I dont understand some cyclist

[Sea of vapours]

The terms of ETA's cover include: '– Recovery to a repair shop, railway station or home'. Soooo..... presumably they choose the most convenient or cost effective option, for them. That might well be 'home' if you're only 30-40km away, but I suspect the train station option would apply at some distance not an awful lot greater, or that they'd at least try to argue for the train station. It's £24 now. https://www.eta.co.uk/bicycle-insurance/cycle-rescue

 

[blackrat]

Pliers are useless against the tiny goat head thorns. You have to use a very sharp knife to scrape and hook the thorn to get it out.

We lived in Denver - lovely place - and the Highline Canal there is festered with goat head thorns. I made it about 25 yards before the inevitable happened resulting in long walk home pushing my steel Raleigh. I never attempted to cycle on that trail again. I walked it many times though past the prairie dog village, sadly long since destroyed and built over.

 

[Dag Hammar]

The terms of ETA's cover include: '– Recovery to a repair shop, railway station or home'. Soooo..... presumably they choose the most convenient or cost effective option, for them. That might well be 'home' if you're only 30-40km away, but I suspect the train station option would apply at some distance not an awful lot greater, or that they'd at least try to argue for the train station. It's £24 now. https://www.eta.co.uk/bicycle-insurance/cycle-rescue

I sent ETA an email enquiry because I was confused as to what they offer and I wanted a policy that would get me home.
Here is their reply to me. There was a few more lines but that covered theft claims which I was not interested in.


Thank you for your email.

I can confirm that we actually offer the Cycle Rescue as a stand alone policy, for £24 for the year. I can confirm under this policy, you would indeed be taken anywhere you wanted to go in the event of a breakdown.

With regards to the Cycle Rescue that comes with our Insurance, this is a free add on, so due to this, there are a few limitations on this one, mainly that we have a 25 mile limit on recoveries (25 miles from the point of a breakdown). So providing your home is within 25 miles of where you have broken down, you would be taken home, though it if was outside of this, you would be recovered to the forementioned within the 25 mile limit of where you have broken down.


As far as I’m concerned their reply provides me with absolute clarity and following receipt of that reply I took out a policy.

 

[Ajax Bay]

I have read the terms and conditions and my understanding is that if I suffer a mechanical breakdown I phone them and they send out a suitable vehicle to transport myself and bike to my home.

their reply provides me with absolute clarity

Providing you're content that meets your requirement - fine. Some of us ride in other parts of the country/world, hundreds of miles from "home" or indeed our destination. The first clip is from my policy (renewed 18 Apr 2025). But the second clip is for policies purchased or renewed after 30th April 2025 - which maybe you have:

https://www.eta.co.uk/bicycle-insurance/key-facts-documents

 

[Dag Hammar]

Providing you're content that meets your requirement - fine. Some of us ride in other parts of the country/world, hundreds of miles from "home" or indeed our destination. The first clip is from my policy (renewed 18 Apr 2025). But the second clip is for policies purchased or renewed after 30th April 2025 - which maybe you have:
View attachment 801280

View attachment 801285
https://www.eta.co.uk/bicycle-insurance/key-facts-documents

That’s the trouble with insurance policies isn’t it ! They always seem to be worded in such a way they can wriggle out of their obligations when it suits them.
Nonetheless, I have paid my annual fee which will take me to mid November this year and as I have said before, I really hope I do not have need to call upon their services but if I do have need I will certainly be posting a review of their service on this forum so other members can benefit from my experience.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Providing you're content that meets your requirement - fine. Some of us ride in other parts of the country/world, hundreds of miles from "home" or indeed our destination. The first clip is from my policy (renewed 18 Apr 2025). But the second clip is for policies purchased or renewed after 30th April 2025 - which maybe you have:
View attachment 801280

View attachment 801285
https://www.eta.co.uk/bicycle-insurance/key-facts-documents

Sounds a lot like the "Bicycle insurance" I've been offered, which was for bikes under 10 years old only, and didn't apply if the bike was out of it's designated locked storage during the hours of darkness, which isn't that useful if you use your bike for transport.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I have just looked at that ETA insurance and it does seema lot less dodgy that the ones I had once

If the bike is stored ina shed they just require it to be locked - and specifically do not need it to be a Sold Secure Gold
just as long as the shed is locked and the bike cannot be seen from the outside

when I have had insurance previously they have insisted on it being locked with Sold Secure Gold and the lock to be attached to a ground anchor and evidence provided about all that
which sounded like they were giving themselves as much wriggle room as possible - to me anyway

This seems lot better!

 

[Ajax Bay]

To be clear - I'm talking about the ETA Cycle Rescue service - insurance and its merits has been done to death and back across the Styx in other threads imho.

 

[simongt]

Those that appear at face value to be a dedicated cyclist, but have poor lighting and dark clothing always amaze me too. You’d think they’d be more aware of their own vulnerability…….

See this quite often. Apppears that black is the new 'bright colour' these days.
But then roadies then spend money on DRLs so they can be seen. Can't argue that DRLs can be useful, but not everyone uses them.
If you're wearing a bright top, it helps a lot as I've often picked out a cyclist from well over 100 metres away simply because of the top they're wearing.

 

[sevenfourate]

See this quite often. Apppears that black is the new 'bright colour' these days.
But then roadies then spend money on DRLs so they can be seen. Can't argue that DRLs can be useful, but not everyone uses them.
If you're wearing a bright top, it helps a lot as I've often picked out a cyclist from well over 100 metres away simply because of the top they're wearing.

Single colour, bright tops (Red, Orange, Brighter shades of green etc) seem to not be the norm when I’ve looked.

Hard to know if fashion dictates Black being sold. Or Black being sold dictates what we buy and wear. You’d have to presume manufacturers know what cyclists currently desire - and colour their ranges accordingly. Anyway - it’s not the most helpful for being seen either way 🙄

 

[Punkawallah]

The nice boys at GCN did a video on the topic:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33GpfTWdk8U

 

[Andy in Germany]

Those that appear at face value to be a dedicated cyclist, but have poor lighting and dark clothing always amaze me too. You’d think they’d be more aware of their own vulnerability…….

There was a noticeable increase in people buying lights in Dec/Jan. I'm sure that is nothing to do with the fact that the fine for not having lights went up to 60€ from Jan 1st 2026...

 

[nogoodnamesleft]

The terms of ETA's cover include: '– Recovery to a repair shop, railway station or home'. Soooo..... presumably they choose the most convenient or cost effective option, for them. That might well be 'home' if you're only 30-40km away, but I suspect the train station option would apply at some distance not an awful lot greater, or that they'd at least try to argue for the train station. It's £24 now. https://www.eta.co.uk/bicycle-insurance/cycle-rescue

Given the "challenges" taking cycles on UK trains, I can see issues eg what if your cycle hasn't been advance booked on the service to get you home? Or what if the train station nearest your home is still some distance away (eg I like 10 miles from my nearest train station with no public transport) so arriving with a broken cycle.

Cycles on trains is undoubtedly covered in different threads but I wonder if the insurance underwriters actually appreciate the challenges when specifying such clauses. That is unless it's a "cyclist's choice".

 

[steverob]

I’d have a similar query if they tried to take me to whatever the nearest station was, as it would be almost certain that this station was not on a line I could get home from, at least not without travelling in to London and back out again (my home town is on a dead-end line from London that has no real connection to any other lines).

 

[Sea of vapours]

That is unless it's a "cyclist's choice".

I concur that it needs to be that, or at least it's vastly better if it is. The response @Dag Hammar received in the above post is pretty clear, but I'm slightly sceptical still.