Got Reversed Into - What to check?

Enroute to work this morning, riding behind a large van rigged up with winch and recovery bar. We were in convoy for quite a while through the local roads and while negotiating a slow speed set of corners, where locals often double park, he stopped. I thought nothing of it and stopped behind - Then his reverse lights came on. With no where left or right to go and me facing down hill a back wards walk was out of the quesion I literally had no where to go so promptly began shouting loudly and beeping the horn but then remembered the full arrow system is much louder so gave it the beans while the clutch was slipped. Still he reversed, I just about did my best to balance the bike upright to avoid it ending up underneath. Fortunatly with my positioning he reversed square into the front wheel and with my brakes released he pushed me back. When he did stop with my brakes still released I managed to roll far enough away from his rear end to then ride away on to the right hand pavement, along it a few car lengths and back out across the road behind the bus (which is what he had been reversing away from) and then in front of the van to stop him from driving away.

After many choice expletives and many more lame excuses from the van driver my favorite one been "you should have gone backwards when you saw my lights" BIKES DONT HAVE REVERSE DIP-****

Despite me reacting quick enough and releasing my brakes the initial connection came with quite a shunt and althougth I can see no obvious damage I just thought I'd ask for some pointers for inspection.

I should point out the driver did help me with some on the spot road side checks of Wheel bearings and head bearings and they "seemed" ok but in the heat of the moment I really couldnt tell.

Report it to the cops, if you do find hidden damage, he's liable to deny all knowledge of any accident.

[Red Herring]

Reporting it to the cops now won't help you much, you won't be in any stronger position now rather than later because it's still your word over his that it happened. Did you get any witnesses, was there anybody behind you?

Back to the original request I would just be tempted to get a mate to help you pull the bike up onto it's sidestand (I'm guessing it's an SV so hasn't got a centre stand) so that the front wheel is off the ground, spin the front and check for any run out ect and if that's OK everything else should be fine.

Probably a bit late for any advice now but there is a saying that if you can't see his mirrors..... one of the reasons I never stop directly behind anything, even a car. Good luck, hope it all turns out OK.

[andrewsmith]

Originally Posted by Bedhead

Report it to the cops, if you do find hidden damage, he's liable to deny all knowledge of any accident.

+1

apart from the obvious levers etc...
- The wheel condition may be out of square (or shape)
- The straightness of the forks, and;
- The alignment of the forks (they have twisted in the yokes)

if it was a low speed nudge (van drivers don't do slow) everything else should be fine.

You get the Guys plate no and/ or company name and van no?

The OP is a somewhat summarised version of this mornings events - I didnt include some information, for at the time it didnt seem relevent but with the "report it to the police" statements I think it should be clarified.

The van belongs to my next door naigbour (Rob) who with his dad run a fleet car garage not far from where the incident took place. I'd spotted the van much earlier and recognised it as Robs, with the tow gear and 4wd conversion its very easy to spot. When seeing the van I was also aware it wasnt Rob driving (I'd not 3minutes earlier been speaking with him as he climbed into his personal car) Assuming it was someone who also knew rob, I carried on with no further thought to the van or its driver - despite finding it "small worldy" that our routes seemed identical.

Turns out during my "I know this van, and Ill be calling rob to let him know you drive like a ****" the driver said "you know rob, im his dad" With this in mind and me very aware that there would be no damage at all to the van, coupled with me assuming my helmet cam was recording I saw no need in calling the police. Even if there does turn out to be some damage with the bike I know it'll get resolved without the need for an insurance claim.

Redherring - Its a DRz not an SV but same difference in that its no centrestand. The side stand ballet is what we did at the road side. No headache between the wheel bearings or head bearings. The forks appear smooth in thier action and no clunks etc could be heard after the event.

Would anyone consider getting a structural check on the headstock welds?



A little vaige but this is a google view of the area it took place. The road is sunken from the gardens, each driveway is quite steep and the hedgerow to my left for example has its roots at my eye line forward visibilty is only that which can be seen between either road channel.
The red blob is the vans stationary location,
The blue cross was mine, the t piece indicates my direction of travel,
The purple is where I assume the mobility bus must have been for the van to have needed to stop late,
The green indicates where cars were parked at the time, but not shown on google.
You'll also see the yellow line means anything travelling in our direction, once around the corner is in a blind spot for anything travelling up the road. Until driver/rider crosses over of that yellow line thier unable to see anything coming the other way. Which with the addition of the previous very sharp corner and parked vehicles means that your basically travelling that first section blind as all moving traffic uses the left of the road.

RH - Your advice is welcome, I would 100% say I stick to that same thinking with regards to keeping an eye on the vehicle infronts mirrors myself but unaware that;
A: The van was stopping as opposed to slowing. Along this road most people will slow usually to allow a car/van etc up the other way. When they do I'll tuck in behind the vehicle in front this is to aviod been further obstruction for the on coming vehicle. (When its a car im behind there is no problem, I can usually see what they can see and also I can usually be seen, the van didnt offer these same safety margins. It was truely unfortunate.

B: Not only was I behind the van but I was also within the blind spot. Had the van not been there I would have still had a few yards to go before seeing the mobility bus, so van or not I'd have had no clue there was a large oncoming obstruction.

Originally Posted by andrewsmith

+1

apart from the obvious levers etc...
- The wheel condition may be out of square (or shape)
- The straightness of the forks, and;
- The alignment of the forks (they have twisted in the yokes)

if it was a low speed nudge (van drivers don't do slow) everything else should be fine.

You get the Guys plate no and/ or company name and van no?

How do I check these?

[Red Herring]

If the wheel is straight then I certainly wouldn't be worried about any frame welds. DRZ's were designed and built for off road use, they get cartwheeled regularly and come away with nothing more than bent handlebars and just occasionally a bent fork. It's be fine.

Do post the head cam shot up though, so we can all have a laugh at your misfortune.... Serious though, it's much cheaper to learn from others mistake than your own, seeing how it happened might save someone else the same grief....

Originally Posted by Red Herring

Do post the head cam shot up though, so we can all have a laugh at your misfortune....

+1

Sorry to hear about your bump mate, hope all is in order bike wise

[yorkie_chris]

If forks and wheel are fine, frame will be fine.

Got Reversed Into - What to check?


Mirrors???