gotten fresh tabs. I had her on the road for a day before a car pulled out in front of me and ruined my month. The car was on the right side of the road, in a driveway coming out of a shopping centre, doing that strange start-stop pull up to the kerb they sometimes do. It was wet that night so I had already started to slow down (it was a 40 m/p/h stretch of road), not trusting what the car was going to do. Suddenly the car surges forward and makes it through 1&1/2 of the 2 lanes of traffic before slowing down to enter the middle turn lane.

By this point I'm no more than 10 feet from the car, so I hit my breaks and felt my rear wheel lose traction. I decided it'd be a whole lot safer to lay the bike down and have it hit her car rather than have me fly over it, so I let my baby go down on her right side and skid the rest of the way into the car. The gal in the car has insurance (State Farm, who have been complete bastards about this whole thing so far, at least that's how it feels from my end), so I've been slugging it out with them for the past month, trying to get them to drop this ridiculous 90-10% liability split for the crash. The cops gave the car a citation and somehow I'm still partially to blame for the crash when I did everything to prevent it?

So my poor 250 is sitting in a shop, in the limbo of waiting to hear if State Farm is going to total her or not, and I'm trying to figure out what options I have to fix my girl. Her front, upper cowling is completely severed on the left side, stress fracture from hitting her right side. The right turn signal is gone. The headlight is wrecked. The entire instrument console is shifted down and to the left. And I have more scratches to add to prexisting ones on her muffler, as well as a depressing new dent.

I already had a spare turn signal on hand from a repair I was planning to do on the left side after a drop on black ice this winter, so that won't be a problem. I can spraypaint the muffler like I've done in the past and abide the dent, it's just cosmetic so I don't mind it too much for now. The big problem is that front cowling. I've been looking around on Ebay and Partzilla, so I know there are some options, but nothing that will be particularly cheap. And as my Gen 3 bike gets older I know the plastics are only going to continue to get harder and harder to find.

So my question is, does anyone know if I can mod an 08-12 front fairing and headlight assembly to fit my 03? I've been digging around the forums and seen plenty of people switching out suspension and swing arms, wheels and whatnot, but I'm not finding anything concrete about the cowling. If it's not possible I'll bite the bullet and slap a plate on the inside of my cowling to give it stability for now, then wait to see if I can find a deal on a Gen 3 cowling eventually.

In the meantime I'm limping around, cursing State Farm, and fixing up my brother's motorcycles for him. Annoying not to be able to ride my own girl right now though. Always hard not to feel like a terrible person for having to drop her in the first place.

Anyhow, hello all.

-Celeste

[CaliGrrl]

Ugh, that sounds frustrating. Typical, though, to avoid paying, and if they do pay, to put that off for as long as they can. I hope you can come to an equitable end with them so you can get your bike back on the road.

[csmith12]

good luck to you sir!

And welcome! Hope you're good and you limp isn't too bad.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by CaliGrrl

Ugh, that sounds frustrating. Typical, though, to avoid paying, and if they do pay, to put that off for as long as they can. I hope you can come to an equitable end with them so you can get your bike back on the road.

Yeah, some neighbour State Farm is when you're not their client. Ah well, I'm bullheaded enough that I'm not going to let them completely screw me.

And thanks. I'll definitely be posting photos of the process once I get my girl back and start working on her.

Originally Posted by csmith12

good luck to you sir!

And welcome! Hope you're good and you limp isn't too bad.

Thank you. The limp is getting better and the bruising is slowly fading. I've still got a knee brace for my left knee and stairs take a while, but I'm getting there.

[Motofool]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

Greetings all, I'm new here. ..........I decided it'd be a whole lot safer to lay the bike down and have it hit her car rather than have me fly over it, so I let my baby go down on her right side and skid the rest of the way into the car......
So my question is, does anyone know if I can mod an 08-12 front fairing and headlight assembly to fit my 03?.....

Welcome, Celeste !!!

Sorry to read about your crash.

Most riders resort to a naked version when fairing gets severely damaged.

These old threads may inform you about insurers and total loss:
https://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=51124

https://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=83073

Wish you a quick and painless recovery.