Recovering from an Accident - Looking for a new bike

[hedwigcomestolife]

Hey all!

I've been riding a yellow Vespa 150 Sprint for the past few years in LA as my only vehicle. I was recently in an accident where my beautiful bike was totalled (woman ran a ride light -- I was hospitalized for a week but luckily I should be walking again soon!) Been doing lots of research while I'm stuck on the couch and I would hate to give up on riding because of this. I'm going to be moving into one of these little travel trailers full time in the next year: https://happiercamper.com/pages/hc1-studio-trailer and I'm looking for something small enough that I can keep it inside that when I move around and use as my main vehicle when I'm parked so I don't have to use my car to get around town. I've never done any trail riding (other than a little dirt bike when I was a kid that my grandpa built and hardly worked!) but it's something I'd like to get into especially since I'll be doing a lot more camping and exploring.

Any thoughts or advice about whether it would be a good fit or not (and where to get one -- I've looked and there's not a ton of availability at dealerships in LA that I've seen!)

I also used to ride around on backstreets in my neighborhood with my little dachshund, Onion and I'm hoping one day I'll feel safe enough to do it again. Hoping I'll feel safe enough to ride at all. If anyone has been through an accident and has any suggestions for how to deal with the trauma of it (I flipped upside down and landed on the street so I keep re-playing it which isn't very fun.) I've wanted to ride all my life and it took me 35 years to get my license and riding was making me super happy so I really don't wanna let it go!

 

[anotheruser]

Sorry to hear about your accident, that blows.

In terms of whether the Trail will be a good fit, you’ll need to consider it’s a 125 so it’ll probably be slower than your Vespa. I commute to work on mine and it’s a solid choice for LA since you can filter easily. It’s a small bike. Depending on your height, it may be too tall. I changed out the seat and shocks on mine.


As for where to look, I got mine at Glendale Honda so you can give them a call to ask. Also try looking for a used one on Reddit, Craigslist, OfferUp, Facebook marketplace, and here.

 

[TrailSnot]

Sorry about your crash. The Trail would be slower than your Vespa was, but could be just the thing to tick all of the boxes with your trailer.

As far as getting beyond your crash trauma, like everything, there's no size fits all with that one. I've had several violent accidents at speed and the only way I knew to deal with it was to get back on as soon as I was healed. Forcing myself to face it head on. I was apprehensive each time I got back on but soon enough the joy of riding and the thrill I got from it outweighed the other thoughts.

Good luck on your journey and enjoy whatever ride you get!