A bit of an off - advice re. bike please

[Paul_L]

Hi all,

I have this afternoon, been discharged from hospital after a 3 day stay following a bike crash on tuesday evening. I was descending a pretty steep descent with 2 mates when i tumbled off. Don't know whether it was a pot hole, loose surface, a speed wobble or just lost of concentration with my hands slipping off the bars. No-one else was involved. Anyway, my face ended up like the picture below and the rest of me is in a simlar way with broken collar bone, torn knee and groin ligaments and lots of cuts and bruises. Without wanting to get into a helmet debate, my helmet is in bits. Lots of cracks on it and a big impact above my right eye.

I was lucky that a passing car stopped to provide first aid before the ambulance arrived, and they also helped by taking my bike home with them to look after until we can collect it. I've spoken to them today and they've admitted they don't know much about bikes but they have told me "it looks in a bad way".
The bike is a Trek Madone 3.1 carbon bike and i was wondering is there a rule of thumb that says "carbon bike in an accident = right off" or not?

I'm pretty sure my contents insurance policy covers accidental damage including away from the property, so this is one avenue i could take. This would be good as i could include my helmet and all the cycling gear that the paramedics had to cut off me. Without knowing the exact nature of the damage until i can get the bike back, but given my injuries and the speed of the crash it's not going to be in showroom condition!! What would people i advise i do regarding either getting it back on the road or getting it scrapped?

 

[Dragonwight]

Every time people mention carbon and accident the advise I have seen is its a right off, its not the damage you can see its the stuff you cant that ruins it. Thats my 10 pence worth, glad to see your on the mend.

 

[Paul_L]

Every time people mention carbon and accident the advise I have seen is its a right off, its not the damage you can see its the stuff you cant that ruins it. Thats my 10 pence worth, glad to see your on the mend.

thanks DW, that matches my thoughts. Even though i've not got the bike back yet, i'll give my LBS a call today and get their thoughts. It's where i bought it from so they should be pretty helpful.

 

[SoloCyclist]

It really is up to them how they want you to proceed. LBS experts would be best placed to say but I'd imagine, by the sound of it, it would be a right off.

Remember the bike will be insured to a max value but clothing etc are regarded as personal belongings, so are not included in the cost of a bike claim. At least that was the advice I got from my own insurers.

I aslo managed to talk them into me sourcing my own bike online instead of using their preffered supplier. They are not always happy about this and I'm sure Halfords complained at the time as they couldn't compete with the large discounts I got on a 'Last Season' bike, as they were tied to new for old at RRP. Worth considering but will probably prolong the process.

 

[festival]

It s a tough pill to swallow if it looks sound apart from being knocked about, but you will not get a positive response from a reputable bike shop.

 

[Paul_L]

Well i got the bike back today and on first inspection it didn't look so bad. But then, on closer inspection whilst there was no cracks in it, there was a couple of gouges in the down tube and the forks were twisted. One of the gear cable guides had snapped off as well. All this on top of lots of scratches and scuffs to the seat, handlebars and brake hoods.

I took it down the LBS who have given me a letter effectively saying "this bike is not safe to ride". I'll call the insurers tomorrow and hopefully i'll be able to replace it that way. Whether it'll cover other bits and pieces like clothing i'm not sure but i can but try.

On the plus side, there's quite a bit of salvagable spares on it (drive train mostly) which will come in handy.

 

[SoloCyclist]

...Remember the bike will be insured to a max value but clothing etc are regarded as personal belongings, so are not included in the cost of a bike claim. At least that was the advice I got from my own insurers.

Sorry Paul, maybe that wasn't too clear. Your clothing etc and some add ons will be covered under your contents insurance but not considered bike related. It will still be one claim on your contents insurance but my bike was covered to a max of £1500 at the time which is what my replacement bike cost so I didn't think I would be able to claim for the damaged clothing. It was the insurer that told me I could because the £1500 limit applied only to physical bike related stuff. The clothing was just normal contents.

Hope a new bike in some way makes up for your troubles.

 

[Paul_L]

Sorry Paul, maybe that wasn't too clear. Your clothing etc and some add ons will be covered under your contents insurance but not considered bike related. It will still be one claim on your contents insurance but my bike was covered to a max of £1500 at the time which is what my replacement bike cost so I didn't think I would be able to claim for the damaged clothing. It was the insurer that told me I could because the £1500 limit applied only to physical bike related stuff. The clothing was just normal contents.

Hope a new bike in some way makes up for your troubles.

Thanks SC. That makes sense. All is going ok with the claim. I'm with M&S Money and they have appointed Wheelies (bike shop in Swansea) to deal with the bike and helmet side of things, and M&S are dealing with the clothing side of things themselves.

Wheelies are a Trek dealer and as my bike was a Trek that'll probably mean they'll arrange for a new for old replacement. I'm going to ask for a cash settlement so i can buy through my LBS. That way i've got a local trustworthy connection to take the bike back to for servicing. Don't know whether they'll run with that or not.

So far no complaints with M&S.

As for me, recovery is very slow. Still on crutches sadly as weight bearing on my right leg in particular is quite painful.