How it Cost $25,000 to Crash my Ducati
Earlier this year on March 30th, I crashed my Ducati Monster S4Rs during a trackday, fracturing my left scapula in the process and keeping me off motorcycles for the best part of 4 months. What does it cost to repair the person, motorcycle and gear I wondered. I kept a record so we can wonder no more.
The unfortunate event occurred during a US Desmo trackday at Roebling Road, GA when I lost the front end at around 100 mph and the resultant tumble acted as a prelude to an ambulance ride and ultimately surgery to plate and screw my left scapula (shoulder blade) back together. Luckily the bike appeared to be relatively unscathed as did my Arai, Dainese, Sidi and Spidi gear. I decided to keep a record of all the expenditure related to the incident.
The Body
Fractured scapula’s are quite rare being responsible for about 1% of all fractures and those that require fixation via surgery are rarer still. Lucky Me!! By the time the bills all arrived for the various X-rays, CT scan’s, surgery, anesthetist’s time etc.. the total amount expended on my shoulder had come in at an astounding (to me) $23,000.
Luckily, thanks to my insurance, I was only out of pocket for $1,200 but for the first time in my life I realized how medical bills can bankrupt people especially if you don’t have good insurance. There was clearly some over servicing in my case too. For example I ended up with 3 chest x-rays over 3 days because the various facilities seemed incapable of sharing information with one another.
Scapula surgery and associated Physical therapy
Total Cost: $23,000
Out of Pocket: $1,200
The Gear
My Colin Edwards replica Arai RX7 was due for replacement anyway I rationalized as I looked at prices for the new RX7 Corsair V. The Arai had done a sterling job, the black marks over the back of the helmet indicating some tire contact but I had felt not a thing. I decided to bite the bullet to replace it with the new top of the line model which of course has new visors that meant my current stock would need to be renewed.
I went with the red Randy Mamola replica after coming across MotoNeko whilst looking for the new Haga replica helmet that is not yet released in the USA. A tip for those who are Arai bargain hunting – I got a better price than is indicated online by phoning them.
My leathers weren’t too bad, just some scraping, a few holes and a burst zip on one leg. For awhile I was stumped as to where to find someone to repair them but eventually ran across Ann Turner (770-941-1142) who repairs leathers for a number of road racers in Georgia and did a pretty good job of restoring my ones for a meagre $78!! She will do out of state work via UPS etc.. so I recommend her if you ever need these services but of course hope that you never will!!
Replace helmet and visors plus repair leathers
Total Cost: $743
The Bike
I was very lucky with the bike. The Monster S4Rs has lots of things hanging off it that cost plenty of money to fix or replace like the oil cooler just dangling down there, or the full termignoni exhaust system. At 100 mph bikes can catch, tumble and basically self destruct. My bike seemed to have mostly slid along one side on the rear brake lever, handlebar end weight and the clutch cover. The exhaust bent in on its bracket and was basically untouched. There were some surface sand scrapings and a steering lock limit bolt stripped causing the handlebars to connect with the tank but it could have been so much worse.
From a casual examination I thought about $1,000 should do it and so it has turned out. The most expensive items were the front fairing and screen, along with the Magura handlebar and brake levers (replacing stock with Pazzo’s). I replaced the stock clutch cover with a vented beauty from Speedymoto (thanks Desmoworks!).
Replace Switch block, turn signal indicator, handlebar, levers, bar weight, footpeg and front fairing
Total cost $1,227
The Ego
I can’t find the words to describe how embarrassed and ashamed of myself I felt after the crash. Yes, being an ex-racer I have crashed before but this wasn’t a race and I didn’t feel I was pushing that hard despite the fact I was lapping quite quickly (though obviously I was). Getting injured made it worse because I have been reminded for months of what happened but after firing the bike back up again and having a brief ride I am pretty excited about returning to motorcycling normality and of course getting back to testing bikes to review for this site.
Crash, Repair, Reborn
I still have a few things to do to the bike but the main thing is that it is running again, it sounds good and I’m itching to get back to riding again. I had a brief run to the gas station and to check nothing was obviously wrong with the geometry etc..
The clip below shows some of the really quite minor damage and the repair process culminating in the first start of the engine in 4 months. Even the battery wasn’t flat, which is nice.
I now await the last level of clearance required to ride again, that of my wife which will be given in about 30 days (she wants me to finish my physical therapy and get a bit more strength in my shoulder from training). Since she is so lovely and hasn’t even once said why don’t you sell that bike I am happy to acquiesce, kinda, sort of.
So in summary, the cost of surgery for a fractured scapula, $23,000. Replacement and repair of damaged gear, $743. The costs to repair the bike, $1,227. Dent to the ego? Priceless.
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Glad your back up and running (and the bike is too).
I have to let you know, you have “turned American” Mark. statements like “out of state” means your now assuming everyone lives in America
Anyway … with that quip noted, good to see you and the bike up and about, and useful summary too. So true about this kinda of thing potentiality bankrupting someone.
Question is .. would you have PAID $23,000 for the work if you weren’t insured ?
when you meen you were an ex racer,does that meen you were a pro say like wayne gardner or just a tosser who use to ride around the hills on a claped out old rd400.i feel your not letting your readers no the fall story .not once have you mentioned your car racing days in the morris 1300gt cup serries or the super saloon austin kimberley production cup.
@Richard Sorry about the Americanisms, site traffic is about 50% from the USA but the #1 city last month was Sydney, Australia. For this reason I normally use American english spellings and idioms. With respect to the cost of surgery without insurance. Without insurance the bill would liker be higher (because the insurance company gets a discount). I needed the surgery so I would have paid but you can well see that for many people at the very least $25K would saddle them with a huge debt that they may not be able to pay. I spoke with a guy in the local Ducati club who sells trauma devices to surgeons. All too often he sees a spiral of motorcycle crash, big debt from the bills, the guy loses job from being off work for so long, files for bankruptcy. Not nice. A reminder to us all to have loss of income insurance too!!
@campbell Now you are just still bent out of shape from being fired from Team Bibly Wobbly Fish Racing. Let it go man and move on with your life
Congrats on the impending wedding by the way.
Campbell, I have to stick up for Mark here.
He was like the #3 racer in the Saloon Austin Kimberly production cup in Christchurch in 1988 in the 2nd division (age class 17-21, for left handed drivers).
And he didn’t just have a clapped out RD400, he had a shitty CB250, and a big mother white CB550, from memory. Now that I think about it, I think he crashed them all.
I think he knew someone called Wayne too, so I think that helps.
I dropped my S4 while pootling around the streets of Jakarta wearing a t-shirt and jeans. If you feel like a goose imagine the hammering my ego has taken.
Mind you, the girl’s looking quite sweet in her new coat of paint and Rizoma bars and mirrors, so that’s something.
@fidens How do you find the Rizoma bars compared to stock? I think mine are slightly bent but can’t decide whether to replace them with stock bars or Rizoma ones