[zerni]

“What about bicycle insurance? It's fairly expensive here in the UK, usually 10-15% of the bicycle's value annually and insurers typically only pay out when the whole bicycle is taken (so if if your front wheel is nicked, you're on your own) and when you can demonstrate that it was locked to their standards. Often these standards require that it is locked up indoors which means you're chancing it whenever you park away from your home or office.”

None of that is true. I founded a UK bicycle insurer (not your usual one though).

Our price is locked in max at 10% per year but it’s less if people claim less in our collective. On average people have been paying 6.5%.

We settle partial and full theft claims. Stolen handlebars are more common than stolen wheels.

It makes no sense to have customer prove to you as an insurer that the bike was properly locked beyond asking “was it locked to an immovable object?” and “did you own a lock of a certain standard at the time of theft?”. It’s almost impossible to prove and by that you could always reject a claim.

I haven’t heard of a specialist bicycle insurer which requires you to lock a bike inside all the time. Why would you buy theft insurance? A lock of certain rating is enough, depending on insurer between 24h-48h - after that you abandoned your bike in the eyes of many insurance contracts.

Last note.. of course this article focuses on theft but you’d also be covered for damage which can be the bigger risk depending on your use case (e.g road cycling or mountain biking).

[narwally]

For damage, how do you handle things likely caused by poor maintenance? I used to work as a bike mechanic, and there were plenty of times where a customer's bike got completely trash if they had just learned how to do some very basic routine maintenance and had brought it in to the shop once a year. Thinks like riding the bike when the the headset or bottom bracket are obviously loose, or riding on wheels that are very noticeable out of true.

[zerni]

Maintenance is indeed tricky.

Our way out is probably that the minimum bike value has to be £500 but the average customer has a multiple of that value and bikes at home. Passionate cyclists buy into our concept.

We are looking into how we can institutionalise maintenance a bit more because there is a strong case to drive down cost further for everyone if a decent mechanic sees your bike at least once a year.

My personal top tip are chain catchers. It’s a matter of time until the chain drops and if the front mech is not well adjusted. And if you get unlucky and have a carbon frame you might rip a hole into the frame.

[narwally]

Yep, I've seen that multiple times. Just knowing how to check your limit screws occasionally would save a lot of people some future headaches. It would be cool if for a certain price range and kind of bike you could get insurance that would cover certain routine maintenance costs. Maybe something that would help cover annual suspension services on high end mountain bikes, or that helped cover routine tune-ups. As a mechanic I'd hate to have to navigate that kind of system in order to get paid, but as customer I'd love it.

Most people just don't realize that they'll save money in the long run if they just put some money into their bike every year. We had customers that would buy an S-Works every year or two because they just pounded out miles but never wanted to pay for maintenance. If they put $500-1000 into the bike every year they could have kept it 5-6 years instead of the 1-2 they were getting out of them.

[wasdfff]

Seriously, my renters insurance covers all my possessions including my bike from theft for like $8 a month. Bike is insured for 1k.