Cross country ride ended prematurely

[walton66]

Got hit by a dear yesterday morning in the mountains outside of Cedar City, Utah  I never saw it even though I was on high alert and going cautiously. It jumped out and hit my RT, I think, where the right front fairing pieces meet. I didn’t go down, nor was I hurt and i was able to strap it all together and ride down into Cedar.   All of the plastic on the right side is broken.  Headlight lens is half gone, right case damaged along with one of the three mounting points, and the tail light lens ripped off by the bag I suppose. Headlights still work as the reflector is in one piece. I have my clearwater leds and an AdMor light bar and lights on my top case. It is still ridable and today or tomorrow I am making my way to a dealer in either Salt Lake or Grand Junction to meet the insurance person. I am calling them this morning to see if they are capable of doing the work. As I tally in my head, virtually every plastic bit, from the front main fairing all the way around to the rear, along with whatever the bag mounting is, will need replacing. Big bucks and time in the shop 3000 miles from home.  I guess it is not beyond the possibility that the insurance could total it. Im putting this on the forum to ask about the dealers. Any experience with them, or even the one in Sante Fe. These are all about equidistant from my brother where I will stay a short time before flying home.  If repaired, I will fly back and ride home to Florida. 
 

[Paddler]

Sorry to hear that.  I think the service department at Harrison's Eurosports here is Sandy is competent.  I'd give them a call this morning.  Where exactly were you?  Hwy 14?  We rode all around there last year, beautiful country.  It may be time for a new bike, maybe they have one in stock.  

[NRV-RT]

Glad you are physically ok, and good luck getting the bike fixed.  Not to be insensitive to your situation, however, can you tell me what type of mount you used for the auxiliary lights under the mirrors?  I have a 2011 RT, which looks similar to your bike, and have been looking for some clean way to mount additional lights such as yours.  I have some small fork-mounted lights down low.

 

I ride in the mountains of Virginia where deer are everywhere, and having one jump in front of me is my Number One concern at all times, and maybe some additional bright lights in front will help minimize that risk.  Nice to know that the RT is pretty tough and can take a strike such as you obviously received.    Hopefully I will be as fortunate as you were when and if it happens.

 

Good luck!

[TSConver]

Just now, NRV-RT said:

Glad you are physically ok, and good luck getting the bike fixed.  Not to be insensitive to your situation, however, can you tell me what type of mount you used for the auxiliary lights under the mirrors?  I have a 2011 RT, which looks similar to your bike, and have been looking for some clean way to mount additional lights such as yours.  I have some small fork-mounted lights down low.

 

I ride in the mountains of Virginia where deer are prevalent, and having one jump in front of me is my Number One concern at all times, and maybe some additional bright lights in front will help minimize that risk.  Nice to know that the RT is pretty tough and can take a strike such as you obviously received.    Hopefully I will be as fortunate as you were when and if it happens.

 

Good luck!

 

 

I just ordered a set of Denalli mounts for my 2011.  Found them on ebay in the UK.  Cleared customs last week so hopefully here soon.

[Skywagon]

Glad you are ok. Replacing the fairings isn’t labor intensive. If the headlight has to be replaced that would take a bit more labor. The headlight if memory serves me right is about $2500. The panels are expensive as is the case. You can price all the parts on-line. I suspect you have ~$5000-7000 worth of repair. 

[Stir]

34 minutes ago, Paddler said:

Sorry to hear that.  I think the service department at Harrison's Eurosports here is Sandy is competent.  I'd give them a call this morning.  Where exactly were you?  Hwy 14?  We rode all around there last year, beautiful country.  It may be time for a new bike, maybe they have one in stock.  

 

My guess was 14 as well.  Beautiful, yet loaded with deer.

 

[dba]

First and foremost, glad you didn't go down and are physically unhurt.  This is why we have insurance and I hope you don't get screwed by them.  If the deer got away, I hope it was limping.  

[mrduck]

Have you considered renting a small truck, hauling it home and then dealing with insurance and your local dealer? If the insurance deems it totaled and it’s sitting in your garage you could possibly get a fat check and keep the bike......up to you what to do after that

 

Don J

[NRV-RT]

22 hours ago, TSConver said:

 

 

I just ordered a set of Denalli mounts for my 2011.  Found them on ebay in the UK.  Cleared customs last week so hopefully here soon.

Thanks, I will check them out!

[walton66]

Thanks all, yes it was highway 14 outside of Cedar City. I had left Panguitch and was headed toward Tonopah NV.  The day before i had an amazing ride from Hanksville through Torrey and on to Panguitch via hwy12. Im in SLC staying with friends and go to the dealer today in prep for the insurance company.  I've long said this would be my last bike , and made that promise to myself when i purchased it, but had planned on riding it well into the 100k range.  I presume the damage is cosmetic and not mechanical. I put clear tape over the missing bit of the headligh, taped and bungied the taillight lens and fashioned a  good strap to support the side case and rode to Salt Lake easily yesterday. We will see over the next couple of days. If they repair it, ill fly back and finish the trip.  I wasnt quite half way done. 

[walton66]

Oh, the deer made her last leap into the side of the RT and left hair wedged in the cracks in the plastic. 

[Paddler]

I once took care of a guy who hit a deer at night in winter eastbound on I 80 at night near Tooele.  Centerpunched it, went down, of course.  He was all bundled up due to the weather, his only injury was a clavicle fracture.  Glad to hear you weren't hurt.  

 

I think you should buy a new one, ride around northern Utah for a few days, get the 600 mile service done, then be on your way.  The Shift Cam is really nice.  Tell Thor I sent you.

[BamaJohn]

On 5/18/2021 at 8:43 AM, bwpsg42 said:

Got hit by a dear yesterday morning in the mountains outside of Cedar City, Utah  I never saw it even though I was on high alert and going cautiously. It jumped out and hit my RT, I think, where the right front fairing pieces meet. I didn’t go down, nor was I hurt and i was able to strap it all together and ride down into Cedar.   All of the plastic on the right side is broken.  Headlight lens is half gone, right case damaged along with one of the three mounting points, and the tail light lens ripped off by the bag I suppose. Headlights still work as the reflector is in one piece. I have my clearwater leds and an AdMor light bar and lights on my top case. It is still ridable and today or tomorrow I am making my way to a dealer in either Salt Lake or Grand Junction to meet the insurance person. I am calling them this morning to see if they are capable of doing the work. As I tally in my head, virtually every plastic bit, from the front main fairing all the way around to the rear, along with whatever the bag mounting is, will need replacing. Big bucks and time in the shop 3000 miles from home.  I guess it is not beyond the possibility that the insurance could total it. Im putting this on the forum to ask about the dealers. Any experience with them, or even the one in Sante Fe. These are all about equidistant from my brother where I will stay a short time before flying home.  If repaired, I will fly back and ride home to Florida. 
 

Holy Cow, Bill....so glad you're not hurt physically!  Please keep me posted on developments.  jb

[Dave_in_TX]

You're lucky you weren't injured. I've been hospitalized twice due to collisions with deer. I have no experience with any of those dealers but the one in Santa Fe has a good reputation.

 

[Bernie]

Hey Bill, I am glad to see your fuel line repair held up to get you to Salt Lake City.

You should maybe post a picture and explain some details of how you patched it. The information may come in handy for some other unlucky soul.

By the way, those Clearwater Krista Led's are mounted on brackets from Clearwater, I think BMR made those for Clearwater. 

 

[Rougarou]

 

 

Glad you're ok

[mickeym3]

Like the idea of renting a truck to haul it home which gives you the option of buying it from the insurance company after they total it...which I suspect they will. 
 

But mostly just glad you’re ok, I fear the deer more than the distracted driver, at least they are predictable. 

[wbw6cos]

Interesting t-shirt.    I need one.   

[Rougarou]

On 5/20/2021 at 10:25 AM, wbw6cos said:

Interesting t-shirt.    I need one.   

 

rangerup.com

[walton66]

To follow up:

I set out on 5/3 from the Key West, FL area heading out west on a 5 week, 10,000 mile trip out west to visit old riding friends and areas that I haven’t seen since I left Texas in 1998. In order, it  was to be the Texas hill country, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Colorado, NM, OK, the Ozarks in Arkansas for a few days, then across Tennessee to  the  Barber in Alabama, and finally south back to Florida and home.

 

 I am not much of a stop and photograph type rider.  For me the ride has always been the attraction so I seem to jet from breakfast to dinner. I did have a GoPro set up and actually used it on several days but don't really know what to do with those videos now. After bee-lining to TX via US84, a fine alternate to the interstate I should add, I spent a couple days in Austin which in almost every respect were hell.  WTF happened to this wonderful place in the past 25 years.  I then headed out for Kerrville and spent a few days riding the old roads south and west of there and had a great time.

This was Vanderpol, at the intersection of fm335 and tx187.

 

 On 5/11 I left and spent 2 days getting to Santa Rosa, NM.  There is an old rte66 small motor lodge type motel, the LA Mesa,there run by a Navy vet.  It was perfect and I recommend it if you are by that way.

 The next day I rode to Taos where I visited with an old friend for dinner and stayed at the El Pueblo Lodge, another place that I can highly recommend.  I love the old  motor lodge style places that have a courtyard with parking right outside the rooms.  Met a couple other riders there and had breakfast at Michael’s. This restaurant was always a regular stop when we rode the area years ago and when we’d head to Taos from Dallas to ski.  I was not disappointed, still great.

   

From Taos I rode a circuitous route through Cortez, CO to Naturita and stayed at the Rimrock Hotel.  Unfortunately, I took the lazy way out and took no photos there.  It was however, a wonderful place to stay.  Great restaurant for dinner in the basement and a great, custom cooked, breakfast in the morning.  From Naturita, I rode a big loop on CO141 and US50 to Delta, CO and then up and across the Grand Mesa on CO65, finishing the day in Fruita.  That was a crazy day temperature wise, as it was in the 80s in Delta and Fruita but in the high 30s across the mesa.  Loved it.   The next day, I went out I-70 to UT128 and rode to Moab  continuing on to Blanding and eventually to Hanksville.  For that whole day, I just couldn’t stop remarking to myself the awe I felt at the scenery.  I spent a lot of time in southwest UT in my early riding days when I was working in Southern Nevada but never ventured much north of Panguitch.  In Hanksville I stayed at the Whispering Sands and had burritos and beer across the street with several other beemer riders who were also there for the night. 

 

The next day I wandered over to Torrey and then south on UT12 to end up in Panguitch.  Another new to me route.  My original plan was to meet up in Torrey for that gathering but as the trip matured, my plan took me through several days early. I stayed in a nice little motor lodge type place in Panguitch called the Canyon Lodge.  Nothing special bu t sufficient and quiet.

Here is where things went off the rails.  I had hoped to ride up over UT14, across Nevada,and get to Tonopah the next day.  The weather forecast was for strong southerly, maybe northerly, cross winds to blow beginning in the late afternoon.  As a result, I left Panguitch about 7am, several hours earlier than my usual departures to that point, hoping to get a ways across NV before the wind got bad.   Just after I passed Duck Creek village on 14, BAM!

 

I was only going about 40 according to my GPS track but she came out of nowhere and hit me about the corner of my headlight and as I described earlier, broke almost every piece of Tupperware on the right side as she flew alongside and knocked my sidecase off, breaking 2 of the 3 mounting points, and leaving hair in all of the cracks.   No GoPro on that morning.  I think I gassed it just as I saw the motion in my peripheral vision.  I'd like to know.

 

 

I’m not sure why she did not hit the clearwater under the mirror, but she missed that and my leg.  I went 100 yards up the road before I stopped and parked.

 

 

The impact and fracture created a pinhole leak in the fuel line leading to the injector just above the nipple.  It would spurt fuel when the key was turned on.

I solved it with a bit of 3/8 fuel line, split and wrapped around the original line  with the split on the opposite side from the leak and secured with multiple clamps

  

This patch got me down off the mountain and into Cedar City.  I covered the hole in the headlight assembly with clear gorilla tape and rode it to the dealer in Salt Lake the following day, no leaks.

 

So, at this point, I have been told that it is likely that the bike will be totaled but the dealership just finished completing the parts list last week.  The total repair estimate should be sent to the insurance folks this week, 4 weeks after the accident.  I have totaled $5500+ from the MaxBMW fiche just from what I can see in the photos and this excludes any labor.  It was rideable as I rode it up to SLC the day after.  If it gets repaired, I'll fly out and ride it to my brother's place in Durango and store it until October when it cools off a bit at which time I'll go out and ride it home.  It's nice to have so many frequent flyer miles saved up.

 

Bummer way to end the trip before even getting to the turnaround point but I wasn’t hurt.  This has been such a good bike for almost 70k miles that I hate to see it end this way. My last RT was a 97 oiled that I rode to 130k and had hopped to ride this one as long.   I had to fly home, so it’s still sitting 3000 miles away in SLC. It’s taken me several weeks to write this, due to the disappointment I guess.

 

[freetime2247]

Great description of your ride. Sorry it ended with damage to your bike. Thankfully, you were not hurt! I have the exact same bike with the same Clearwater lights. 47K and counting.

If they total your 2012RT, which bike would you purchase? 

[walton66]

Officially totalled on 6/29.  Not sure if and when I’ll look for a replacement, nor what it would be.  I’m inclined to look for another camhead RT but I'm also interested in a late F800GT so who knows. Ive always said this would be my last bike but always thought it would get me a couple more years to age 75.  We’ll see. 

[TEDZ]

Similar thing in WV on an 1150RT.  Left a few items off the estimate so it didn't get totalled.  Got the insurance check, bought used parts, and kept a clean title.  It was all plastic damage, none structurally.   Couldn't see scrapping due to just plastic.  Yep, informed the next owner.

[walton66]

I seriously considered doing something like this but it was 3000 miles away from home and i would have needed to ship it home so I just didn't want to mess with it.  On mine 2013, when they got into it, the small subframe that supports the front fairing section and oil cooler got tweaked some where it took the impact.  That added a bunch to the cost and complexity which was another determining factor.