Got lightly bumped today

Sitting at a light. Light changes, I click my bike into first and bam, felt just like I kicked it in gear with no clutch, but the clutch is in. That was weird. I shift it back to neutral and then back to first and it slips into first just like normal. Thought what the heck? Look in my rear view mirror and all I can see is white, The front end of a SUV really, really close and I realize what happened. I pull out and point at the suv and indicate they should pull over, which they do. I find neutral and get off the bike while a young guy climbs out of the SUV and comes walking up. I say "What the He**, you hit me". The guy says "Did you roll back?" (we were on flat ground) I said "No, you obviously rolled forward". We both looked at the back of my bike and I swear there was no damage. Not to the fender, tail light, saddlebags, pipes absolutely nothing I could see. I told the guy he got lucky, he said sorry and got back in his SUV and I got on the bike and went for a 60 mile ride. Everything felt normal.

Any place I should look for damage that wouldn't be obvious?

I am sure if it was that light of a bump there will be no damage to the bike. I always watch my mirrors when stopped as I am always worried about someone not stopping or not seeing me stopped.

While it's better to not get hit at all, if you have to get hit, that's the way to have it!

Now go buy some lottery tickets before your luck runs out!

the Ferret said:

I say "What the He**, you hit me". The guy says "Did you roll back?" (we were on flat ground) I said "No, you obviously rolled forward".
Any place I should look for damage that wouldn't be obvious?

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'did you roll back'? This is a practiced response. Purely defensive deflection of responsibility. This man has been here before.

Just a suggestion...the black plastic rear fender on my ST1100 is stiffened on the inside surface, between the fender and rear wheel, by some shallow rib stiffeners (won't call it honeycomb). If your bike has the same feature, inspect that area for wrinkled or whitened stiffening ribs. That would indicate some possible structural damage to the fender.

I backed my bike out of my garage and went to the left like I usually did, backing my bike where I can turn it and go forward and bam! Sudden stop! I forgot my son parked his fairly new 2011 Tundra in the driveway! Cost my new bike insurance company over $2,100 to fix his truck, cost me nothing, my bike was fine!

My topcase struck the backend of the cab, behind the rear door and where the gas door was.

Oldbikefixr said:

'did you roll back'? This is a practiced response. Purely defensive deflection of responsibility. This man has been here before.

Just a suggestion...the black plastic rear fender on my ST1100 is stiffened on the inside surface, between the fender and rear wheel, by some shallow rib stiffeners (won't call it honeycomb). If your bike has the same feature, inspect that area for wrinkled or whitened stiffening ribs. That would indicate some possible structural damage to the fender.

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oK I will look at that area in the morning. Thanks

SupraSabre said:

I backed my bike out of my garage and went to the left like I usually did, backing my bike where I can turn it and go forward and bam! Sudden stop! I forgot my son parked his fairly new 2011 Tundra in the driveway! Cost my new bike insurance company over $2,100 to fix his truck, cost me nothing, my bike was fine!

My topcase struck the backend of the cab, behind the rear door and where the gas door was.

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How fast could you have been going? What kind of damage did you do that cost 2100 to fix? Guess they don't make pickups like they used to (fortunately in some respects, too bad not, in others).

Mick.. lucky!!! We're all aware of the risks as usual..Skirmishes are bound to happen on the road.. Just glad it wasn't worse for you.

Keep your eye on that rear view mirror..

I was bumped same way once.. shoved me over the hump onto the pillion seat.. after the excitement and *****ing,, all things were good. No damage. His bumper was right height.
The good thing that came out of it, was the jolt knocked my back into place and never felt better for a long time! LOL

OhioDeere said:

Mick.. lucky!!! We're all aware of the risks as usual..Skirmishes are bound to happen on the road.. Just glad it wasn't worse for you.

Keep your eye on that rear view mirror..

I was bumped same way once.. shoved me over the hump onto the pillion seat.. after the excitement and *****ing,, all things were good. No damage. His bumper was right height.
The good thing that came out of it, was the jolt knocked my back into place and never felt better for a long time! LOL

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Lol, saved money on a chiropractor!!!

Several years ago I had someone back into me on my CBX. Slight downhill at a stop sign, the car pulls out a little too far and with traffic approaching decides he needs to back up a little. I lay on the horn but apparently driver was focusing on backing up. Fortunately he was backing really slowly and when he did make contact I let off the brakes and he backed me up about two feet. Finally looks in the mirror, sees what happened and gives the "my bad, sorry". End of story.

well I took off the bags, looked under the rear fender, looked at everything I can think of and can spot no damage. Rode another 73 miles today everything seems fine. Got lucky I guess.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

I got hit from behind at a traffic light at night. Was chatting to a guy in the car on the right of me. Old lady just hit me like I wasnt there. I went right down! Bent my (harley) rear fender, tweaked the bars, bent exhaust etc. And it HURT! Guy in the car next to me yells DUDE!!!
I had to calm the old woman down. Which meant of course that I could not strangle her.

Just saw this, Mr. Ferret...glad for you that no more apparently occurred from your "jolt" than your rightful concern...also glad that you were not injured!!...

Thanks bub. Was kinda of weird. I think the fact that the SUV had a big flat front end distributed the hit well. That's all I can figure. Well that and the fact that the ST is built like a tank lol.

So, as you said “… I click my bike into first and bam…”, that means you were in neutral at the light stop.
According to many articles and threads, you supposed to be in first gear, for your safety, to act quickly in case of an emergency. I understand the logic. But, also, I’m pretty positive if I’m in first gear and somebody hits me (not hard, just a little bit is just enough) and I release clutch quickly and eventually jerk the throttle a little bit, my bike will “jump”, fall down or even take me to the middle of the intersection - and could cause more damage than the “little push”. So, keep it in neutral on an intersection is not so bad, isn’t it?

I had a very similar accident. please check the connection equipment of the side bags. In my case the right bag connection was destroyed due to the bump and I had to change it.

Afan said:

So, as you said “… I click my bike into first and bam…”, that means you were in neutral at the light stop.
According to many articles and threads, you supposed to be in first gear, for your safety, to act quickly in case of an emergency. I understand the logic. But, also, I’m pretty positive if I’m in first gear and somebody hits me (not hard, just a little bit is just enough) and I release clutch quickly and eventually jerk the throttle a little bit, my bike will “jump”, fall down or even take me to the middle of the intersection - and could cause more damage than the “little push”. So, keep it in neutral on an intersection is not so bad, isn’t it?

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Once everybody has stopped I click it into neutral. I'm not sitting thru a light cycle with turn lanes in first with the clutch pulled in. This guy was stopped and just happened to slowly roll forward a bit and got me (probably on his phone for all I know). Unless I was staring in my mirror the whole time, unlikely I would have seen him coming anyway.

minal said:

I had a very similar accident. please check the connection equipment of the side bags. In my case the right bag connection was destroyed due to the bump and I had to change it.

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I took the bags off looked at them lightly without noticing any damage and put them back on, but will further inspect, thanks.

the Ferret said:

Once everybody has stopped I click it into neutral. I'm not sitting thru a light cycle with turn lanes in first with the clutch pulled in. This guy was stopped and just happened to slowly roll forward a bit and got me (probably on his phone for all I know). Unless I was staring in my mirror the whole time, unlikely I would have seen him coming anyway.

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Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you did wrong or right, or what you supposed to do. Your "case" just gave me an idea for a "what if" case. What if a teenager in his car behind me was texting and didn't realize his car is moving slowly and he hit me. I was surprised and I released the clutch suddenly and my right hand jerked the throttle and my bike jumped and throw me off of the bike and then it slammed on the ground. In this case would kid's insurance pay for all damage or they'll "fight" saying "If you were in neutral this will not happen. We'll pay for the damage on the rear of the bike caused by the car". You know what I mean?