ok, most of you guys normally try to figure out my exceptionally bad grammatical meaderings when I type stuff so i thought i'd share this. You are forewarned that my last English prof suicided after the third re-write I hadda do, and it's long.
I'm not gonna get to exact on details since it is possible for him to stumble across it afterall..
So about a month ago I get a sales call. (I sell chevrolets if ya didn't know) This guy is asking about a used tahoe we've got in stock and everything seems pretty normal and whatnot.. Then he drops the bombshell .. "I got bad credit, had alot of medical problems a few years back, divorce. etc. etc."
Pretty normal story unfortunatly. I didn't ask any details cuz to be honest.. bad credit = waste of time 99% of the time when you work commision. I just went thru the motions getting the credit app. and whatnot.. Now you'll need a little info here to understand my point of view.. probably 9 out of 10 people don't suddenly have a major emergency or whatever and simply CAN'T keep up with bills and stuff.. most just don't pay and use that stuff as excuses.
Imagine my suprise when I pull the CBI and everything before about '00 is perfect.. never missed a payment all that jazz, had a home, 2 cars, had a j-o-b and all. After that everything goes to literal SHEEEIT.. nothing is getting paid. Home is foreclosed, 1 repo and running late on the other car. literally dozens of medical collections with HUGE amounts each.. like 30, and 40K each. Close to 500,000$! He had insurance.. what I'm seeing is the parts the insurance didn't pay. He later told me the medical bills topped 2 million before it was all over.. even though it's still on going. Atleast 2 more surgeries 5 years after the fact..
Now, i dunno if it's a well known fact, but at any rate it's a fact that some dealerships will co-sign your loan for you if you have some scratch down and they think your a good risk. (they get paid well.. don't think too good of us in our "helping the poor guy out" routine too fast.. lol It's all fueled by greed.)
This guy kinda falls into that category.. assuming he's not a total flake and seems to have his crap atleast partially straightened out.. I tell him to come by and look at the vehicle and we'll see what we can do.
The guy "bob" comes in and he's obviously had a pretty damn rough accident of some sort. One leg is for all purposes locked in a straight out position. Both arms have large scars up the inside and it takes a full 30 seconds for him to get leveraged out of the car he's driving. He gets around ok after he gets going, but damn if it doesn't look difficult.
We sit and talk for a few minutes about this and that and I finally can't help myself and ask what happened..
Turns out he was big time into motorcycles few years back. Which of course leads to big motorcycle discussions between us, and basically locks up the co-signing thing as far as I'm concerned hahah. Thats basically all the "car dealer" stuff since it doesn't have much to do with the rest of it.
He came in today to do the downpayment sign up on the contract and drive off in the 94 montero sport we got lined out for him..
I mentioned that we talked alot about bikes and such the first time I met him.. He's since showed me a pretty hefty photo album of pics with riding buddies, old bikes, pics of him at trackdays, at the MSF course, his daughter sitting on his bikes all kinds of pics like that.
First thing I notice is that in every pic he, and his buds are full leathers/helmets/boots/gloves the works. Few seconds after that I realize that the pics of the bikes he has were the bikes I was drooling over when I was a wee lad.
First gen GSXR's FZR, orignal ZX series bikes ya know.. the good #### from the 80's/90's. He's 40ish now.. Then he shows me pics of the bike he crashed with.. (bet you saw that coming eh?) late 90's gsxr750. the ones that still had the SRAD stickers on the rear hump. Real wide at the back. Got the aftermarket pipes, couple "character" stickers here and there. Bike looks basically mint in every picture. It's obvious he liked his bikes ya know. Even the way he talks about em' It would be obvious even to a non rider that he knew/knows bikes. Got pics from the local drag strip 1/8mi. running mid/high 7's the best he can remember. Just a "RIDER" and it's obvious he still diggs em.
He told me about the crash..
and ever since then I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. I'm not sure what sharing it will help or whatever.. but all afternoon when me and the wifey were ridin' the busa I just kept thinking about the pics, the story, and everything he lost just for riding.
Him and two other friends all hooked up at the local gas station to go out and do some riding. Nothing major, just a nice saturday ride. All geared up for the crash and all that jazz. The hit a few back roads and were just basically enjoying the ride..
In his words they weren't really going all that fast.. anywhere between 40-60mph on a two lane country type road in middle tennessee. Speed limit was 55 BTW..
Not burnin' the road, but not letting any grass grow under them either..
Come around a turn and their is a ATV, and a truck parked in the road "shootin' the bull". He's the second bike of the three..
the truck is in their lane.. so nowhere to go there, there is a gap around the ATV, but they are already moving around the curve pretty good.. first rider low sides trying to get stopped, and get far enough into the other lane to miss the ATV.. Bob remembers that part plainly, but not the rest. He says he does remember knowing that the only chance he had was to try to thready the needle between the ATV, and truck.
Now obviously going slower and being more cautious would have prevented it.. or more space between riders..,, or a million other things,, but it doesn't really matter at this point.. it's all done ya know.
the third bike ended up hitting the ditch on the rh side of the truck by the way and also crashed.
the aftermath..
he's since learned that he didn't clear the truck.. you can tell from the pics.. musta hit the rear bumper with the left headlamp. busted the triple tree, headlamp and a buncha other junk on the right side of the bike.. totalled of course.. nto that it matters.. but anyway.
His pelvis broke in three places.. leg/knee/femur are basically destroyed. arms broken.. buncha other stuff.
He showed me where they opened him up to fix the inside.. (internal bleeding i'm assuming) he's got a scar going from below the belt line to basically the bottom of his rib cage. surgery scars from a few inches above the wrist to almost the elbow. i have no idea what for.. but they are like that on both arms. He said that his leg was basically one big scar from a little below the knee to the hip. Lots of metal bits and screws keeping it all together in some semblance of a leg.
As if thats not enough...
he's disabled for life of course.. went from a 46k a year job to drawing 1100$ a month.. living in a tiny apartment at a VFW where he answers the phones and hangs out with the VFW'ers and basically twiddles his thumbs. His wife left him for one of his friends while he was in rehab learning to walk again.. she also took the only car they had left at the time, and his kid.
In short..
he lost it all.
I think part of the reason it's so disturbing to me is I could whip out a photo album that looks so mirror like to his it scares me to death.
pics of him and the riding buddies at dragstrips, tracks, just goofin' around.. I got those..
pics of the kids on the bike.. yeah..
basically everything he's got in that album I can show you my version of on this computers hard drive.. i'm sure some of you do too.
it doesn't matter than it was mainly the idiots sitting in the roads fault.. doesn't much help with they didn't have insurance either.(in Tennessee it's a law to have it) That the accident could have been prevented is a mute point also I think..
To me it all keeps coming back to this..
He did everything he was supposed to.. MSF courses, plenty of good gear,.. all that and he's still effed up for life.
I asked him if he still liked bikes.. and he said "Yeah I love em'.. I can tell you the dry weights of probably every new model bike out.. including your hayabusa... but even if I could ride I wouldn't. I'll never ride one again.. it's just not worth it man"
Don't get me wrong.. I love my bike, I love riding.. and I can't see anything changing that.. I wanted to tell him "damn man.. what else can it do to you?? get a cruiser or something you can get that leg up on and go ride!"
I just didn't .. if the roles were changed I would feel the same as him.. It's not worth it when you compare the risks..
so why keep doing it? Thats where i'm at right now.. maybe it'll go away in a few days,, or maybe it won't.
i can still remember my dads big bikes when i was little. The stands used to sink into the pavement on hot days in our driveway.. "Don't touch it ego, those pipes will burn you!" all that stuff..
I can even remember the guy that came and bought his when he had his third child a few weeks after he wrecked on that oily stuff they put down when their paving and broke his wrist.. He didn't start riding again until he bought a dirt bike to go ride with me on mine.. Now he's riding again, got streetbike and all that jazz.. but then again his family is all grown up now too..
I dunno.. it's all pretty wild in ego's head about now.
sorry to be killjoy here at the beginning of riding season..
I'm not gonna get to exact on details since it is possible for him to stumble across it afterall..
So about a month ago I get a sales call. (I sell chevrolets if ya didn't know) This guy is asking about a used tahoe we've got in stock and everything seems pretty normal and whatnot.. Then he drops the bombshell .. "I got bad credit, had alot of medical problems a few years back, divorce. etc. etc."
Pretty normal story unfortunatly. I didn't ask any details cuz to be honest.. bad credit = waste of time 99% of the time when you work commision. I just went thru the motions getting the credit app. and whatnot.. Now you'll need a little info here to understand my point of view.. probably 9 out of 10 people don't suddenly have a major emergency or whatever and simply CAN'T keep up with bills and stuff.. most just don't pay and use that stuff as excuses.
Imagine my suprise when I pull the CBI and everything before about '00 is perfect.. never missed a payment all that jazz, had a home, 2 cars, had a j-o-b and all. After that everything goes to literal SHEEEIT.. nothing is getting paid. Home is foreclosed, 1 repo and running late on the other car. literally dozens of medical collections with HUGE amounts each.. like 30, and 40K each. Close to 500,000$! He had insurance.. what I'm seeing is the parts the insurance didn't pay. He later told me the medical bills topped 2 million before it was all over.. even though it's still on going. Atleast 2 more surgeries 5 years after the fact..
Now, i dunno if it's a well known fact, but at any rate it's a fact that some dealerships will co-sign your loan for you if you have some scratch down and they think your a good risk. (they get paid well.. don't think too good of us in our "helping the poor guy out" routine too fast.. lol It's all fueled by greed.)
This guy kinda falls into that category.. assuming he's not a total flake and seems to have his crap atleast partially straightened out.. I tell him to come by and look at the vehicle and we'll see what we can do.
The guy "bob" comes in and he's obviously had a pretty damn rough accident of some sort. One leg is for all purposes locked in a straight out position. Both arms have large scars up the inside and it takes a full 30 seconds for him to get leveraged out of the car he's driving. He gets around ok after he gets going, but damn if it doesn't look difficult.
We sit and talk for a few minutes about this and that and I finally can't help myself and ask what happened..
Turns out he was big time into motorcycles few years back. Which of course leads to big motorcycle discussions between us, and basically locks up the co-signing thing as far as I'm concerned hahah. Thats basically all the "car dealer" stuff since it doesn't have much to do with the rest of it.
He came in today to do the downpayment sign up on the contract and drive off in the 94 montero sport we got lined out for him..
I mentioned that we talked alot about bikes and such the first time I met him.. He's since showed me a pretty hefty photo album of pics with riding buddies, old bikes, pics of him at trackdays, at the MSF course, his daughter sitting on his bikes all kinds of pics like that.
First thing I notice is that in every pic he, and his buds are full leathers/helmets/boots/gloves the works. Few seconds after that I realize that the pics of the bikes he has were the bikes I was drooling over when I was a wee lad.
First gen GSXR's FZR, orignal ZX series bikes ya know.. the good #### from the 80's/90's. He's 40ish now.. Then he shows me pics of the bike he crashed with.. (bet you saw that coming eh?) late 90's gsxr750. the ones that still had the SRAD stickers on the rear hump. Real wide at the back. Got the aftermarket pipes, couple "character" stickers here and there. Bike looks basically mint in every picture. It's obvious he liked his bikes ya know. Even the way he talks about em' It would be obvious even to a non rider that he knew/knows bikes. Got pics from the local drag strip 1/8mi. running mid/high 7's the best he can remember. Just a "RIDER" and it's obvious he still diggs em.
He told me about the crash..
and ever since then I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. I'm not sure what sharing it will help or whatever.. but all afternoon when me and the wifey were ridin' the busa I just kept thinking about the pics, the story, and everything he lost just for riding.
Him and two other friends all hooked up at the local gas station to go out and do some riding. Nothing major, just a nice saturday ride. All geared up for the crash and all that jazz. The hit a few back roads and were just basically enjoying the ride..
In his words they weren't really going all that fast.. anywhere between 40-60mph on a two lane country type road in middle tennessee. Speed limit was 55 BTW..
Not burnin' the road, but not letting any grass grow under them either..
Come around a turn and their is a ATV, and a truck parked in the road "shootin' the bull". He's the second bike of the three..
the truck is in their lane.. so nowhere to go there, there is a gap around the ATV, but they are already moving around the curve pretty good.. first rider low sides trying to get stopped, and get far enough into the other lane to miss the ATV.. Bob remembers that part plainly, but not the rest. He says he does remember knowing that the only chance he had was to try to thready the needle between the ATV, and truck.
Now obviously going slower and being more cautious would have prevented it.. or more space between riders..,, or a million other things,, but it doesn't really matter at this point.. it's all done ya know.
the third bike ended up hitting the ditch on the rh side of the truck by the way and also crashed.
the aftermath..
he's since learned that he didn't clear the truck.. you can tell from the pics.. musta hit the rear bumper with the left headlamp. busted the triple tree, headlamp and a buncha other junk on the right side of the bike.. totalled of course.. nto that it matters.. but anyway.
His pelvis broke in three places.. leg/knee/femur are basically destroyed. arms broken.. buncha other stuff.
He showed me where they opened him up to fix the inside.. (internal bleeding i'm assuming) he's got a scar going from below the belt line to basically the bottom of his rib cage. surgery scars from a few inches above the wrist to almost the elbow. i have no idea what for.. but they are like that on both arms. He said that his leg was basically one big scar from a little below the knee to the hip. Lots of metal bits and screws keeping it all together in some semblance of a leg.
As if thats not enough...
he's disabled for life of course.. went from a 46k a year job to drawing 1100$ a month.. living in a tiny apartment at a VFW where he answers the phones and hangs out with the VFW'ers and basically twiddles his thumbs. His wife left him for one of his friends while he was in rehab learning to walk again.. she also took the only car they had left at the time, and his kid.
In short..
he lost it all.
I think part of the reason it's so disturbing to me is I could whip out a photo album that looks so mirror like to his it scares me to death.
pics of him and the riding buddies at dragstrips, tracks, just goofin' around.. I got those..
pics of the kids on the bike.. yeah..
basically everything he's got in that album I can show you my version of on this computers hard drive.. i'm sure some of you do too.
it doesn't matter than it was mainly the idiots sitting in the roads fault.. doesn't much help with they didn't have insurance either.(in Tennessee it's a law to have it) That the accident could have been prevented is a mute point also I think..
To me it all keeps coming back to this..
He did everything he was supposed to.. MSF courses, plenty of good gear,.. all that and he's still effed up for life.
I asked him if he still liked bikes.. and he said "Yeah I love em'.. I can tell you the dry weights of probably every new model bike out.. including your hayabusa... but even if I could ride I wouldn't. I'll never ride one again.. it's just not worth it man"
Don't get me wrong.. I love my bike, I love riding.. and I can't see anything changing that.. I wanted to tell him "damn man.. what else can it do to you?? get a cruiser or something you can get that leg up on and go ride!"
I just didn't .. if the roles were changed I would feel the same as him.. It's not worth it when you compare the risks..
so why keep doing it? Thats where i'm at right now.. maybe it'll go away in a few days,, or maybe it won't.
i can still remember my dads big bikes when i was little. The stands used to sink into the pavement on hot days in our driveway.. "Don't touch it ego, those pipes will burn you!" all that stuff..
I can even remember the guy that came and bought his when he had his third child a few weeks after he wrecked on that oily stuff they put down when their paving and broke his wrist.. He didn't start riding again until he bought a dirt bike to go ride with me on mine.. Now he's riding again, got streetbike and all that jazz.. but then again his family is all grown up now too..
I dunno.. it's all pretty wild in ego's head about now.
sorry to be killjoy here at the beginning of riding season..
