Repairing My GSA1150 From a Cat C Crash

[Peckham]

I was hit head on by a transit van, my bike sustained front fork damage and I suppose other related faults. It's been awarded a cat c write off status by the insurance engineer because of repair costs.
Questions?

• Recon forks or new
• How much
• should I scrap the bike

The insurance company have valued the bike at 6k to me for them to keep and scrap or 5k for me and to keep the bike. Of course I love the bike it's a 2005 GSA with 43,000 miles on the clock in spanking condition? but I am not able to mend it myself and would have to take it to a mechanic.

[TurboCharger]

I've had plenty of friends that though buying back the bike after a write-off was a good idea, turns out rarely is it a good idea.

The problem is that you can't (easily) re-register a vehicle that has been written-off. It will cost more than it's worth and the money in the pocket is almost always a better deal. Not to mention that anybike after having sustained serious accident is almost impossible to true and realign again. The frame will always be a little out no matter what.

I would take the money and buy a fresh bike.

[Peckham]

Yes maybe you're right?, I might have to wave goodbye.

[Peckham]

But then again what does a 2005 GSA go for as salvage £1,500?

[TurboCharger]

If it were a purely economical decision and not emotional or sentimental one then you may look at the situation differently... just saying

[*Touring Ted*]

Cat D's are hard enough to sell on. Cat C's are VERY hard and people are only ever willing to pay breaking value...

I've restored cat D's before to sell on but ONLY because I got the bikes VERY cheap in the first place through my dealership.

Eg. 1999 ZX6R cost me £600. ,
parts were £400
Took me about 20 hours of work and I sold it for £1500. Only feasible because the bike was £600 and I do my own work.

Unless you can buy a bike for VERY cheap and do ALL the spannering yourself, It's seldom worth it unless you're going to keep it or know you can break/sell the parts for your money back.


Do I understand that it will cost you £5000 to buy it back off the insurance company ? That seems VERY high for a right off price.


I don't think you will need to re register it ? CAT C is just un-economical repair but you will need to see the engineers report.

[Stewart H]

I have been tidying my 1100 GS up over the last couple of weeks since I cannot ride it, I reckon I could easily remove and replace the forks in around an hour, Bring it to me and I will fix it for you, there seem to be plentiful 1150 bits around, basically the bike is yours for a grand, a few hundred should see it roadworthy, pocket the difference and enjoy some depreciation free biking

[Peckham]

Stewart, do you mean bring my bike to you and you will put recon forks on it etc.
Howard

[Walkabout]

[QUOTE=Peckham;347391]I was hit head on by a transit van, my bike sustained front fork damage and I suppose other related faults. It's been awarded a cat c write off status by the insurance engineer because of repair costs.
Questions?

• Recon forks or new
• How much
• should I scrap the bike

The insurance company have valued the bike at 6k to me for them to keep and scrap or 5k for me and to keep the bike. Of course I love the bike it's a 2005 GSA with 43,000 miles on the clock in spanking condition? but I am not able to mend it myself and would have to take it to a mechanic.[/QUOTE

TT makes a good summary of the technical situation including the issue of getting the bike back on the road. There are quite a few cat D and C wrecked bikes for sale on ebay at any time, and some that have been repaired, so it can be done.
But, you don't give enough information in any case; what mileage have you done with this bike for instance concerning the technical/practical side of things and how much do you love/like the machine for the other side of life; maybe you are ready to own a 1200GSA and there are loads of them for sale right now, again using ebay as a test market. In fact, it is very much a buyers market, so for the insurance payout you might get another 1150 GSA with less mileage etc etc. Only you know all of the facts and the full circumstances + what it is that you really want to ride next!

[Peckham]

As I said 43,000 miles from new full service history and I love the bike, but, but, but I might take the money. You mentioned what bike do you really want, well what I need is a less expensive pack horse of a BMW, used around 2 grand any suggestions?

[Walkabout]

Originally Posted by Peckham

As I said 43,000 miles from new full service history and I love the bike, but, but, but I might take the money. You mentioned what bike do you really want, well what I need is a less expensive pack horse of a BMW, used around 2 grand any suggestions?

Apologies, I missed that bit, somehow.

The F650GS is highly under-rated on these forums by some contributers, and usually well-rated by those who ride them, like me.
Around 70 MPG no matter how you ride it and 6000 mile service intervals (some of the Jap bikes want to be serviced more frequently). So, if it has to be a BMW then they are worth considering, but for 2 grand you may have to look at about the same age as your 1150.
The Dakar version seems to be selling OK privately.

[Adventure]

and sell me the tank

[Stewart H]

Originally Posted by Peckham

Stewart, do you mean bring my bike to you and you will put recon forks on it etc.
Howard

Absolutely, if you would like me to repair it.

[Peckham]

Have you an email/phone number.

[henryuk]

Am I right in thinking that if you keep the bike the insurance give you 5 k, and if they keep the bike they give you 6k?

I'd keep it, especially if you have some help with putting a new front end on it. If you're using recon/secondhand parts 5k is a very good budget to rebuild with.

The only exceptionto this would be if there was damage to the frame - you can usually spot this as either an abvious bend or crack (if it's really bad), or rippling of the paintwork. This might turn out to be a proper can of worms. If the forks gave way and not enough force was transmitted to the frame to damage it then you should have no problems getting it all ship shape and leave enough in your skyrocket for a deecnt road trip to 'shakedown' the new beast.

Don't forget to budget enough for the person/people helping you out. I love fixing mates bikes and run a labour cost of 1pint/hour.