• A few people have been scammed on the site, Only use paypal to pay for items for sale by other members. If they will not use paypal, its likely a scam NEVER SEND E-TRANSFERS OF ANY KIND.

Deer damage

werdigo

Member
Joined
Apr 10, 2016
Messages
60
Reaction score
13
Points
8
Location
Mid-Atlantic USA
Visit site
Thanksgiving Day, the 2014 NC and I were heading home on a semi-rural two-lane road at about 45 mph when a group (herd?) of about 10 deer suddenly blasted into the road from right-side trees. There was absolutely nothing I could do. I remember a blur of white and brown, then lying on the road's grassy shoulder with a man holding my left hand and taking my BP. He was a volunteer EMT who happened to be passing, and it was probably he who called the police and ambulance. The NC was on its side, about 30' back along the shoulder, so I suppose I went over the windscreen. I stood up to go back to the bike but everyone said "No way!" and the police officer said a hospital visit was mandatory for a motorcycle accident. (Thinking of it, obviously I was unconscious for a while, so the ER was a good idea. The hospital wasn't crowded. They did a head CAT scan (normal), turned me loose, and I was home by 2:30PM.) At one point I heard the officer on his phone say "No, he was encased in kevlar from head to foot," obviously responding to a question about injuries. THANKS AGAIN, ATGATT!

I went out to the towing service the next morning, hoping to ride the bike home, but when I started it found a radiator leak: Something had pushed the aftermarket radiator guard back into the radiator. I had the towing people deliver it to my home, and here it sits. I have a new fender, footpeg, and radiator coming, and am working on salvaging the Givi handguard (the Oxford heated grips still work).

What do you think I should do about the cowls? The headlight is OK, and I have a replacement turn signal. From what I've seen those cowls are hundreds of dollars. I'm not fussy about appearance but if there is (are?) aerodynamics involved, or cooling, I don't want to damage that function. I've even been thinking about shaping some thin aluminum, attaching it with sheet-metal screws, and applying black spray-paint.

PS The bike has 21,000 miles on it. I rode it from Maryland to Alaska, and Maryland to New Orleans, in 2017.

Broken_NC700X_20201127_120230.jpg
 
Sorry to hear about your crash, but glad to hear you are OK. Thanks for sharing your experience and showing others how important ATGATT can be.

As for the cowls on the motorcycle, it’s my opinion that they are all basically cosmetic. I can’t see how any of the cowls affect engine cooling or motorcycle functions. Worst case you could possibly get some unusual wind noise or whistling at speed due to a gap or misshaped fairing.

If you were on a mission to eventually get the bike restored to original condition, you could watch eBay and salvage dealers for cowling parts. One by one you may find a cheap deal on a used part and eventually collect the pieces needed to make the bike whole again.
 
Last edited:
Totally agree with 670. Try using some JB Weld to get it back together. I did this for one of my signals and used a black touch up pen to get it to blend in. No one would notice the repair unless I pointed it out. Glad to hear you were not hurt.
 
Gee whiz I'm glad the post revolves around fixing the bike instead of recovering from ghastly injuries to you. The plastics will total a bike in all likelihood so if it's not insured for collision or you don't want to have insurance involved you'll have to do what others are posting and find used parts as they are available.
 
I would check to ensure those folks are not bent; you hit the deer straight on, hard to believe those folks are not pushed back, especially since something hit the radiator guard...
Good suggestion. I've only wheeled it from the tow company's flatbed into the driveway, and the forks weren't obviously twisted. But I wondered what got pushed against that radiator. I'm pretty sure I did hit a deer squarely, so perhaps the forks were pushed back without being twisted. There must be measurements somewhere that would allow that to be checked. Thanks.

Edit: Really, the forks LOOK pretty good. I'm thinking the deer itself might have come in contact with the radiator. I found tufts of hair all over the front of the bike.
 
Last edited:
Glad you’re okay!
Thanks for posting, and for the reminder of why many of us are ATGATT riders.

I don’t know how many pieces the various plastics are in, but the most-permanent and strongest way to repair cracks is to use methylethylketone (often labeled MEK at the hardware or paint store). If you can sacrifice a piece to make plastic shavings, you use the MEK to melt the shavings and make a plastic paste. Use that as the ‘glue’ to glue cracks or breaks back together. You’ll want to slightly melt each side of a crack or break, which your glue paste _may_ do on its own. Once the MEK evaporates, you just have solid plastic. BE WARNED: MEK is not good for you, and its vapors are potent. Wear PPE, including gloves and perhaps a respirator, if you’re going to do much of any of this.
 
use the MEK to melt the shavings and make a plastic paste. Use that as the ‘glue’ to glue cracks or breaks back together. You’ll want to slightly melt each side of a crack or break, which your glue paste _may_ do on its own.

I previously used this method to glue together the fairings on my ninja 250 and the results were fantastic.
 
A product I witnessed in use at a motorcycle rally and got sold on is Plastex. It is a plastic repair product. It‘s composed of a powder and a solvent. There is a learning curve on how to “operate” it, but it can be used to bond broken pieces, or even to rebuild part of the piece, such as a broken cowl tab. Here is a link: https://www.plastex.net/
 
Prayers to you for a full emotional and physical recovery. Stay strong.
Up here in WV I ride with 2 fingers on the brake lever. When I see deer I immediately start scrubbing speed; a 5 MPH impact is much better than the 45 in your case. Deer take some of the joy out of riding.
I don't eat venison simply because we had no deer here when growing up. Ground hogs were our biggest problem with growing a garden. Deer may be pretty to look at but do more harm than good and wish they were gone.
Also, riding at night during deer season is very risky. A huge reduction in speed is mandatory. Blue Skies Green Lights
 
Last edited:
Hope your doing good, you do have many options to repair the body work. Anything from MEK , RTV, epoxy will work (you can make a doubler behind the damage or glue it some splints made from wood to any metal). Using sheet alum. or plexyglass you can alter the beak area with a spoiler design. For the cowl areas you could get a bumber cover from a car from any salvage yard around(many styles available, cut in half and used as a lower leg fairing they are plastic, cheep and easy to work with). Angle brackets with fender washers(car term has small hole for bolt and large O.D) bolted to cowl. In the 80s a guy had a Suzuki GT750 and made up lower fairings using thin plywood and alum. sheet to direct the hot air from radiator to his legs. I would highly recommend installing deer whistles I installed mine under the front turn signals just forward make sure the rear opening is not restricted by anything. They work great have had a few experiences as I approach there ears turn down and they run for the hills.
 
Progress report: New fender, radiator, reflector, and right footpeg; right Givi handguard was patched up and is serviceable. The rear brake pedal was ground down a bit and is now awkward to use (a lot of ankle twisting is required) --- even more than normal, I mean. I probably should do something about that, for safety's sake.

After installing the new radiator I rode around the neighborhood a few times (close enough to push home, or trot home for tools, if need be). When that went OK I stashed a jar of coolant and some tools in the frunk and rode it 20 miles with no leaks or warning lights. Then the weather turned bad... but today was 50F and sunny so we did one of our hilly and twisty 70-mile loops, cautious about areas wet from snow melt and avoiding occasional small piles of salt or cinders or ice. No problems.

This photo shows the new fender and radiator, but also the gash in the right body panel (above the radiator cap). There's a much larger hole on the left side, and what's left of that panel and the beak don't want to snap back into place. I guess some exploratory disassembly is in order. But she's on the road!

NC700X_repaired_20201230_160045.jpg
 
Glad the bike is back on the road! The scars make it somewhat of a “street fighter” or “battle scooter”.
 
Also glad you're back on the horse again. Make sure you keep the reason for the incident in the forefront of your mind. The old 'fool me once' saying.
I'm sure you're well aware but in my experience cinders are hard to see so I assume they are everywhere after road snow melt. They are as slippery as sand.
 
Progress report: New fender, radiator, reflector, and right footpeg; right Givi handguard was patched up and is serviceable. The rear brake pedal was ground down a bit and is now awkward to use (a lot of ankle twisting is required) --- even more than normal, I mean. I probably should do something about that, for safety's sake.

After installing the new radiator I rode around the neighborhood a few times (close enough to push home, or trot home for tools, if need be). When that went OK I stashed a jar of coolant and some tools in the frunk and rode it 20 miles with no leaks or warning lights. Then the weather turned bad... but today was 50F and sunny so we did one of our hilly and twisty 70-mile loops, cautious about areas wet from snow melt and avoiding occasional small piles of salt or cinders or ice. No problems.

This photo shows the new fender and radiator, but also the gash in the right body panel (above the radiator cap). There's a much larger hole on the left side, and what's left of that panel and the beak don't want to snap back into place. I guess some exploratory disassembly is in order. But she's on the road!

View attachment 44037
Glad to hear/see you're back on the road and not hurt beyond repair. I lived West of Centreville on the Bay...came very close to hitting deer and horses on a routine basis which would have been awful but I'll tell you that hitting a goose in the chest is very painful and messy. I also hit a robin in the visor of a full face helmet...glad the visor was down. I've been riding since 1964 and it's been 30 years since I was down on the street...off road is another story. Glad you're OK!

Ride Safe!!
 
What do you think I should do about the cowls? The headlight is OK, and I have a replacement turn signal. From what I've seen those cowls are hundreds of dollars. I'm not fussy about appearance but if there is (are?) aerodynamics involved, or cooling, I don't want to damage that function.
Underneath the plastic, the S model is the same bike. If you look at the lack of plastics on that model, I think you can infer the plastic on the X is cosmetic and not functional.

1618240754699.png
 
Back
Top