Cycle insurance – your next essential purchase

Cyclists across the UK are learning that comprehensive bicycle insurance is fast becoming a necessity

With more people riding bikes and traffic figures returning to prelockdown levels, space on the roads is becoming ever more squeezed, and the chances of being involved in an accident have increased again.

That risk and the accidental damage to a rider and their equipment is something the club riders Cycling Weekly spoke to are all too aware of, with many acknowledging the fact that in the event of an accident, repairing their carbon bikes or replacing them altogether will b a costly affair that is becoming ever harder to justify.

Broughton Cycling Group member Garry Stevens explained why insurance is going to be his next investment: “It’s something I now think more about because last year I crashed at 51mph and it was pure luck that I was barely injured.

“I overcooked a bend at the bottom of a descent that I didn’t know well and slammed on my brakes with the result that my back wheel kicked out, I hit a kerb, went through a temporary road sign and landed in a ditch.

“My right shifter snapped, hydraulic fluid went everywhere, and the rear derailleur broke. That was hundreds of pounds of damage I could have done without.”

Preparing for the unexpected

Paul Atkinson, secretary of Minehead Wheelers, has twice claimed for cover on his cycling insurance after two very different incidents both at home and abroad. “Six months into having taken out a policy, I was due to be riding across the Pyrenees. But when I was putting my bike together I knocked the Di2 cable quite badly which impacted the whole system.

“It meant that I couldn’t change to the bigger chainring so could only use the inner ring. I eventually found a shop to repair it in the middle of the Pyrenees but it cost me about £300. The insurance paid the lot, apart from the excess.”

Previously, Atkinson had been involved in a road accident: “I wasn’t severely injured, but all my clothing was ripped and I broke my Garmin. I was definitely thankful I had insurance to cover me for that.”

“I have some expensive bikes and if something was to happen, it’s a minimum £3,000 to get a new one. If something goes wrong abroad, that figure only goes up.”

Atkinson added that, “as a club secretary it would be remiss of me not to point out to members how essential third-party insurance is, especially for group rides.” His monthly fee for cover is an outlay he simply has to make.

Marty Curren, a club rider at Cleveland Wheelers who counts 12 bikes in his collection, including a Cervélo C5.

Curren said: “Every now and again, I absolutely think about the importance of cycle insurance.

“It’s usually when I’m flying down a big hill; I hit some gravel and I have a squeaky bum moment.

“I think ‘if I come off here it’s going to be a nasty injury to me and maybe goodbye to my bike.’”