There’s been something in the water lately. We’ve had more crashed bikes come through the workshop in the last 3 months than we’ve had the previous 3 years. Some involve parked cars. Some involve moving cars. Some involve suspicious looking sticks on the footpath. Some are just plain old rider error or loss of control. Thankfully, everyone has walked away from their respective crashes, and a few people have seen first hand the value of a good helmet (those helmets are now all in the bin)
But – where does this leave the very expensive, very delicate piece of equipment that just went cartwheeling down the road?
Carbon bikes need to be looked at very closely and comprehensively following a big crash. The frames are surprisingly tough when faced with forces they were designed to handle, but much less capable of taking a bollard side on without consequence.
Whether your bike is insured or not doesn’t change our process. We still dismantle the bike, and take an extensive gallery of photos of every part we look at. We deal with VeloSure, BikeSure, and all the normal entities that offer bike cover under Home & Contents policies.
Please take note here, folks: Crashing your bicycle as a result of someone else’s bad judgment or your bad luck does NOT mean you have a warranty claim on your hands. I say that slightly in jest, but it’s been asked enough times that I really worry about the general lack of understanding around how warranties work.
Inspections have one of four possible outcomes:
- The bike is a write-off as a result of structural damage to the frame, wheels and components
- The bike is only cosmetically damaged, the rider can choose whether or not the damaged parts get replaced
- The frame and wheels survive the crash, but there are varying degrees of non-trivial damage and destruction to parts that must be replaced.
- The frame has been damaged but is repairable (third party to us here at TLS), and other damaged parts are replaceable (assuming the extent of the required repairs does not reach a dollar value where the bike is written off)
For the purpose of this blog, ‘written off’ refers to the point at which the cost of repairs exceed or come very close to replacement value, whether it’s insured or not.
If we are tasked with preparing an insurance report for your insurer, we present only the facts and findings of the assessment. Wherever possible we keep our opinions out of the paperwork, but we are fully transparent to all involved.
If you’ve crashed your bike and need help starting the inspection and repair process, get in touch with us as soon as is reasonably possible (don’t prioritize the bike over your body….).
