Glad to hear you made out basically ok. You tried hard to ride it out but in the end too many factors went against you. NEVER, NEVER trust what a person in a car will do. Plan accordingly.

People get a lot of advice about rding. One of the best lines I've heard is ride like you're never seen. This is great advice, until it happens that a raging cager is gunning for you.

Around here the problem doesn't seem too bad. Not sure why, maybe we as motorcyclist just don't achieve the level of dickery riders in a lot of states do. Maybe it's overall Indiana's a little more conservative and respectful of people's individual rights, from both sides of the cage. I don't know, there's been a couple raging cager issues I had last season. One was probably youtube worthy (I do have the vid) but I never bothered to post it.

The only sure fire survival strategy I've experienced is:
1) ride alert and defensively - anticipate any situation of vehicle lawlessness especially when most are on cellphones.
2) pic very carefully where you ride like a hooligan pic your spots.
3) ride with an exit strategy, ie plan for the return home.
4) kiss the St Christopher medallion before the ride.
5) Do all this you may be in a situation where you do not come home. That's life on a bike. With this in mind never ride tired, emotional or diverted from the ride.
6) have spit bags of fun!

7. Keep spit bags ready to throw at cages.

It always gets ugly when this is brought up.

I came across the George Carlin routine a couple weeks back. Interesting how tame he seems compared to Louis CK. This bit cracks me up!

Not Safe For Work
Louis CK - Schedule of Hell

Aussie the fact that you all walked away relatively unscathed is a blessing. Not many bike accidents end this way.

Wolf, I'd add in ride within ones ability. (No reflection on you Aussie just my observation over the years of riding) So often Its easy to get "caught up" in the ride and forget ones own ability and ride beyond it. That's when bad things happen especially when you are riding in a crowd. The temptation to show off or ride as good as somoene else sometimes overrides common sense.

Speaking of Louis CK, I cried laughing when someone showed me this one.

Warning!
Do not watch if you are a devout Catholic and easily offended...

Louis CK learns about the Catholic church

* Last updated by: yannih on 2/24/2015 @ 11:49 AM *

of course, anything you tell a Catholic not to do, he's going to do anyway and not tell anyone.

...but really, if you're a devout Catholic, hope you have a sense of humor if you watch.

(that pretty much guaranties ALL Catholics will watch this)

Untamed said"Wolf, I'd add in ride within ones ability"...definitely.Riding your own ride means you're aware of where you are with YOUR riding skills and mindset.Most(or maybe I should say..a LOT) don't realize this...it sounds so simple.But lots of factors can weigh in in that mindset.You HAVE to be tuned in to what YOU feel okay with.Pushing things is the only way to advance that understanding.I ride mostly alone.I TRY to think about what's happening all the time.I have to stay focused on what's ahead,and kinda talk my way into it BEFORE I get there,say,a big fast curve or something.Or what that cage ahead is possibly gonna do...or whatever.My roads here are all I ride.So I pretty much 'know' what to expect roadwise.If I'm not feeling completely okay about any upcoming deal,I try to exercise some caution.ANYTHING can go wrong in the right circumstances.You only learn by riding.No one can tell you what'll work at any given time...for you.You have to make that decision.Hopefully,you make the right one.Always thinking...always adjusting.That's what makes riding so fun for me anyway.

* Last updated by: Grn14 on 2/24/2015 @ 11:40 AM *

Despite the temptation and egging on, I was doing a good job of riding to my ability during the day, I probably did though, get a little caught up after a few hours of riding to my ability and gained a little over confidence which led to a little eagerness, therefore, riding to close, worrying more about the overtake opportunity and not remaining focused on safety first. BIG LESSON LEARNED.

On some good, no great news, the smash repair place has tendered a quote to repair the bike. I know there is a risk she won't come back the same, but smash repair has become a pretty good science in recent years, plus I imagine most of the broken bits will be new anyway.

I don't know how close the quote is to the write off level but surely, the insurance company will authorise the repair!!

* Last updated by: AussieZX on 2/25/2015 @ 4:19 PM *

Are they repairing or replacing panels? It's better to replace than repair. Its not often cheaper but a second hand re-sprayed/painted panel is better in the long run. Repaired panels often crack in the same place, or worse they put so much filler in to hide it. As for the rest of the parts, if it's replaced it shoudnt be any different to what she was before the accident.

They will definitely have to replace panels. Did a pretty good job on the side swipe. Good to hear she should be the same!

Passing isn't a skill level per se...it's more a judgment call.I've been there.Came VERY close a couple of times...simply cause I wanted to hit that next 'open spot' so I could actually go faster.My common sense was yelling.."slow up and get there a bit later but alive"...my emotion was saying.."go for it,you'll make that pass,and be able to rail into that next set of curves".BAD call on the latter.I made it,but if ANYTHING had interfered with my velocity...I'd have been very dead.I left myself no real out.I felt REALLY stupid with myself after I did that(those)passes.It was so unnecessary.I really want to think BEFORE committing to something that in these cases were actually dangerous for everyone around.The 14 has so much power,it almost can lull a guy into stretching beyond a sane decision.

Unfortunately, the insurance assessor has decided it's a write off. On the look out for a new one......

Wow.
Just re read all of this thread again.
Didnt we have fun here with differing opinions...
But most importantly Aussie has a new bike and Rook seems to be doing much better.

There were certainly a lot of opinions. In hindsight, I think it would serve well for all riders to keep in mind we've all made mistakes. Some lucky enough to be talking about it at the end of the ride, others much more tragically never being able to tell a story again. I copped a lot of condescending tone and comments both on here and in person from 'friends'. I learnt a lot from the incident and from other people, even some of the condescending ones. I am happy to recieve advice but keep in mind your advice is usually from your own experiences of near misses or more tragic incidents from mistakes made. You've been there and done that yourselves which puts you in a place to give advice. Your comments are much more welcome coming from a position of understanding rather than derision.

I had a big accident but physically was relatively unhurt. I am a better rider for the lessons the incident forced on me. I am still spirited in my riding but always keep any over confidence in check with the little thought in the back of my mind about how quickly it can go so wrong.

As yannih said, I'm back in the saddle having bought a nice ZX14R three weeks after the incident and have been a very happy camper ever since.

* Last updated by: AussieZX on 8/26/2015 @ 7:08 PM *

Roll n Rock! (have to say it backwards so you can read it right!)

Good to hear your OK. Worse than me I see. Some shit*y driver that can't merge properly did the gas, brake,gas,brake,gas,brake and gas and i thought i was good to go until after doing my shoulder check learned this dipsh*i needed one more brake and i turned around and next thing you know I was over my handlebars on my new Vrod. If you can't drive then DONT! Cant believe some people think its ok for them to actually be driving. Firkin dangerous drivers. And the stupid thing is she was doing this when there wasn't even oncoming traffic in our oncoming lane!

* Last updated by: ryancoke on 8/26/2015 @ 7:59 PM *

Good to hear your OK. Worse than me I see. Some shit*y driver that can't merge properly did the gas, brake,gas,brake,gas,brake and gas and i thought i was good to go until after doing my shoulder check learned this dipsh*i needed one more brake and i turned around and next thing you know I was over my handlebars on my new Vrod. If you can't drive then DONT! Cant believe some people think its ok for them to actually be driving. Firkin dangerous drivers. And the stupid thing is she was doing this when there wasn't even oncoming traffic in our oncoming lane!

Starting to tallie up... last year same thing end of season started to come and everyone get's sloppy somehow forgetting just how entirely shit most drivers are. For me Labor Day weekend last year was pretty memorable IIRC 3 incidents with idiot cagers not paying attention and could've been accidents.

Well better your V than your Z. Hope you're ok. What is especially shitty in your situation is it's just automatically your fault. Fucking people that brake for no reason should not be allowed to drive. It's fucking ridiculous.