some advice please

[miketomcat]

i'm relitively new to the africa twin thing i bought mine about 2months ago from another member of this forum and i love it to bits but due to a minor err of judgement i crashed the @ into the front of a volvo at about 40mph me and 35mph the volvo. this has left me with a broken ankle (i'm so lucky).

now my question is i'm planning to buy it back from the insurance company do i break it for spares and buy another one or do i rebuild it ? i need somthing to do while i'm off work.

the forks and frame apear to be undamaged, all of the front fairing needs replacing along with the tank(am happy to repaint them), the bash pan one radiator the oil cooler and pipes and foot pegs will also need replaceing this i can see from photos i haven't seen the bike myself. it didn't leak any oil whist standing so am hoping engine is ok.

thanks mike

[baluchiman]

[quote=miketomcat;193538]i'm relitively new to the africa twin thing i bought mine about 2months ago from another member of this forum and i love it to bits but due to a minor err of judgement i crashed the @ into the front of a volvo at about 40mph me and 35mph the volvo. this has left me with a broken ankle (i'm so lucky).

now my question is i'm planning to buy it back from the insurance company do i break it for spares and buy another one or do i rebuild it ? i need somthing to do while i'm off work.

the forks and frame apear to be undamaged, all of the front fairing needs replacing along with the tank(am happy to repaint them), the bash pan one radiator the oil cooler and pipes and foot pegs will also need replaceing this i can see from photos i haven't seen the bike myself. it didn't leak any oil whist standing so am hoping engine is ok.

It would be a bloody Volvo. wouldn't it?

[miketomcat]

affraid so and guess what the guy next to me in hospital also had a bike accident involveing a volvo i'm spotting a pattern here

mike

[lootch67]

It depends how good you want the bike to look. You don't mention how much you paid for it or which model it is, but replacing the bits with new parts will certainly set you back a fair amount. Possibly worth to take the money and buy another one.

[BlindPugh]

Sorry to hear about your collision. As far as your question - it really depends on what you want to do with the bike.
Repairing it is fairly straight forward - find replacement parts from Ebay or breakers. I found breakers doing lots of parts for less than they sell on Ebay so it is worth investigating. Fuel tanks and plastics are relatively easy to source. Do not even think about buying new - a replacement fairing from Africa Queens is way cheaper than Honda OE stuff. If you need somewhere local ( Southampton ) to paint all of the panels I had everything painted for £150 - took around 10 days. The only problem you may have is the insurance company may want to write it off so the bike then gets recorded as a Cat1 write off which means cost of repair is more than value of bike. This could make it difficult to sell but if get it for a bargain price then repair it cheaply this may not bother you.

If you need any advice about which panels fit different model etc..I have lots of experience of getting a complete set of bodywork with everything from 1993 to 2002 fitted on mine - including an Africa Queens front fairing.

HTH

[miketomcat]

the main reson for thinking about rebuilding is it seems a shame to let it just go to a breakers. i have the skills to rebuild it to a high standard and plan to keep it for a long time (i like a challenge). if the insurance co make it difficult to put back on the road and i can get it cheap enough then it will be striped for parts as that makes more sence. it's a 1998 RDo7 in white i paid £2400 for it but i know i'm never going to get my money back just wanted to see if i'm barking up the right tree.

thanks mike

Sorry to hear about your collision. As far as your question - it really depends on what you want to do with the bike.
Repairing it is fairly straight forward - find replacement parts from Ebay or breakers. I found breakers doing lots of parts for less than they sell on Ebay so it is worth investigating. Fuel tanks and plastics are relatively easy to source. Do not even think about buying new - a replacement fairing from Africa Queens is way cheaper than Honda OE stuff. If you need somewhere local ( Southampton ) to paint all of the panels I had everything painted for £150 - took around 10 days. The only problem you may have is the insurance company may want to write it off so the bike then gets recorded as a Cat1 write off which means cost of repair is more than value of bike. This could make it difficult to sell but if get it for a bargain price then repair it cheaply this may not bother you.

If you need any advice about which panels fit different model etc..I have lots of experience of getting a complete set of bodywork with everything from 1993 to 2002 fitted on mine - including an Africa Queens front fairing.

HTH

[miketomcat]

my problem has been solved had contact from salvage company they want £988 for me to buy the bike back which i thought was way over the top so have told them to stick it and i'll take the money thanks for adivce

mike