Opinions of the wrecked Blade I picked up at the police impound auction please

submaniac · 11-16-2008, 4:14 AM

Hi Folks,

I picked up a 2006 Fireblade at the police impound auction for cheap (so cheap I do not want to mention the price!) Anyways, I do not know the story behind this crash, and I would like some opinions on it. I have had 5 people look at the bike, and there are some differing opinions so I wanted to ask more people for their opinions on the following questions:

1) do you think the previous rider survived the accident? Of the 5 people I have asked, 3 said he was killed. 2 others and myself think he was probably seriously injured and survived. I'm not trying to be ghoulish in asking, and the reason I am asking is, well not to be weird but for the first couple of nights after I picked up the bike I thought I heard some 'noises' coming from the garage, and it kind of makes me nervous to be in the garage with the lights low. I guess for a cheap fireblade, I can deal with a haunted motorcycle. Though I would like to believe the guy lived.

2) how fast do you think the previous rider was going when he crashed? 2 of the 5 people said he was doing 80mph. 3 people and myself think the crash speed was in the 30mph to 40 mph range. I have worked in the insurance industry looking at accidents, and from my experience a crash at 80mph and it doesn't look so much like a crash as the vehicle exploded.

3) do you think there is any frame damage? The opinion of everyone that has seen the bike (me included) think there is no obvious signs of frame damage (no cracks, the steering head is not bent, no stress marks near motormounts), but you can't be sure without a professional checking it out. But it looks to me that the bike was down on the left side, when the bottom of the front rim (the part that would normally be in contact with the ground) hit the curb or some hard object. It looks like (from the bent forks) that the force went along the length of the fork tube, and cracked the triple clamps. My mechanic is installing new forks (and wiring harness), and once it is done we are going to measure the length between the axels to see if the frame is within specs. If it isn't, it is going to "Dr. John's" for frame repair, but I would like some opinions.

As a little background, the bike appears to be new. Like it's the original tires with little wear, there is no exhaust buildup in the tailpipes, and there is no crud under the rear tire hugger. Probably less than 2,000 miles when it went down. The damage appears confined to the front forks. The bike went down on the left side, so the fuses, and left side pegs were gone. I have pretty much repaired everything on the left side from the steering head back. I dropped the bike off with my mechanic to have new fork tubes, triples and wiring harness installed. He told me he could have it running by the end of today. However, my experience is that mechanics are lying bastards so it should be done sometime next week.

I pretty much have everything to get the bike running and rideable. The only things left would be cosmetic, like painting the used fairings I bought for it (or buying Chinese repsol fairings off of Ebay). As for the pictures, the pictures with the bike being blue were taken when I first picked it up. The pictures with the black fairings are the used fairings I bought off of Ebay.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

submaniac · 11-16-2008, 4:42 AM

I could only upload 5 pics at a time...and it looks like I exceeded my alloted space. Do they allow hyperlinking to pictures?

bladeracer · 11-16-2008, 6:24 AM

1. There is absolutely no way of knowing anything about the rider. People die in crashes where the bike is not even scratched and they survive many crashes that totally destroy the bike. If you've ever bought parts from a wrecker you're very likely to have bought parts off a dead rider's bike.
2. Again, it's impossible to know. The bike may have hit another vehicle head on or even been hit while parked.
3. Only way to know is to measure it up. The important thing is that the steering head is perfectly perpendicular to the swingarm pivot which you can check with a spirit level. Accuracy is important so if you can extend the steering head axis using a rod centred acurately in the bearing races it's a big help.
My ZX6R is 60mm shorter in wheelbase because the frame is bent downwards 3.8 degrees (the original was bent 23 degrees). Even the 3.8 degrees is considered un-straightenable. I had to shorten the radiator and move the fairing backwards 30mm because both were hitting the tyre under braking. But it rides just fine. Better than a stock one actually. I'm running GSXR600 forks which are 50mm shorter so it still sits at the same height despite being bent.
Be sure to go over every inch of the frame especially the welds looking for cracks or impact damage.
Are you planning on building it for the track or road?

sahelton_1 · 11-16-2008, 11:32 AM

Only big thing i would suggest is if the forks were bent to pay close attention to where the center triple goes through the frame. If there is any inconsistency where the bearinge go then youa re going to have head chatter whether it is track or street.

lanbrown · 11-16-2008, 11:38 AM

If you want to know if the frame is bent:
GMD Computrack

submaniac · 11-17-2008, 1:17 AM

Thanks for the imput and help folks.

So far, so good as for the frame. My wrench put on the new forks and tubes, and went over the bike and there is no sign of damage to the frame. And, Bladeracer, you may be right about not being able to tell. So far there are parts from 6 different wrecked fireblades on my bike...and I don't even want to think about what happened to those riders. Thanks all.

sahelton_1 · 11-17-2008, 1:47 AM

the other thing to look at is if the bike had been down that many times....

WyoJames · 11-17-2008, 3:08 AM

I want to know how much you paid for it...cuz if it's a really good price, I might have to start headin to police auctions!!!

lanbrown · 11-17-2008, 3:10 AM

Better not have a record, they might check ID's at the door.

WyoJames · 11-17-2008, 3:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lanbrown

Better not have a record, they might check ID's at the door.

If I have cash in hand I don't think they would care....and speeding tickets down count as a record

lanbrown · 11-17-2008, 3:28 AM

They do if you get too many and you get a suspended license. Also beware of free tickets or a boat.

WyoJames · 11-17-2008, 3:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lanbrown

Also beware of free tickets or a boat.

what are free tickets?

submaniac · 11-17-2008, 5:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WyoJames

I want to know how much you paid for it...cuz if it's a really good price, I might have to start headin to police auctions!!!

If you must know, the winning bid was $950. Then when I paid, the city added a $100 tax. And when I tried to register it, there was 2 years of back registration owed which cost $410. But on the plus side, I did get a clean title. I would tell you which police auction to go to, but this place has good stuff and I would prefer to keep it my private hunting grounds.

lanbrown · 11-17-2008, 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WyoJames

what are free tickets?

I heard one police department gave away free Ozzy tickets; or so the people thought. The police sent letters out to people with warrants, etc. and set a party to arrest them. They got quite a few people.
Ozzy To Fargo Police: You've Ruined My Good Name

WyoJames · 11-17-2008, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by submaniac

If you must know, the winning bid was $950. Then when I paid, the city added a $100 tax. And when I tried to register it, there was 2 years of back registration owed which cost $410. But on the plus side, I did get a clean title. I would tell you which police auction to go to, but this place has good stuff and I would prefer to keep it my private hunting grounds.

Thats not to bad, I did some searching on the net and my town down do crap, sooo, looks like I'm going to have to go down to colorado if I want to go to one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lanbrown

heard one police department gave away free Ozzy tickets; or so the people thought. The police sent letters out to people with warrants, etc. and set a party to arrest them. They got quite a few people.

That is the greatest thing ever.

bladeracer · 11-17-2008, 2:29 PM

Don't you have insurance auctions?
What happens to the bikes that are financially written off or stolen and recovered or repossessed?

WyoJames · 11-17-2008, 2:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bladeracer

Don't you have insurance auctions?
What happens to the bikes that are financially written off or stolen and recovered or repossessed?

I live in a town of ~27,000 people, we don't have **** here! haha, all the write-offs, recovered, and repossessed bikes are sent to a bigger city to be auctioned off

submaniac · 11-17-2008, 3:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bladeracer

Don't you have insurance auctions?
What happens to the bikes that are financially written off or stolen and recovered or repossessed?

Repossessed vehicles are usually auctioned off by the bank itself, so you have to check each individual bank for their auction dates. Usually once they have a bunch of cars they have a public auction.

Bikes bought by the insurance companies are also auctioned off by the company. At Safeco Insurance (where I used to work) they stopped auctioning them off themselves, and use a third party called "coparts", Copart Auto Auctions Home Page for auctions of the vehicles which are declared a total loss. coparts does both physical location auction, AND if you register (but you have to have a mechanic's/or reseller's license) all the auctions are simultaneously done by computer, kind of like Ebay. So you can bid from the safety of your own home on a vehicle half way accross the country.

In the case of my bike, when I got the bike, the auction company gave me the lien sale papers, so I can sort of piece together what happened. The bike was bought new in August of 2006. The auction paperwork even gives the name and address of the previous registered owner, and the name and address of the 'legal owner' (i.e. the bank), which in this case was HSBC financial. The registration expired in August of 2007. The date the bike was impounded was September 9, 2008, so I assume that that is the day the 'accident happened'. The impound yard is required by law to keep a stored vehicle for at least 31 days before they can sell it and they have to give notice to both the registered owner adn the legal owner before they can lien sale. I think what happened is that HSBC sent someone down to look at the bike (because it looks like it still had a loan on it), they saw it, thought it was not worth paying the impound fees (which by then had totalled $700), and let the yard sell it, and wrote off the loan.

I doubt the bike had any insurance as anyone who can't afford to pay registration, probably can't afford to pay comprehensive insurance. If it had been insured, it probably would have been declared a total loss. To judge whether a vehicle is a total loss, the insurance company adds up the cost of NEW parts (from the manufacturer) and the labor, and if it exceeds 50% of the value of the used vehicle, they total it out. And if they total it out, they must notify the DMV and brand the title 'salvage' (either salvage-repairable, like it can be repaired and put on the road or "salvage-parts only or export") Considering each fork new is in the neighborhood $600, headlights nearly $500, it would have been really easy to total out my bike. But since no insurance was ever involved, it still has the clean title. And I can fix it using scavanged parts from other wrecked bikes to repair alot cheaper.

bladeracer · 11-17-2008, 11:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by submaniac

But since no insurance was ever involved, it still has the clean title. And I can fix it using scavanged parts from other wrecked bikes to repair alot cheaper.

That's how I picked up the ZX6R.
Rider didn't have a bike licence so had no insurance either.
He put it into the front of a taxi and was being sued for the damages. His injuries were just gravel rash to both palms and a hip.
Bike was still registered and I got it for A$1000. I actually only went because I was interested in the engine.
Cost me $1000 for another frame and the '04 GSXR600 forks, guard, clamps and calipers. The wheel is a spare off my '98 GSXR750.

submaniac · 11-18-2008, 3:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bladeracer

That's how I picked up the ZX6R.
Rider didn't have a bike licence so had no insurance either.
He put it into the front of a taxi and was being sued for the damages. His injuries were just gravel rash to both palms and a hip.
Bike was still registered and I got it for A$1000. I actually only went because I was interested in the engine.
Cost me $1000 for another frame and the '04 GSXR600 forks, guard, clamps and calipers. The wheel is a spare off my '98 GSXR750.

Sounds like an awesome deal. Unfortunately, being a fairly late model Blade, the parts are a little more than if I had bought an older bike. I'm trying to keep the total rebuild costs, plus cost of motorcycle at $3,000 total.