My Annual Reuben Run Crash Report

Since it's right in my backyard, I can't miss the annual Reuben Run. (Although, after the last two, I may have to re-think that.)

I left Roseburg Thursday and followed the beautiful green N. Umpqua River up 38. This is my favorite ride, and the weather was perfect.



On the run up 97, I got to see a female driver from CA catch up to, then pass an Oregon State Trooper. They appeared to be having an interesting conversation as I went by.

After getting to the motel, I saw the always fantastic sight of a whole herd of same but different FJR's, along with some interlopers. Inside, I ran into a lot of familiar faces, and some new ones.



I'll never forget going to my first WFO in Moscow, ID. When I came around the corner and saw ~100 FJR's lined up in the parking lot, I laughed out loud in my helmet.









On Friday, Ken Hattan talked me out of my fear of group rides, and I went on my first one at an FJR rally.

With Ken in the lead on his FZ-09, then Jer from Salem on his 2013, Sam on Ray's FJR, then me with Ray riding sweep on the Wing, we took a 250 mile ride on some of the best local roads.

We took 58 to Oakridge, then the Aufterheide byway to 126. That leads to the famed McKenzie Pass 242 that was in perfect shape, with no traffic and very little gravel in the corners.

I would hope to be as fast as Ken and Jer when I am their age, but let's just say they were kind enough to wait for us from time to time.

I have no pics from this ride, we did little sightseeing.

The next day brought another first, a poker run at an FJR rally. It was a lot more fun than I expected, and the proceeds were for disadvantaged children in Deschutes County.

Mount Bachelor:



Now for the bad. Last year I tried dodging a deer and totaled my '03 and broke my collar bone.

I had spent the last 600 miles of this ride talking to myself and saying, "Don't fuck up, don't be the guy that crashes two years in a row".

On the last stop of the poker run at the Harvest Depot restaurant, as I was inside getting my last card (And learning my two pair wasn't going to beat a full house), a car backed into my 5 month old '14 and knocked it over.

The Gods are fucking with me, I know it!









I had Motovation sliders, but I don't see that they helped at all. The mirror broke at the frame inside and broke the fairing, which is something I had never seen.

I'm wondering if the bike rolled over on the sliders and that made it worse.

Oh well, that's what insurance is for, and at least my bones are all intact this year!

Besides, the left side still looked good on the ride home:



I had a great time, the roads, weather, and people were perfect. A lot of people missed out on a good time.

Thanks again to Ray, Patti, and Joel at the Harvest Depot for putting this together.

See you next year! (MAYBE)

That's just the shits.

Nice pics and RR...except of the rashed up '14.

Hope insurance treats you well and red beauty is repaired quickly!

--G

Oh well, that's what insurance is for, and at least my bones are all intact this year!

Exactly! Nice report and pictures (except the rash) thanks for posting up.

Women from Ca are always fast, was she blonde?

Bugnatr said:

Women from Ca are always fast, was she blonde?

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Not always... sometimes we like it slow, Minnesota boy.

Sorry to hear about the bike but don't they say chicks dig scars? Your bike now has a yin yang effect... kind of like Phantom of the Opera... she's still beautiful.

I hope this isn't coming off your insurance! To bad that had to happen, it was good to see you again.

Thanks for another FJR Forum AARP Gathering report.



BTW, did you hand somebody their head for "bumping" your beauty???

RadioHowie said:

Thanks for another FJR Forum AARP Gathering report.

BTW, did you hand somebody their head for "bumping" your beauty???

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+1, Gunny; thanks for your Ride Report and Photographs, just thankful that you weren't hurt! Dudewado, I especially want to thank you for this particular photo.

Ever since we got the heavy rains here in Phoenix, I have had trouble with scorpions in my garage, if I post this pic up in a dozen places it should scare them back into the desert! jes' sayin' and nuff said, ese!

I'm sorry to hear about this. Glad that you're still standing.

Word to the wise... that highway peg is similar to the one on my bike that bent & let oil escape from my bike. Count yourself lucky that it didn't completely break loose like it might have if you were actually sailing down the road. They are connected to engine cases, after all.

When that happened to mine, those pos pegs were gone the next day.

Nice RR thanks, sorry to hear about your Red beauty. Glad you were not directly involved or hurt.

More pix of the slain fjr..

RadioHowie said:

Thanks for another FJR Forum AARP Gathering report.

BTW, did you hand somebody their head for "bumping" your beauty???

Click to expand...

No, she felt so bad, all I could do was give her a hug and tell her not to worry about it.

Panman said:

I hope this isn't coming off your insurance! To bad that had to happen, it was good to see you again.

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Nope, their insurance already contacted me and scheduled an inspection.

Dayum John.... What you do fer an encore?

Sucks to see that pretty new machine all dinged up. But at least you weren't standing/sitting around in pain this year.
Hope to see at the next one.

Next year will be incident free.... for sure.... I hope.

John, I really enjoyed meeting you this year and hope to see you again in the future. I felt so badly about the tip over incident for you and the others involved. Hopefully your run of bad luck has ended.

Oh, I see that you've already experienced the POS caused oil leak. Imagine that with any speed on it. You likely aren't riding the bike home. Good luck. Hope all gets repaired in a speedy manner.

luvtoride said:

Oh, I see that you've already experienced the POS caused oil leak. Imagine that with any speed on it. You likely aren't riding the bike home. Good luck. Hope all gets repaired in a speedy manner.

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Luckily, that was just coolant from the overflow tank.

Rode home with no problems.

(With a couple of pieces of gorilla tape securing the fairing crack and mirror)

It is painful to see all that beautiful red stuff all scratched up and wrinkled.

From the amount and severity of the damage, it doesn't seem like the driver just tapped it and knocked it over.

Finally got my official estimate this weekend: $2800 parts and labor.

I didn't notice at the time, but they didn't include the "stay" that the mirror bolts to.

If that's broken, it's another $230 plus labor.

I've been too busy to deal with it, But I'm going to disassemble and check for myself.