A Simple Question...

I have a Pan Euro. The front turn indicators are in detachable plastic
housings which are held on with push clips and a little plastic cord.
It rained here last month and that created a whole bunch of new deep
potholes. A few days ago, I hit a pothole and the shock knocked the
right indicator and housing off the bike entirely. By the time I could
return, it had been run over and crushed. I've ordered a new kit at a
cost of $130. Now I've found that I can put in a claim to the city for
the damage. The question is - should I file the claim, or is that just
too much American sue happy nonsense. (Yeah, I know they aren't
mutually exclusive, but you get my drift.)

 

If you've found out that you can claim successfully, then why not?
Over here you'd have to prove the responsible body had been
negligently slow in filling in the pothole, which would depend on the
size of the hole and the length of the delay.

 

Yes. Otherwise they'll get the idea that fixing roads is not important.

Others will doubtless disagree, it wouldn't ukrm otherwise.

 

Was the cord broken before it fell off?
My Pan clouted several things hard whilst filtering and the indicator
always stayed attached to the cord.
Ride a suitable distance away from the irate car driver and refix.

 

How did it happen that you were unable to maneuver around the pothole?
Send the bill to your optician.

This must be the 1300, correct? I think you're getting screwed if you
paid $130 for a new indicator assembly:

http://www.visi.com/~olsonm/ukrm/st1300_indicators.png

1 33400-MCS-305 TURN SIGNAL ASSY., R. FR. (12V 21/5W) (COO) $51.74

If it's the 1100 those are even cheaper.

 

You've missed off the colour matched indicator housing and mirror.....

 

D'oh.

 

I think it must have been. The clips were weakened by earlier such
occurrences, but the cord had always held it on.

 

The mirror is solidly attached to the frame, but the cover is extra.
I'm not sure if the 3 little screws are included. May have to scrounge
for those.
Where did you find that price? I went with Ron Ayers:

1008338 88111-MCS-G00ZB COVER, R. *NH478M* 1 $67.04 $67.04
480869 33400-MCS-L01 TURN SIGNAL ASSY. 1 $52.25 $52.25

Sub Total $119.29
Shipping $12.00
State Tax $0.00
Specialty Tax Total $0.00
Coupons $0.00
Grand Total $131.29

 

umm yeah. It was on the backside of a curve on a road about a mile
from home that I ride every day. I just wasn't paying attention. The
city filled the pothole within 48 hours, which is ridiculously quick
for them, so they knew it was bad.

 

That was from Babbitt's Honda, which I've ordered from a time or two, although
I wouldn't guarantee they are the cheapest. You have to balance big ticket
items against minimum price parts (one trick of the online folks is charging
$2.97 for their cheapest items no matter how small) and shipping costs.

Babbitt's wants $72.43 for that cover.
Service Honda: $66.55 for the cover and $51.87 for the turn signal assembly.

Service Honda is worth checking out, I've had good customer service from
them. I've also used Ron Ayers quite a number of times and like them.

If the screws are actually those push-type thingys, you can buy them at your
local auto parts store for a lot cheaper than Honda charges for them.

 

In the UK its standard practice for the council to deny negligence on the
grounds that their contractor inspected the pothole only 2 days ago.

In which case you claim on the basis that the contractor was negligent in
underestimating the danger presented by the pot hole.

In my area Hertfordshire Highways were reasonably quick to fix the worst
holes (pretty good last winter, but not so good this time round).

At first they hired a bunch of con men who just shovelled a pile of loose
chippings into each hole, after not one of the repairs lasted a full week
they hired a new contractor.

The new contractor was something to see - a big hose thing at the back of
the lorry, first blasted any loose bits out of the hole with compressed air,
then lined the hole with a pressure jet of liquid tar and finally filled
with tar/gravel mix.


Pity they never quite got the hang of rolling it flat afterwards though.

 

SOP, here.

That's what you're for.
After the savage low temps here, the potholes were like lunar craters in
some parts of the back roads. Now they're just a mixture of unattended
holes and little hummocks to add to all the other hummocks of previous
repairs. Hardly surprising car suspension takes a battering around here.

 

Some of the roads here are only about 1" of tarmac on top of concrete - as
the pot holes are very shallow and not particularly dangerous the council
seems content to let them fray all the way to the kerb.