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just a little bit. I thought I would throw out a little late night reading.

For all of you that were there and those of you that missed out, My name is Ben and I am a bike rider. Wait, AA is Wed night......Between the first and second check point that night I was given the oppertunity to have the honor of 1st Accident. I was riding north on Racine just north of Clyborn heading toward Armitage when I got hit. The southbound traffic was all stopped and this car made a left hand turn right in front of me. No Signal, no warning. I had total right of way, he just decided to be in my way. With absolutly no time to do anything but slam into his front passanger side courter panel. Chimbley, who I had never met before, luckly was right behind me as this happened so she might add her two cents too. Well, after hitting the car, all I really remember is seeing the windshield and thinking to myself that I better not roll off the front of the car otherwise I am going to get run over. That did not happen because with in a second or two I was on the ground on the other side of the car. Chimbley had stopped in front of the guy and was already on the phone with 911. I immediatly, to everyones suprise, was on my feet screaming at the kid that had just hit me. Chimbly was asking me, seemingly very suprised, whether I ws OK and if I needed an ambulance. I told her no and she asked me a few more times to which I kept responding no, the last time really giving myself a look over to make sure addreniline was not covering anyhting up. I was fine. My bike on the otherhand, tacoed wheel, crippled bars, bent stem, slashed tire and buckled frame. My REload bag had also gotten the main strap ripped half off. Anyway, so the kid in the car at some point gets out and is asking me if I am ok and is pretty shaken up by the whole deal. Two guys come out of a resturant or something and hang around so they can be witnesses. Then the cops come and file the report and such. Chimbly rode to Yojimbos to pick up a pump so i can get rolling again. We end up riding back to the start in the rain, finishing off the night with everyone else.

At the accident site the guy told me he wanted to handle the matter between the two of us, which was fine by me. I did not feel like having to deal with his insurance agent. I got a quote from Boulevard bikes and Rapid transit and Ellie at REload told me I needed a new bag. Got the figures together and called him and he said that it was all good and to send him copies and he would send me a check. Well, ellie took a few days longer than expected to get me the reciept, so I wanted to let him know. No Awnser. Another call.....no awnser. So when I mailed him the stuff, I put in the letter what day the letter was postmarked with recipt verification and that I was giving him 2 weeks to get me the money order or cashiers check. If I did not have the check on the 14th day I was calling his insurance company on the 15th day.

Day 15 I call his insurance company at 8 AM. (Progressive Insurance) I recieved a call back at 11:30 by a personal agent, who took my statement and wanted witness contact info and the like. She wanted to take pictures that day, but to work with my schedule I set up an appointment at my house the next day. She called Chimbley that night and got a statement from her. The next day pictures were taken. Two days later I had a check in my mail box for the full amount of a new bike and bag.

So I got this to show for it. Yojimbos did the wheels for me (black 32h high flange phils, black spokes and nipples and all black non machined deep v that were on back order at velocity) and thats why it took a little while. new sugino / phil wood drive train. Nitto bars, champ grips. Thats all, thought I'd share

skelly

nice looking bike!

teiaperigosa

sounds like a stand-up cyclists held you down in a time of need

nice replacment stuff!

cmcenroe

Looks very sweet. Glad you are OK. I hope I never go through all of that!

Yuppie

Super Sweet! I know all about that bike cause I was chasing it down on Sunday.

Aeroplane

Sounds like a textbook example of how to handle an accident. Big props to all involved, with the exception of the ****** who hit you and then didn't pay up.

sashae

Glad to hear (most importantly of all) that you weren't hurt. Cars suck.

gregg

Great to hear that Progressive got you sorted out so fast, and respect to chimbly for being a good Samaritan in a time of need.

absntr

Very nice Ben. I'm just glad you had the insurance information and that they didn't give you the run around, especially since you didn't have a police report. I understand that he was freaked out and didn't want you to tell his parents and wanted to pay out of pocket?

Glad it has a good ending and props to Chimblysweep for helping ya out. It was not the best phone call I got when she called telling me and asking me where Yojimbo's was.

Same fork on that one? Or was that replaced? I remember the front end being pretty mangled.

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There was a police report, we just talked between the two of us and he wanted to handle it with cash, but that never happened. He also had told me very specifically which info on the police report was his parents and what was his and that he did not want me contacting his parents.

As for the frame and fork, the fork came out of it fine, the downtube and top tube are buckled just a little bit. The welds are fine, just bent tubes, so I have been waiting on a new frame and fork to see if any oppertunity comes along to get something different, but I keep leaning back towards the Milwaulkee. We will see int the next month or so.

wangster

Good to hear everything worked out without much hassle. Glad your okay and that superchimbly was once again on the ball and helped out like she always does.

chimblysweep

Hooray Ben! I'm so glad that had a happy ending, and there are great lessons in this about how to handle a crash... as in, no matter what the guy promises, you need to get the insurance info.

(No doubt this college kid wanted his parents not to find out, so he thought he could give Ben a couple of bills for his bike and be over with it. Drivers just don't get what our bikes are worth. So when they promise to take care of it, realize they think your bike came from Wal-Mart, and get the insurance info as a backup.)

I'm so glad you're ok, and it was amazingly lucky you didn't get hurt. It's also worth mentioning that you were wearing a ballistic BMX helmet, which did sustain an impact. Again with the helmet, yeah, yeah, I know. But you gotta do it.

And, hey, you even won first crash! Supercool that there was a prize for that.

absntr

My bad - good deal on the police report!

rithem

Damn it ... Msngr and I should have gotten insurance info from the dude in the Range Rover that hit us on South Port near Naz's place 2 hours before the race. Oh well ... 1 broken camera, 1 sore Msngr, 1 Superman move and about $3000 in damage to an SUV ... 10 points. Nice bike btw, glad you came out of it okay.

No_Minkah

Yeah that bike's really purty in person. Milwaukee frame, safety cone orange. Very nice.

Not that I'm greedy, but don't tell the kid that Progressive paid up- you might have a second check on the way!

cardstock

its is cool, there is no way to really reply to correct someone on the internet without sounding kinda mean. My boss just keeps telling me I need to learn how to talk corporate..................sweet.

chicagoamdream

Orange bikes with black Deep Vs are the ne plus ultra.

tink20seven

glad to hear it all worked out.
you got one hot ride there brother

chimbles... always on point.
nice 1 sis

DC_Emily

So glad that everything worked out, Ben.
Nice ride.

steaktaco

what did first crash get again? is it the pump, heating pad, and fuzzy seat?

MLPROJECT

glad to see you got hooked up!

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a genaric jersey, tube, hand warmers, Don Walker t-shirt gift certificate (that I have yet to send to him), some awesome red and yellow splash bar tape (if anyone is interested?) and a patch kit.

teadoggg

Oh man, we gave some really sweet prizes! Splash bar tape!?! Why didn't I keep that for myself??

I'm trying to work my magic for sponsorships for the Tour Da Chicago, now. More sweet bar tape to come!

spud

yeah glad everything worked out for you Ben, and of course props to Julie.

red and yellow bartape eh?

BoogerBike

DFL got the fuzzy seat

Ben, Its good that all worked out.