My Build thread - 1980 XS650 Special II

I interviewed three firms in College Station and I went with Daniel / Stark. Even though they are a larger firm they are pretty young and seemed anxious and hungry for the work. Like I said Farmer's insurance (subutban's insurance company) at first was only offering to pay out 40% fault at first. They are at 100% on property damage and 70% on personal injury now. Had they just owned up and offered 100% to begin with they wouldn't have to pay the attorney fees which are 33-40% of the claim which is 50-67% above that amount! The driver was ticketed with a Failure to Yield ROW Left turn Private drive. The passenger of the suburban even said in the police report that the driver only looked once and then pulled out. The videos makes it seem like the suburban stopped like a deer in headlights, but in reality she just stopped it in the middle of the road... Police report said she didn't see me until the impact... There's a turn lane in between the four lane road. Had it not been one of the longest vehicles known to man I would have just zipped around it and gave them the finger, but instead I got to yell "stupid bitch" as I was flipping over her good and skipping on pavement. You'll see the bike start fishtailing at first and then as a last resort I locked up the front brake. When the rear end came up and I realized I still wasn't going to stop I tried to get away from the bike (separation that you see in the video). It seems like it was so fast in the video, but to me it felt like I was in slomo. My chest made impact on the headlight (broken ribs) and my knee took out her bumper (Destroyed ACL, torn patellar tendon/muscle and a femur micro fracture). Also had a couple pieces of debris stuck in my chest and neck.

People have asked why I didn't lay it down... Legit question.. 2 reasons -

1) I've never laid a bike down and while I understand how... Wasn't my preferred course of action.

2) I had a cousin who laid his bike down to avoid a collision with uhaul once and ended up wedged under the truck. He lost a part of one leg, shattered his kneecap and lost toes on the other; plus the other various injuries he had from laying it down. I really didn't want to be trapped under a suburban.

I was completely conscious the entire time. I didn't even feel my knee when I stopped skipping all I felt was my chest... Mainly bc I couldn't scream, "WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU DOING?" like I wanted to... It knocked the wind out of me. I tried to stand up and then I felt the knee.:laugh:

One of the guys that had stopped; (I am grateful he did stop to help) took off his belt and tried to tourniquet my leg bc my knee was gushing some blood out (severed the main blood vessel as well) and I said, "Take that shit off man. We don't use tourniquets anymore. What is this the 1950's?" he just looked at me like I was crazy or stupid or both. It's ok though bc I looked at him like he was stupid as well. I then told him, "Take my sock off (boots flew off my feet) and apply direct pressure." That look he had been giving me became ever more present after that. His response? "Nah man, that'll hurt you." Me: Calmly as possible, "It's my knee. You're protected under the good Samaritan laws. Just do it."

Of course when the EMT's showed up they were freaking out I was moving so much that they held my arms down, braced my neck and strapped me to one of those handy boards. Even though I insisted all that was wrong was my knee and ribs.... If I hadn't insisted though they would've cut my favorite jacket off. I would've been pissed..... I did compromise with them though and allowed them to cut my favorite Texas A&M long sleeve button down off (even though unnecessary). My jeans were trashed anyway so I didn't care.

So I spent like 5-6 hours in the ER when I was finally released. A good friend of mine, Bill Allen, came and picked me up to take me home. We met up with his wife, Brandee, so she could help get me setup comfortably at home (nursing student). Now if any of you have ever watched or heard of the new series on the History Channel called, "Hairy Bikers", the American version of the British show by the same name and concept. Then you may be familiar with Bill. He is the skinny guy in the show. There's supposed to be a marathon of the show airing today. If you get a chance, check it out. It's mainly about food. He runs a motorcycle repair shop in Bryan/College Station, Bill Allen Motorcycle Company, and he is a legitimate and genuine guy. He was at my house almost every day for a week checking on me, bringing me food or whatever I needed. His wife was at my house everyday for two weeks and every few days for the next couple weeks. If that sounded like a plug to you guys; well good bc that's the least I can do for them. So at least check it out.

During the first week I really didn't leave my couch. They had me on such a heavy dose of meds that I barely remember the first week. Brandee and Bill were there helping wrap my leg in the hip to foot splint the hospital made. After the first half week it felt like the rib pain wasn't going to be an issue at all (originally diagnosed as bruised ribs). However, The beginning of the second half of the week was a nightmare.... I started trying to get around a little bit more and do a few things while on Crutches. This was a bad idea for two reasons... Well the crutches were just jabbing intoy ribs every step and remember that severed main blood vessel? Well it had retracted up into my thigh. They could t find it to cap it while at the ER so they had to sew up my knee without plugging the bleeding. Up to that point other than bathroom breaks I had my knee elevated at all times. Whenever I started crutching around everywhere my leg all of the sudden started swelling up and eventually my right thigh was as big as my waist, my knee and lower leg were as big as my thigh was and my foot attached to my leg without an ankle! So I went back to the ER bc not only was this terrifying, it was painful, too. So they sent me home with a load of ace bandages to use as compression wraps on my leg and told me to stay off it unless necessary. Which of course Brandee was coming over daily to clean the knee and wrap my leg, tightly, from my toes to my hip. Finally, whenever I could get into an orthopedic surgeon and told him about the ribs problem he explained that I had no fractures large enough that would prohibit me from walking on the knee. So he gave me a brace from my hip to my ankle and I tossed the crutches.

As of now I can walk and bend my knee, but I'm just waiting on everything to heal up as best as it can. After that I will have ACL surgery. It'll be a long year ahead of me from what I understand, but shit happens. Right now I'm capable of almost full range of motion in my knee and I walk on it with a heavy knee brace.

Thanks for checking on me guys. I'll keep you posted.

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You were correct in not laying the bike down. Laying a bike down is ALWAYS the worst possible move. Why? Because tires and brakes will slow you down faster than steel skidding and tumbling across pavement. You have zero control after the bike lays down. Laying the bike down is the worst possible thing a rider can do when trying to prevent a collision.

I'm glad you're going to be okay and you did the right thing by not laying the bike down.
 
THIS SUCKS !!!! I just joined last night spent over an hour reading all 15 pages to find this at the end, JUST SUCKS !!! BTW you did the RIGHT thing by hiring a HUNGRY LAWYER !!

Take'er easy !!
 
THIS SUCKS !!!! I just joined last night spent over an hour reading all 15 pages to find this at the end, JUST SUCKS !!! BTW you did the RIGHT thing by hiring a HUNGRY LAWYER !!

Take'er easy !!

Ha Sorry man. We all know it happens though man!

However, here are some pictures.
 

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so sorry to here of this. But am happy you are still here to tell the tale. yikes. Hope your knee heels up quickly and without complications. ouch!
 
holy smokes!! that last pic looks much improved.
glad your still with us.
more time for GRAW!!!
 
Good to read the story behind it. The guy with the tourniquet probably was in the military and was used to combat medical training :shrug:

I'm glad you're alive and doing well. That video and those pictures are crazy. Hang in there Jimmy!!
 
Good to read the story behind it. The guy with the tourniquet probably was in the military and was used to combat medical training :shrug:

I'm glad you're alive and doing well. That video and those pictures are crazy. Hang in there Jimmy!!

He was in ROTC (big deal at A&M), but as far as I know they don't really get into combat medical training (IDK) and in any event maybe he was right to think we were in combat b/c I was PISSED lol. I was definitely cussing quite a bit, mainly about the lady not paying attention.
 
I just saw your video, You did well not to get hurt any more than you did.
I hope you don't end up with a bad knee like me.Good luck with recovery Bro.
And rabid lawyers are the way to go! good luck with that too.Ed
 
No updates really until I have surgery. Other than I'm in IL rt now. I'm well enough to walk and drive as of now, but after surgery I'll be worse than I was after the wreck.,

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