Dauntless Sidecar proves to be my lifesaver...

I was basically side-swiped by a 2007 Toyota Corolla driving woman this morning as I rode Yoshie, my V-Strom DL1000 Motorcycle with Dauntless Sidecar.

I was traveling westbound on a three lane highway known as Arapahoe Road, and had just crossed under the overpass that is the I-25 Super Slab that crossed the Denver Metro Area going North/South.

I saw this silver car exiting the I-25 and turning right to enter Arapahoe Road.  I kept an eye on it as there was nothing between it and the extreme left lane where I was traveling.  Instead of just driving onto the extreme right lane, she proceeded to cross over all three lanes immediately and as I jammed on the horn and started braking, she went right for me.  I swear, I don't think she even looked!

I was trapped by a 4-6 inch high concrete median to my left and could not dodge, still I saw I would not be able to stop in time to allow her in front of me, I started swinging into the concrete median to try and swerve away from here, raised concrete curb be damned.

It was not to be, the right front corner of my sidecar subframe apparently was hit by her left front wheel.  I of course lost all forward momentum at that point for a second or two, I heard metal and plastic crunching noises, remember seeing bits flying in the air as I was thrown forward into the windshield of my motorcycle.

I must have been holding the grips pretty good at this point because once I hit the windshield, I think I bounced back into the saddle.  The rig was now moving forward once it lost contact with the car and I was able to regain control of her and bring her to a shuddering stop by the concrete median, and clear of traffic.

I say it was a shuddering stop because I could not actuate the clutch lever.  Turns out I somehow held onto the control assembly hard enough to twist the thing forward about 180 degrees so the lever wasn't where I was expecting it to be!

I got off the motorcycle, checked for oncoming traffic from behind me and was clear.  The idiot cager had been stopped by the damage inflicted on her car by the sidecar's subframe.  A couple in another car stopped and asked if I was OK, I told him that I thought so and asked them to call the police, which they did.  Whoever you were, good samaritans, my thanks again.

 The Toyota Corolla that hit me, initially came off worse from

the encounter, I thought

That dent on the wheel was where I think it hit the beefy steel tube

that makes up part of the subframe assembly for the sidecar

 What a flimsy bumper on the Corolla, it's really just a damn plastic cover

 Where the van is passing my shadow, is where I estimate the impact occurred.

I am standing on that damn concrete median that separates the

West and Eastbound lanes of Arapahoe Road.

The above is looking west.  As you can see, I drifted for quite

the distance before I regained control.

 A police officer from Greenwood Village showed up in less than 30 minutes 

and got our stories and information.

 I thought initially my damage was limited to a broken wheel fender on the sidecar

and a dent on the subframe tubing plus scratches.  Not too bad, I remember thinking.

 Above it the main impact point on my rig by the Corolla

There's a dent on the tube, probably where her wheel rim hit it.

 The broken stub where there used to be a mount for my phone/GPS.

My jacket must have caught it and broken it off as I was flung forward.

The bracket that used to secure the front of the wheel fender.  

It broke from the fender's fiberglass unsurprisingly, but note the

impact managed to break one of the mounting bolts!

The officer gave me his card with the case # of the accident report he'd be filing, he assured me that he'd be charging the idiot driver with careless driving and told me I was free to go.

I got my helmet back on, checked for traffic and motored towards work as it was closer than home at this point.  Yoshie felt a little funny at first, kind of wiggling a bit underneath me but she soon settled down and I didn't notice anything else bad.  I noticed my throat had started hurting at this point, but only when I swallowed.  "Weird" I thought but figured it would go away.

I kept reliving the impact moment in my mind and counted myself damn lucky at this point.  Figured I'd order another bracket and wheel fender and some touch up paint and Yoshie would be good to go!  Nope.

As I was walking into work, some guy who works there followed me in and he asked me: "Did you know your rear tire is wiggling back and forth when you're moving?".  I stood there and said "No, you mean the tire in the sidecar?".  "No", he said, the one to the rear of the motorcycle.  Damn.

I headed up to work, to call the insurance companies involved, the doctor to make an appointment to check me out and yeah, there was work to be done.  The morning flew by in meetings, my throat continuing to hurt when I swallowed.  Not sure how I managed to hurt it, am thinking perhaps as I was impacting the windshield, my helmeted head must have snapped forward, and I pressed my neck into my chinstrap buckle assembly?

I left work shortly after 2:00PM, thinking to go to the doctor on my relatively undamaged rig to get myself checked out.   I took a closer look at the rig in the parking garage and I was dismayed to find the rear wheel looked liked it was bent, as if the swingarm had been twisted slightly!  I also now saw from the front that the subframe mount hardware on the motorcycle appeared bent towards the right side of the motorcycle!

 Note how the rear tire is off-center now, probably not a good thing.

I am told by Oscar, who followed me to the dealer part way that he could see

it moving sideways by a good two inches as I rolled along.

The front wheel is lined up straight, not the subframe mount 

hardware was bent towards the sidecar.  The vertical

arm, onto which the sidecar is attached by the support arms, 

should be straight up and down!

 The scuff/rubbing marks etched onto the left side subframe mounts

 indicate that the motorcycle was forced by the impact into that concrete

median.  Above is the leading edge of the subframe.

Above is the trailing mount of the left subframe.  Check

out the scoring caused by contacting the curb on the raised median.

 Above is the axle nut and right side tensioner screw.

The screw is supposed to be centered in that rectangular opening, 

pretty much in-line with the hole you can see behind it.

"not quite aligned, is it?"

Same damage on the left side tensioner screw.

So, riding to the doctor's was out.  I elected to slowly ride to the nearby Honda/Suzuki Dealer on Arapahoe Road and have them assess the motorcycle and sidecar for damage.  Who knows, with all that force impacting the sidecar, it surely got transferred onto the motorcycle's frame by the mounting hardware!  I could have hairline cracks in the aluminum frame for all I knew.

I got to the dealer with no issues.  As I rode there, I could feel I was tilted to the left and the rig was not really tracking very straight at times.  Damn.  Got the rig checked in, but the shop won't be able to look at it till this coming Tuesday.  Coincidentally, that's when the idiot cager's insurance adjustor is able to go look at it also.

My loving wife came and picked me up after her work was done (I'd called right after the accident and she knew I was not injured) and we went home after taking off all removable items from the rig.

So, the ruggedness of the Dauntless Sidecar subframe saved my butt today!  Ironic isn't it, I had no issues yesterday in a heavy snowstorm on snow/ice-covered streets but today in bright sunshine and dry roads some careless idiot tries to take me out!

Now I have to wait for Tuesday afternoon for the damage appraisal.  To my eye, my Yoshie may not be repairable but we'll see.  I know that if the sidecar's subframe is bent, am pretty sure it's not fixable without shipping it back to the manufacturer in Enumclaw, WA.  

I know, I know, it's just a motorcycle, and I should consider myself lucky.  I do, I really do.  The motorcycling gods were really looking out for me this morning.

27FEB11: Update:  Rode through the cursed intersection this morning, a bit nervous I'll admit, but no issues.

Here's a googlemaps shot of the intersection in question.  The red line denotes what I remember the stupid cow took as a path to the lane I was occupying.  The black X is the collision point.  That's where I saw bits of plastic from the accident.  I estimate I was just in front of that gray car to the east (left) of the X.