The King Is Dead - Long Live The King!

[Richard-A]

Dearest Group….

I find myself unexpectedly owning a second CE 04 all within 6 months. The first (grey) was written off in a ‘coming together’ with a Honda Civic. I can’t post any pictures (or talk too much) as it is still going through insurers.

The left hand side took the brunt of the collision and I can recall the headlight being ejected and shooting down the road - amongst other pieces of miscellaneous trim. I certainly feel that having my feet on the running boards saved me from serious injury. BMW assured warranty were really good and got the bike picked up and delivered to a local dealer. Despite the traction system being in good order, such was the damage, it got written off.

I went to the local minor injuries unit and got checked over. Amusingly, I asked for three days of Codeine for the pain and stiffness but was refused! I feel although I am in the UK, the opioid crisis elsewhere in the world has made the medical profession a bit ‘windy’ with certain medications….!

So, now on to nicer things. The replacement is the metallic blue one pictured - it has the same spec (fancy lights, heated seat, dynamic mode, etc) but with the addition of the fast charge option. You’ll notice it does not have the tall windscreen. I’ll let you know how that works with my daily (44 mile) commute that has 50-60 mph sections.

I am going to fit front and rear cameras. The recorder will fit nicely in the space behind the removable front panel and am going to make a bracket so the front camera will sit discretely above the front indicator.

Cheers,

Richard

 

[ghostrider4]

Oh sure, got ahead and have a honda mate with your ce04 so you can then post a photo of that pretty blue thing with the orange wind screen.

Just kidding and sorry for your accident though do love that blue...almost more than my gray...whatever they call that color (sort of has some hint of brown in it). You will love the Level 2 charging feature btw. I need to check my manual to confirm if the rear shock has no rebound screw setting vs just preload setting. If not then these are simply a hard ass ride going over bumps sadly.

 

[korinthias]

Sorry to hear about the off and subsequent damage to man and machine. When I had my crunch a few years back and fractured 2 vertebrae I started on morphine in the morning and come the evening they made me walk to the front door of the hospital. Those guys are inured to human suffering…

Having the quick charger opens up the possibility of charging en route, there are plenty of type 2 chargers out there in the UK. If you haven’t already, make sure you get a 32 amp, 3 phase cable, because there are higher wattage chargers out there that you can benefit from.

I think @triangletom has covered this in detail somewhere, but the right screen will definitely help streamline the bike more, and give you some additional efficiency mileage-wise. Stay safe and enjoy the ride!

 

[pedalmike]

Glad that you are OK. Many scooter pilots do not gear up like their motorcycle brethren....your experience underscores that "All The Gear All The Time" is still good advice.

Yours is the first CE 04 I have seen in blue....gorgeous!

 

[Richard-A]

Here you go!

Honda Civic



Ye olde CE04 after being moved



By the helmet is the headlight and some trim. What you can’t see is the debris over the road that the other road users were driving over.

 

[Richard-A]

So……

One can only describe the insurance experience as ‘interesting’.

I rang the claims number published by my insurance broker. The conversation goes like this:

‘We’ll pick up your bike’, I reply ‘no you won’t, it’s a specialist bike and it was recovered to a BMW dealer’. ‘OK’ was the reply.
‘I am going to get you a loan bike’, I reply ‘no thank you’.
After saying no to a loan bike three times, I get told ‘if you don’t take the loan bike we can’t continue with the claim’, I say ‘hold on let me make a phone call’.

I phoned the broker and got told ‘that was an accident management company’ and the person said ‘let me make a call and I will call you back’. When I was called back, the (helpful) person said ‘the underwriter will deal with you directly.

The underwriter paid the small finance on the bike and the rest to me. This enabled me to order a replacement quickly.

THEN the accident management company rang me up a week later and said something on the lines of ‘sorry we could not help you, is there anything else we can do’. I said ‘well I would like to claim for my PPE that got damaged’. ‘No problem, you pay for legal cover we will put you through to a solicitor’.

The solicitor agreed that they would help me claim for me PPE, I told them I was not injured. Let me be quite straight, I could have been run over on that busy roundabout or much, much worse; I consider myself extremely lucky.

The solicitor pushes for me to make an injury claim, which I keep refusing. I finally get told ‘if you don’t make an injury claim, we cannot make a claim for your PPE. I then tell them to get stuffed at that point.

I rang up my underwriter and explained the situation. I get told ‘that sounds reasonable, it is called an uninsured loss in our industry’. I speak to the third party broker and money is my bank account within four hours for my PPE.

So many people trying to make money out of my unfortunate incident….

‘If you want a job doing, do it yourself’.

 

[korinthias]

So……

One can only describe the insurance experience as ‘interesting’.

I rang the claims number published by my insurance broker. The conversation goes like this:

‘We’ll pick up your bike’, I reply ‘no you won’t, it’s a specialist bike and it was recovered to a BMW dealer’. ‘OK’ was the reply.
‘I am going to get you a loan bike’, I reply ‘no thank you’.
After saying no to a loan bike three times, I get told ‘if you don’t take the loan bike we can’t continue with the claim’, I say ‘hold on let me make a phone call’.

I phoned the broker and got told ‘that was an accident management company’ and the person said ‘let me make a call and I will call you back’. When I was called back, the (helpful) person said ‘the underwriter will deal with you directly.

The underwriter paid the small finance on the bike and the rest to me. This enabled me to order a replacement quickly.

THEN the accident management company rang me up a week later and said something on the lines of ‘sorry we could not help you, is there anything else we can do’. I said ‘well I would like to claim for my PPE that got damaged’. ‘No problem, you pay for legal cover we will put you through to a solicitor’.

The solicitor agreed that they would help me claim for me PPE, I told them I was not injured. Let me be quite straight, I could have been run over on that busy roundabout or much, much worse; I consider myself extremely lucky.

The solicitor pushes for me to make an injury claim, which I keep refusing. I finally get told ‘if you don’t make an injury claim, we cannot make a claim for your PPE. I then tell them to get stuffed at that point.

I rang up my underwriter and explained the situation. I get told ‘that sounds reasonable, it is called an uninsured loss in our industry’. I speak to the third party broker and money is my bank account within four hours for my PPE.

So many people trying to make money out of my unfortunate incident….

‘If you want a job doing, do it yourself’.

And that’s why premiums keep on rising… I’ve had a very similar experience on four wheels about 10 years ago, and regret letting the insurer ‘recover’ the vehicle. It was then removed to I never knew where and immediately written off. I had a hell of a job getting the £ I needed to replace it after a mega tussle with the ‘loss adjuster’.

Then about 8 years ago I had an off on my Ducati, and called the breakdown who took it to my home. Next, I went to the hospital and had the road dirt scrubbed out of the wounds on my legs (wearing regular jeans - never again). After that I contacted the insurer, and being in possession of the vehicle put me in a much better place to bargain with them.

Always sad to see a bike laying down…

 

[mjnorris]

In August of 2021 I had a disagreement with a pickup truck while on my 2013 c650gt. At a 4way traffic light my lane turned green and I started to pull into the intersection. Somehow out of 5he corner of my eye I realized that the truck was not slowing down for his red light. I slammed on the brakes and almost made it clear. Instead of being in front and being broadsided my front tire hit his rear tire and it knocked the bike out from under me. Very lucky to only have two bruised thumbs from the handlebars and an abrasion on the shoulder that hit the ground, my head never touched the ground. After getting checked out by the EMTs it was late enough on a Friday evening that I just had AAA transport the bike the final 1/2 mile to my home. On Monday I contacted my insurance agent with the police report with the witness statements and got the bike transported to the dealership since the damage claim personnel were not trained to evaluate motorcycles. Dealership reported that while there was not a lot of damage to the tupperware Ethan the forks were twisted from the impact and insurance totaled out due to repair costs being higher than the value of the bike. I was pleasantly surprised that the claim was processed easily since this was the second 2013 that was totaled. 1st one was stolen and stripped/trashed. Overall I have not had any bad experiences with my insurer.

 

[Richard-A]

“Always sad to see a bike laying down…” - never a truer word.

“At a 4way traffic light” - sorry to hear about your collision. As a typical Brit/European used to roundabouts, my casual observation is that these four ways are a constant cause of conflict. Was in Seattle a few years ago, encountered a four way stop; it blew my mind. I since learnt first one there goes???

 

[wspollack]

“Always sad to see a bike laying down…” - never a truer word.

“At a 4way traffic light” - sorry to hear about your collision. As a typical Brit/European used to roundabouts, my casual observation is that these four ways are a constant cause of conflict. Was in Seattle a few years ago, encountered a four way stop; it blew my mind. I since learnt first one there goes???

Yep, you're pretty much right: first one to stop, first one to go. In the event of a tie, I believe the rule is that the car on the right goes first.

The use of roundabouts -- as opposed to rectangular intersections -- is generally increasing on this side of the pond, where the extra space to fabricate them is available. There are some studies that show that accidents are more prevalent in roundabouts than in old-time intersections, but that such accidents are less severe than the kind of T-bone collisions that occur at intersections.

 

[mjnorris]

“Always sad to see a bike laying down…” - never a truer word.

“At a 4way traffic light” - sorry to hear about your collision. As a typical Brit/European used to roundabouts, my casual observation is that these four ways are a constant cause of conflict. Was in Seattle a few years ago, encountered a four way stop; it blew my mind. I since learnt first one there goes???

This was not just a 4 way stop, it was a 4 way traffic light. I had a green light and the other driver had a red light that had been red for several seconds. I’ve learned to wait a moment or two for people trying to beat the light and not making it.

 

[subcyclist]

I am sad to see that you were in this wreck, and that your bike was damaged enough to be a write-off. As PedalMike stated, it is good to see that you wear good gear. I am assuming you do, seeing that you have a good helmet with a visibility paint scheme, and you chose to buy a Brake Free light for it.

You believe that you were significantly protected from injury because of the running boards, which I have often thought is a protective element of this scooter. Even though it is wise to wear protective footwear on any motorcycle/scooter, I have thought that my feet and lower legs are far less likely to be crushed by this model bike in a fall. Additionally, this foot position behind the front fairing protects us from the wind, which is especially nice in cold weather.

Your new scooter looks fantastic in blue. If there are any positive outcomes from the unfortunate incident, they are that you were not seriously injured (most important), and that you have another CE04 in such a great color. If I had not found a very good deal on a demo bike, which is grey, I would have ordered a blue one. I hope you have many safe hours of riding on your new, blue scoot-mobile.

 

[Richard-A]

I am sad to see that you were in this wreck, and that your bike was damaged enough to be a write-off. As PedalMike stated, it is good to see that you wear good gear. I am assuming you do, seeing that you have a good helmet with a visibility paint scheme, and you chose to buy a Brake Free light for it.

You believe that you were significantly protected from injury because of the running boards, which I have often thought is a protective element of this scooter. Even though it is wise to wear protective footwear on any motorcycle/scooter, I have thought that my feet and lower legs are far less likely to be crushed by this model bike in a fall. Additionally, this foot position behind the front fairing protects us from the wind, which is especially nice in cold weather.

Your new scooter looks fantastic in blue. If there are any positive outcomes from the unfortunate incident, they are that you were not seriously injured (most important), and that you have another CE04 in such a great color. If I had not found a very good deal on a demo bike, which is grey, I would have ordered a blue one. I hope you have many safe hours of riding on your new, blue scoot-mobile.

Yes, it is a ‘Brake Free’ on the back of the helmet - I picked it up direct when travelling in The Netherlands last year. Really nice guy; very helpful. From day one I was concerned about the rear lights being so low, hence the purchase.

As far as the PPE:

 

[subcyclist]

Wow! It is very good to see that your trousers and boots took all of the abrasion damage; your skin would have looked far worse than this if you had not been so wise as to buy good gear. Even though I have not considered wearing regular clothing because of a handful of comments that 'It is just a scooter,' I am definitely convinced I am taking good care of myself by wearing protective clothing - thank you for confirming this for many/most of us.

You certainly would have taken some impact damage to your body, but if you were only asking for pain medicine afterward, I hope that means you had no broken bones, or other serious injury. I will say it again, that while losing a good bike is disheartening, your new one looks fantastic in blue. Ride safe!