I was going around a tight left hand corner about 45 mph on one of our favorite little narrow twisty roads when a Ford pickup came the opposite direction in my lane. I had to dodge him which had me heading for the edge of the road. I went off and bounced off a hillside back into the road. The truck didn't stop. The next thing I remember after being hitting the hillside was getting loaded into the meat wagon. I had, according to the Doctors, 9 broken ribs, a concussion, (I'll vouch for that. I didn't even know what year it was when I woke up!) and a very sore left shoulder and arm.
Progressive got ahold of the bike and decided unilaterally to total it. They didn't even talk to me about it. After I got out of the hospital, I went to visit it and, frankly, the damage was on top. the headlight rings were bashed, (The headlight survived) the master cylinder was beat up. The handle bars were pushed down. Honestly couldn't tell whether they were bent or not. The stuff on the bars would probably need replacement. The tank was bashed and the seat was ripped. The rear sets may have been slightly tweaked, but nothing that couldn't have easily been straightened and the muffler was bent. the rest of it looked alright to me. I told Progressive I didn't want it totaled and they basically said, "Tough Shit, take the offer or get nothing!" They offered to sell it back to me, but it wouldn't have a title if they did and I would have to get a Salvage title. I didn't want to do that as I've heard weird things about them. So they paid me off which was actually not a bad deal, but now I have to wait forever to get a Cafe Racer. It took me a couple of years to get that one the way I wanted it and they just took all that away. I am not a happy camper with them. So as far as I'm concerned, Progressive basically stole my motorcycle from me. They are not on my list of insurance companies to do business with when the new one gets here.
My body healed up quite nicely. No issues.
Bare