Holy crap! I have a Tech 5 vest too but never had to deploy it for any reason. Really good to know it did it's job and saved you.
About the salvage aspect...won't the title reflect "salvage" and wouldn't that make it harder to sell later on? That's what happens here in CA anyway and it will scare away potential buyers.
If they total the bike you start fresh with a new one and no title issues.
I get the part about just being out $9K for a 2022 S1000RR, that's fantastic. Just thinking down the road when it's time to sell.
Not trying to rain on your parade, you proved once again to those dudes riding in jeans and hoodies that proper gear saves your ass.
Good for you.
No worries, you have good questions and concerns, not raining on me at all. And you are correct.
In Colorado, a 'Salvage' title will decrease the value, it also means I can't register the motorcycle for the street, and my insurance will no longer accept it for coverage. For this reason, a lot of track bikes have salvage titles. My plan is to fix my bike and then make an appointment with the Colorado State Patrol to have a vehicle inspection performed and certify the bike is safe and road-worthy. Once this is done, the 'Salvage' title can be updated to a 'Rebuilt' title, and then it's legal for street registration. Progressive even allows full coverage to be issued on rebuilt title vehicles. I will document the title process as I go through it, hopefully early next year.
As to the issue of reduced value, a vehicle with a rebuilt title is likely to sell for less, but perhaps not 50% less. I think once this bike is fixed, I could still easily turn around and sell it for more than $10k if I wanted. Someone's already offered me that much for the bike in it's currently damaged state, just to build it as a track bike. That being said, I'm just not that concerned about resale value. I don't buy a motorcycle expecting to get any money back on them, because there's always the possibility I'll wad it up at the track. I have always bought them outright knowing it's possibly expendable. The fact I have never crashed a bike before this one and have always been able to sell them or trade them in later on has been nice, but not something I plan on. And in this sense, if I do end up totalling this S1000RR at the track... well, it's less painful to walk away from a $9k crashed bike than a $21k crashed bike.
And the Tech Air 5 worked very well. I highly recommend it to people all the time, and would never ride without it. I still can't believe how well I came out of the crash. Just an FYI in case you unfrotunately do ever have to use it- it cost $180 to have A-Stars repair it, plus about $20 in shipping. Total turn-around time was just over two weeks, and now it's good as new. And smells better too. Not being able to wash the vest is my only gripe with it. The thing was pretty rank by the time I crashed in it.
