I’ve Got my Baby Back :)

As my regular readers will know (I have some of those now 😀 ) Mrs Scot was in a car accident on Thursday evening 🙁 – The car is badly damaged – both airbags went off, bumper / bonnet ruined, possible cracked radiator… – and is currently at the insurer’s garage being assessed. Given that the car is only worth around £2500 ($4000), I am fairly confident that it will be written-off. Being the frugal Scot that I am, I opted not to take any of the ‘extras’ on our policy (courtesy car, breakdown cover etc.) so we are currently minus a car. That must be a the shortest ever time for owning two cars! Then again it’s a blessing that we bought the second, as we would be really stuck without one at all!

After finally sitting my bike test in summer 2011, I made the most expensive purchase of my life – a Yamaha R1 (More about this bike at the end of the post). Of course being the Savvy Scot that I am, I didn’t buy this brand new; but I still spent almost £8000 ($13,000) on the bike, insurance, helmets and protective clothing. For those of you who think this is excessive or a bit ridiculous – I respect your opinions, however I believe you should save on the things in life that seem generic to you, but invest more and spend money on those that make you tick! For me, this includes travel, diving and ANYTHING adrenaline related :). Back to the story…. Shortly before writing this blog (and just before Mrs Scot became Mrs Scot [our wedding]). I had an accident on my motorbike 🙁 !!  It happened near my house; I was leaning into a corner (15mph) and a car was in the middle of the road – I tapped my brakes and the bike went out from underneath me – The ground was very cold and in hindsight a little slippy. It wasn’t too serious, but enough to do some seriously expensive damage to my bike – if you know anything about motorbikes, you will know how expensive faring pieces are! I had mushrooms installed – drop protectors – which got sheared off, along with the gear pedal and some extensive scraping to the bodywork. The bike was put under a cover for winter and the repairs put on the back-burner – we had a wedding to pay for.

To cut a long story short, I got a few quotes from bike repair shops, which estimated the repairs to be hundreds and hundreds – well over a thousand. I asked for an individual estimate for the cost to repair the gear pedal (the only essential repair), which was still over £200. I couldn’t believe it!! £200 ($320) to fit one small piece of metal:

I was outraged!! Therefore, a few weeks back I ordered the part myself (£25 or $40), with the intent of going into a repair shop with the part in hand, hence reducing their ‘sourcing commission’. The part arrived and I put it in the cupboard, safe in the comfort of knowing it was there for when the time came to repair.

That time suddenly became Friday, when the realisation hit that I would have to start getting the train again come Monday if Mrs Scot needed to use the other car!! (NOOOOO) I sat down and put my mechanical engineering degree into practice and had the new part installed within 15 minutes – easy!! 🙂 Big saving of £175 ($280)!! 😀 I must admit this also gave me a sense of achievement, the same feeling you used to get when you built a lego model or completed a puzzle as a kid!

I rode her (my bike) into work today and it was fantastic!! I cannot describe the rush/buzz/thrill/EXCITEMENT you get from riding a motorbike. The acceleration is phenomenal… 0-60 mph in 3.04 seconds and 0-100 in 5.42 – take a second to think about how fast that is!! That is faster than a McLaren F1!! – Car stats here. The bike is so stable to ride – I have had her going pretty fast; a speed I don’t want to post with the fear that all my new readers will stop reading thinking that I am highly irresponsible 😛

Anyway – I ride sensibly [95% of the time] and the accident gave me a good sense of the reality of how easy it is to do yourself damage on a bike versus in a car. While it is amazing fun to ride, it is also quite stressful having to constantly be 100% focused and ready to brake/swerve/move for the next driver who doesn’t see you. I must admit though, I am happy to have my baby back! 🙂

Today’s Question – Have you ridden/been a pillion on a motorbike, and do you like it?