Smashed bike - Just gone?

[Flash412]

Originally Posted by supercreep

bottom line: you break it, you buy it.

The folks I ride with often ride each other's bikes. There are three rules to BORROWING bikes. 1) You break it, you fix it. 2) You get hurt, you don't sue. 0) Have FUN. These folks will loan a pal a bike to ride 1000 miles or more as long as it isn't needed elsewhere. Heck, I have a pal in Australia who is going to loan me a bike for two weeks next month. The ONLY way to have that kind of trust is to KNOW in advance what will happen. (See the rules above.) There is no "Can't YOUR insurance (and rate increases) pay for MY screw up?"

I know folks who stayed good friends for years after crashing a friend's bike by following these rules. If I break something, I would MUCH rather max out my credit card than put the friend who loaned it to me under any stress. That's just the way I think and the way the people I spend time with think.

One friend, Jim, crashed another friend's Ducati. He said, "I was sliding down the road calculating how much headroom I had on my credit card as I watched the bike spinning in front of me spitting off dollar signs, hoping it would stop before it hit the guard rail." Took him about a year to pay that off. But in a few weeks, the owner had received all the parts to put it back in one piece.

Stealing a bike is something my friends would never do. I don't know about you. I define "stealing" as "taking something that does not belong to you without the owner's permission."

The guy stole a bike and crashed it. He is not even going to attempt make restitution. Fuck him. He's no friend. Put him in jail. Maybe he'll learn a lesson. Maybe he won't. ALL BIKE THIEVES BELONG IN JAIL. Every goddamned one of them. (I DARE you to disagree!) Hopefully his asshole will be big enough to jump an XR100 through when he gets out. Maybe THAT will make him think twice next time he considers taking someone else's property without their permission.

[EricFoerster]

WOW..any way you look at the situation it SUCKS. If the guy is a true friend he will have come up with the repayment plan by now. If he has not, I'd make the police report.
As we all know only too well that some and most "friends" are only there when the going is good. They scurry when the going gets rough.

Bad situation for sure.

Sign here bud or it's off to the jail

[Steverino]

Originally Posted by clang

The real issue is the roomie that took the bike......

Then there is no issue....GTA baby. Enjoy the ride.

[FatChance]

I would remove the motorcycle from the story for the benefit of this audience. Let's instead suppose that the fellow who was out of town had $13k cash hidden away in the house somewhere. While he was gone, his friend found the money and, feeling very lucky, flew to Vegas, hired some "escorts", drank a bunch, and gambled the balance away positive that he would have been able to win enough to pay for the trip, the women, and break even and then return the cash, in full, and have a good time in the process. All the money gone, no way to pay it back, he gambled that he could 'borrow' something of value with no way of paying it back if something happened. How would that change the potential outcome? The friend still took something of value that wasn't his to have a good time and lost it all. That is essentially the SAME set of circumstances, but it might make the decision on how to handle it a little easier.

[Maxmoto]

Originally Posted by Namaste

You do what you do with so may things in life.
You take a deep breath...and let it go.

Your friend has trashed your bike. Do not grant
him or the situation the power to trash more of your life.

Chalk this up to serious learning and move on.

be well...albeit in anguish.

and barrow your bikes with or without your permision..........
by the way any realition to Dalai Lama or Richard Gere..?

[Misery Goat]

Originally Posted by Mike Berlien

I would go to the police and file a report. A "friend" who takes a bike without the owners knowledge is an asshole. It would probably get plea bargined down to a lesser offense.

i agree. it seems like a bitch of a thing to do but the "friend" over stepped his bounds and is responsible.

it's doubtful a felony charge would stick.

[Rad]

Originally Posted by Flash412

The folks I ride with often ride each other's bikes. There are three rules to BORROWING bikes. 1) You break it, you fix it. 2) You get hurt, you don't sue. 0) Have FUN. These folks will loan a pal a bike to ride 1000 miles or more as long as it isn't needed elsewhere. .

Yup, those be my rules

Originally Posted by Flash412

One friend, Jim, crashed another friend's Ducati. He said, "I was sliding down the road calculating how much headroom I had on my credit card as I watched the bike spinning in front of me spitting off dollar signs, hoping it would stop before it hit the guard rail.

Dats funny.
My friend crashed my VFR....He paid for parts, I fixed it. I gave him a crushed body panel with his name on it, signed,"love Rad" ...He has it hanging in his garage.

[Steverino]

Originally Posted by Rad

Yup, those be my rules



Dats funny.
My friend crashed my VFR....He paid for parts, I fixed it. I gave him a crushed body panel with his name on it, signed,"love Rad" ...He has it hanging in his garage.

And that friend would never consider taking you bike without asking.

[zouch]

seems pretty basic to me: when friends and i trade or borrow anything, 'You Break It/You Buy It' is a fundamental agreement. people have loaned me things worth far more than the motorcycle in this story for sometimes considerable periods of time, and many have asked to 'loan' me things again because they usually got whatever it was back in better condition than when it was lent out. this has actually strengthened some relationships, but i consider being lent something both a favor and an honor, and like to make sure the loaner understands such.

it may be different for the parties in the preceeding story, but anyone who would be using anything of mine without my permission is most likely not what i would consider a friend. said person would be given a very brief opportunity to make good on his actions, after which any and all necessary recourse would be followed.


cheers!
e

[storymitchell]

I ride a '75 R60 borrowed from my brother-in-law. I'm thinking about buying a newer bike, and have had chances to ride bikes similiar to what I'm thinking about buying, but I haven't. Why? Because I can't afford to replace them. I figure if I break it, I have to buy it, and I can't afford to buy it. On the other hand, I lent a moderately valuable guitar to roommate who had it stolen out of his car, and he took zero responsibility for replacing the guitar - his attitude was that the theft was an act of nature, and not his fault. I can guarentee that if he needed to go somewhere, he'd have taken my KZ1000 without asking and without feeling any responsibility for the bike if he'd crashed it. I figure the guitar was an reasonably inexpensive lesson in not trusting him.

At the time I ate the cost of the guitar, but it's the last time I let someone do that to me. If your friend has to get screwed out of $13K in order to have backbone the next time it happens, then that's how it goes.

From where I sit, the roommate makes it good, or the roommate suffers the consequences of his ill-advised joy ride.

[Rad]

Originally Posted by K12RSSteve

And that friend would never consider taking you bike without asking.

That is true, but peolple have different types of friends.

Rarely are things simple when it comes to relationships.

As I posted, ya don't know what their relationship was...This may not have been out of character for either one of them.

[Frank Warner]

Practical Question .. Does filling a report saying it was taken without permission get restitution (money or another bike)? Mumm possibly from the insurance company. Usually the insurance goes with the rego ie they are both due at the same time.. if you forget one then you forget the other..

Anyways .. I'd expect a 'friend' who does that to make good .. they get a loan, borrow money .. whatever .. but make good.

[MikeO]

Originally Posted by cyclecat

Getting the friend thrown in jail or a felony on his record isn't going to get the bike back.

Errm - I thought the whole point of the post was that getting the room-mate nicked would get the money for the bike back...

Mike

[Gerg]

My story... two of them...
1st... back around 1978
I gave my room mate permission to ride my bike. Of course there was an understanding the if he broke it he paid to have it fixed. He went down and didn't have the money to fix it. So I got it fixed, about $200 bux worth to make it ridable but not back to the original condition. He moved out and I've NEVER heard from him again...ever... so much for the friendship. I sold the bike a year later with the road rash still on it. (there wan't a scratch on it before his biff)

2nd... Feb 2002
Me and a highschool bud went for a ride on my bikes. He went down. His insurance would not pay because I had insurance on the bike. My insurance paid the ~$7,000 to fix it and my friend paid the deductable. My insurance went up but who knows, in California it's hard to tell why. Bike was a POS after the fix. Had to get rid of it and lost some money. We're still friends.

I'm still letting folks ride my bikes, but I'm stooooopid for letting them... But I'm a lot more careful WHO rides them now.

Not sure WHAT I'd do in this case
I'd probably give the perp ONE chance to make it right (sign papers or what ever). If he balked for ONE SECOND I'd drop the dime.

Greg

[cyclecat]

Originally Posted by MikeO

Errm - I thought the whole point of the post was that getting the room-mate nicked would get the money for the bike back...

Mike

Uhh... yeah, I guess so. It won't get THAT bike back but it will get it replaced.

I still the think the insurance company using the lack of a theft report is a cop out. The bike was insured, the bike was wrecked, they need to pay for it. If the insurance company wants to go after the friend who used the bike without authorization, then they can be responsible for what happens to him.