Bike Drop

[MHS]

I've been trying to sell my FZ6 for a while now, because I upgraded to an FZ1 and don't need it.

My roommate has been riding motorcycles for a long time - but due to family financial issues had to sell his earlier this year. I let him borrow my FZ6 and he managed to drop it and melt some of the plastic muffler covering.

I'm not going to be able to sell it for as much as I could because now there are scratches on the engine casing, front faring, bar end, mirror, and rear plastics - not to mention the exhaust housing.

I'm not mad at him in anyway, and I'm really glad he wasn't injured - but I'm not sure where to go from here.

I don't have pictures at the moment but I'll take some of those tomorrow (its darker out now)

Any thoughts?

 

[DDS]

The easy and simple answer is to make him pay for the damage.

It goes without saying if you get on someone else's ride and break something. You pay for it.

 

[MHS]

Yeah, well that's definitely going to happen...

But should I just tell him to shop around for the parts to fix it, just make him pay for some part of the difference in what I could get for selling the bike?

 

[txlyman]

id start fixing it on your dime.. n give him a bill. depending on how good of a friend he is could open up multie payments or lump sum etc.

 

[Kaisersoze]

I think I have the stock bar-ends off my 06' put away in my shed. If you want them just pay for shipping. I don't think they are scratched or anything, but I'll have to check tomorrow night after the storm passes. Sorry to hear about your bike!

 

[Marthy]

In my book there's 2 things about bikes.

1- You don't borrow a bike
2- You don't let anyone try your bike

I have a "You scratch it, you on it policy". So tell your buddy that he need to fix it. Or at a minimum to get the parts so you can fix it. Don't feel cheap for asking him... If you crashed is bike he would probably be all over you to fix it.

Nice people always get screw! I've been there... I'm not as nice anymore...

 

[Motogiro]

I have the plastic exhaust shroud. It's yours but you pay the shipping...

 

[Marthy]

id start fixing it on your dime.. n give him a bill. depending on how good of a friend he is could open up multie payments or lump sum etc.

If he was a good friend, he would have already come up with money or an arrangement to fix it. Just saying... I use to have a lot of good friends. I was doing everything to help everyone... One day I needed help. Not so many show up...

 

[Boomer]

A couple of years ago, I had a driveway drop and broke the plastic under the seat and bent the clutch lever. I searched the web and to my surprise, OEM replacement parts were cheap. I can't remember the website, but through the magic of Google, you'll probably find it.

 

[rjo3491]

id start fixing it on your dime.. n give him a bill. depending on how good of a friend he is could open up multie payments or lump sum etc.

You've already got a problem. If he was an upstanding dude, he would have already begun the repair process without your input. This may sound cold, but if I dropped someone's bike (loaned to me), I'd return it as received.

Update - I just read Marthy's comment - honest, posted mine before I did (read it). Looks like others see it this way too!

 

[MHS]

I'm not worried about not getting the money from him (too many negatives in there?)

I didn't let anyone touch my FZ6 when it was my only bike, and no one has touched my FZ1; but since the FZ6 just sits in the garage waiting to be sold I've been more relaxed about that.

If it was a smaller bike or worth less I'd probably just keep it around for friends to go riding with me -- but its still worth a big enough penny for me to want to get it off my hands.

 

[chunkygoat]

Draft a contract, get it notarized, suggest he buys the bike for a fair friendly price. Something half way between what you would have gotten and what you would get as is.

Set up a time frame for the payment, to allow him time to overcome his financial crisis. This way the bike is sold and he has transportation until such time he can start producing income to pay for it.

Burden off your shoulder, he pays damage, and has transportation, without having to worry about paying until he knows he can afford it.

Win, win, win situation, unless he doesn't want the bike, then make him pay the difference from blue book in value or fix the damages. Either way he has to pay.

Now I don't know the quality of the friendship or your financial situation, but if he puts up a fight it could get sloppy and ruin the friendship. So how far you're willing to go to get the money for repairs could really define the future of your relationship.

This is why I'm extremely hesitant to let others ride my bike, because I would chase my best friend down with a baseball bat if i had to.

So that's input, what I would do in your situation. Hope it helps.

 

[MHS]

It's not bad, here are some camera phone pics

 

[MHS]

and a few more:

 

[Kenward]

Ouch. :/

The only thing that's going to be a pain to take care of is the damage to the frame. Everything esle is easily replacable. Good luck with it, man.