My first long trip on the R

[Virtually Yours]

Well back at the end of July my wife and I decided to lease a Leaf.
So after having the Leaf for a month I thought it would be good to take a relatively short trip to the west coast of FL to see the in-laws and ride with my step-father-in-law on his old Harley for his birthday. He had recently been diagnosed with lung cancer.  They seem to have caught it early.  So between surgery and chemotherapy he is doing well.
So the logistics were a challenge because not only do we need to charge the bike but the Leaf too.  So finding locations with two L2 chargers at the same location proved to be hard but not impossible.
The wife really doesn't have the patience to charge 3-4 hrs. every 50 miles. So I tried to make a trip out of it and find locations to charge as well as having things to do while we wait.
So long story short.  We make it all the way to a Nissan dealership in Lakeland, FL and this is our last charge before our destination and guess what happened?  This old man with a big V8 Tundra pick up backed his gas guzzling truck into my bike while it was charging.  I screamed at him.  "WTF you doing backing up your gas truck into an occupied charging station?" It couldn't be ridden so it had to be towed to Euro Cycles Tampa for repairs.
So now I'm without my bike for who knows how long...  Pretty much at the mercy of the powers that be.
Sucks! A month worth of planning, 6 days off of work, 22 hours on the road, and who knows if we will get a opportunity to ride the father-in-law again, all shot to hell because of some careless prick who by the way owns a Harley and should know better.

[protomech]

Man, that sucks : (

A friend backed into my Zero and knocked it down. I had parked pretty close behind him - I think he just had a brain fart when he couldn't see it in the rear view mirror, he approached the car from the side and could clearly see the bike.

Hopefully he's taking responsibility for the damage to the bike.

[Brammofan]

A sad sight, for sure. 

Let us know how Eurosports does on the repairs.

[Shinysideup]

Oh man! I'm sorry you were the victim of some guy's utter unconsciousness... could've been a child behind his truck.

Hope both your step father-in-law and your bike have speedy recoveries.

- Bill

[frodus]

Get him for all you can. Thats complete crap. Sorry about your back luck.

[7racer]

Holy crap that sucks!!! What was that guys excuse!?

[tkthompson]

That is a very bad day, brings tears to my eyes just seeing her kissing the pavement like that 

I hope they get her fixed up soon.

[Virtually Yours]

Thanks guys! I hope to get it fixed and back home within a month but it partly depends on Brammo sending the parts. After standing the bike up I looked at it and it looked like just bolt on stuff got damaged but I'll know more when Euro Cycles goes over it with a fine tooth comb. The only thing I'm worried about is that the insurance company may total the bike if there is any kind of mark on the frame. I didn't see anything and I understand why but I want MY BIKE!  He admitted fault and really felt bad being a bike owner himself and luckily we both have State Farm so the claim process should be easy. He said he couldnt see the black bike next to the black car. My response was well it was plugged in and the tail light was on... 

[00049 (AKA SopFu)]

Someone backed into my bike when I was in college and the insurance company totaled it. I was able to buy it back, and ended up pocketing about $2,000 after the deal was done and I put it all back together.

Often times the repair estimates are subjective, and for bikes there is no need to get multiple quotes. I suspect that if you told the dealer you didn't want the bike totaled, they could work the estimate that way while still ensuring you are made whole. For the dealer it's all about making you happy, after all.

I hope your bike and your father-in-law make it out okay!

[Jeff]

Noooooooo!  Dude that is goddamn infuriating.

For what it's worth, when I dropped my bike (at about 30mph) the frame didn't even get breathed on because the bike is so skinny.  Hopefully all the impact went to the footpeg and handlebar.  I hope you get it back swiftly!

[Richard230]

I had the exact same thing happen when my Aprilia RS 50 was parked 10 feet behind a large SUV.  The driver got confused about what gear she was in and backed up 12 feet before she realized that the vehicle was going backward instead of forward.  I ended up with two broken turn signals, a bent mirror and a scratched fairing.  She said she was sorry, gave me all the cash she had in her purse ($150) and took off, never to be seen again.  That was when I discovered that just the fairing stick-on decals that were scratched cost almost that much and that the design of the turn indicators had changed and the old style were no longer available.  On the other hand, the plastic fairing protected the frame so the damage was pretty much bolt-on (and stick-on) cosmetic.

[flar]

For many ICE bikes I would think that frame damage would be so expensive to repair that they would be totaled, but they are usually not as expensive as the Empulse and it is probably more complicated to replace a frame on them.

The simpler design of the Empulse and the overall cost would probably make it hard to total it.  It would probably be more likely to happen if you had damage to the battery compartment, but that is pretty well shielded unless you are backed into by an open-bed spear delivery vehicle (though some of these pickups with their trailer hitches are not much better)...

[benswing]

Sorry to hear about that.  I was really hoping you had a good road trip experience.  Always interested in hearing about people pushing EV's to greater distances!  Hope you get it back soon!

[Virtually Yours]

Thanks again guys for the support.  Here are the rest of the pics from my trip.  Of course it's always an adventure when you leave your local area and venture out for the first time to unfamiliar charging stations.  One thing I've noticed is the need for uniformity for charging stations.  Most of the problem on this trip (as far as charging stations are concerned) is the lack of awareness and clearly marked spots.

Day 1

[Virtually Yours]

Day 2
I bet you that if the charging stations were clearly marked with signage, paint, etc. this accident could have been avoided. The day started out bad but we still have the cake.  Ralph has been feeling good but he needed some help blowing out the candles.