... I'm just happy you're on the mend!

Yup!

Recovery is slow, rode my VTX last Sunday, scary. Starting and stopping were the worst part and the crash demons are playing strong in my mind. Was unable to ride the sportbikes, don't have the range of motion yet in my right leg to get my foot into the peg, maybe another month or two. For now I'm just cranking them up in the garage to circulate the oil and recharge the batteries. I just ran them until the cooling fans kicked in. Hate to let this stuff sit.

What a loving father;)Props to the Kruzerman!

Hubmeister, what's your opinion on long term storage? I'd like to ride 'em all but just not going to be possible.

* Last updated by: Kruz on 10/3/2015 @ 9:15 AM *

Long term is a year. you're talking a few months. just winterize and when summer comes, they'll be just as good as when they went into storage. If you really want to fog the engine, squirt a shot of oil down the spark plug holes and turn it over a few times. I think that's overkill for your situationand you're prolly not up to any major wrenching right now + you'll prolly have to change plugs when you start the motor up after storage.

I looked into insurance for this possibility.

What a bewildering dis-array of offerings. This is another "wild west" tale. Lots of service providers, both local and national. Too many actually, they're competing heavily in every market (but I suppose that's good huh? I dunno...).

Which will arrive when they call for your "personal delivery"? The one you're insured through? There's no way to tell which air ambulance provider will take the call first.

Even if you're diligent enough to call all the local hospitals to see which they use, and then buy an insurance plan through them, there's no telling if *your* ride will be dispatched from any of them (you might not be near them, or they might not get the call first, etc...).

My take is, you have to tattoo it to your forehead. *Then* they know who ya gonna call...

While I'm still working, I'm "golden": My health care insurance from my employer, United HealthCare, offers to pay 90%, in-network or out-of-network does not matter. *But*, they have to fly to "the closest emergency hospital". Not necessarialy the one that can work on *me*, when I'm busted up.

So, it will be a 3-5,000 bill instead of 30-50,000. It's still a lot, just for the initial fly-in. But, if I walk out of there instead of dying on the pavement, I suppose it will be worth it.

Interesting side note: Consumer Reports did a recent grading of health insurance providers. United HealthCare was dead last, at (in a range of 0-100), at 10. Huh.

Meb!

You have a Stebel... where'd you stuff it?

Hagrid! I stuffed it...

...up my forks! I forked it (old Unix humor :)

Really, that's where I mounted it. I removed the original beep=beep horn, and mount. Then, I disconnected the stebel horn "bell" from its compressor (it was glued on, and I pried them apart).

I glued a plastic hose bayonet stub to the compressor outlet, and another to the horn bell inlet.

Mounted the compressor up into the left side air intake cover. Mounted the bell onto a leftover horn clamp from another cycle, and fastened that to original horn mount holes, under the forks.

Attach a 3/8 hose from the compressor to the bell, with enough extra to get the cycle to perform lock-to-lock turning.

Power provided via a dedicated wire from the battery to a relay next to the compressor. Relay connected to the original horn pushbutton wiring, that finished it.

After a year, I included the original horn too, now I've got both down there.

Took about 10 hrs total, thereabouts.

I have pictures around here somewhere, look at my threads they're prolly still around here.

Here:

http://zx14ninjaforum.com/messages.cfm?threadid=D22116CF-D56B-84E2-1A9FD3C911B085A4

* Last updated by: mebgardner on 10/17/2015 @ 8:26 PM *

@Meb
I work with insurance providers a lot in my current role. Certain insurance companies can be the most obstructive and difficult providers to work with. In my current role we often have opportunity to seek prior approval from insurance providers for a specified treatment (not helicopter related) and some insurance providers are beyond ridiculous. We ask for approval, they tell us it is not necessary, then months later they tell the patient that they will not pay for the treatment.
We generally go to bat for the patient and contact the company and they then say the procedure should have been pre-approved. Stupid games.
They often end up paying for the procedure but it is months and months later and everyone has to deal with the heartache while the insurance company continues to profit.
UHC is one of the companies we deal with on a regular basis.

Also you make a good point about which helicopter you may receive. Location and timing have a great deal to do with that as you have suggested. Certain hospitals may have an affiliation with some air medical providers, and EMS personnel often have allegiances with certain air medical companies (that those companies cultivate).

Rode a sportbike for the first time this afternoon, did a 40 mile run on the ZX-14, nice and easy. I sure hope this pain in my right leg subsides with time, hurts when I get into a tuck position. I've done about 250 miles in
the past week on my cruiser, much easier on the leg.

Rode the ZX-10R yesterday and will try out the ZX-6R this afternoon. Really hurts to get into a tuck on these bikes and I have to stop frequently to relieve the pain in my right leg but at least I'm trying.

I applaud your bravery for trying.

Keep up the good fight.

Yep, as I see it you regain specific muscle function and control by using them. Sitting on a Literbike for hours is probably not easy for anyone even if relatively healthy. I think I'm making pretty decent progress, been hitting the gym every evening for the last two weeks trying to rebuild muscle strength and coordination. I'm coming up on three months since the crash, maybe by month six I'll be back to normal.

hi kruz,
fair play to you buddy, thats great progress!
i found a week riding on my sportbike was better for getting me fit than 2 months of physio!
best of luck.

jafo

Glad to hear you're getting better! Don't rush the healing process.

Thanks guys, Jafo, how many months before you started feeling like your old self again?

hi kruz,
hey....less of the 'old' LOL
it did take awhile and to be honest, there was still moments on the road when i didnt feel totally 'myself'.
a track day to test my head was a great way to shake the crash demons and get comfortable again and a couple of months later i had a great week riding in italy and croatia! actually that proved to be the best 'medicine'!
a full 12 months later and yes i still feel the effects on my body but i think my mind is healed!
take care my friend

jafo

Wow Jafo, those are my thoughts, coming up on four months now and I'm still walking with a pretty good limp and just feel generally beat up. I've been also sleeping a lot more than before the crash, 8-10 hours per night vs 6 hours before. The body has to recover from a lot of trauma.

I'm guessing maybe 6 months to feel like I'm returning to more or less normal and maybe a full year before I start to feel like my old self again.

I think I'm going to have permanent residual effects from now on, although I hope they won't impair me.

Biggest issue I'm seeing right now is my right leg gets a horrible cramp or sharp, shooting pain right in my hip area after about 20 minutes of riding. I have to pullover and stretch a bit then I'm good for another 20 minutes.

Don't know if this is some thing that will improve over time or not.

I'm slowly chasing the crash demons out and managed to hit the edge of both rear and front tires last weekend on my 10R, so my speed is coming back. Still a tad nervous about a tire letting go though, I guess that will stay with me for a long time.

* Last updated by: Kruz on 11/17/2015 @ 8:56 AM *

just be careful.

Been over four months now and starting to feel better. Had a CAT scan yesterday to check healing on that femur fracture. Taking advantage of the beautiful weather here in Texas, managed 150 miles this weekend. Pain is subsiding and my natural gait is starting to return. I've been told maybe a year to feel 100% again.

Good News! Glad to hear your headed in the right direction. Hope I'm able to take advantage of the weather before the rain moves in this weekend.

I visit the Doc in the morning to get the CAT scan results, praying for some good news on the healing process.

Yeah, hope there is some mending going on there in the break. The year prognosis should give you some hope. That's a long time but it's a reminder not to expect too much too soon.

* Last updated by: Rook on 12/8/2015 @ 4:20 PM *