Would you lend a bike ?

[davidphilips]

The guy shown first and last, Martyn Ashton, is in a wheelchair now, paralysed from T10 (?) vertebra down due to an accident he had during the making of that video. He’s a presenter on GMBN on YouTube. He still rides. There’s a great video of him at Whistler, Canada participating in the downhill race.

What a terrible accident, so sorry for him , Some of the things he done on the bike where breath taking he was one of the best in the world, What a great guy and still cycling.

 

[Proto]

Women are much more careful.

That’s a bit sexist!

No idea why you should think that. Although both very responsible individuals (one is 747 pilot) neither have much mechanical ‘sympathy’ for the bike. And CX is a bit of a lottery in terms of bike damage - punctures, rear mechs ripped off, crashes etc.

It’s just a bike, I’ll fix it if it’s needed.

 

[DCLane]

I have recently - and it was on the guarantee from him that it would be returned in the same condition.

It came back chipped with the rear mech hanger bent. Not happy ...

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I have lent a bike to someone. Initially I was helping a woman I met by sheer accident to get fit enough to do a long cycle ride. It was 88 miles with several passes in Wales included after s mostly flat approach. But she hasn't ridden since she was a child. It was for charity. We met by chance whilst my husband and I were walking along an old railway line (converted to cycleway walkway etc). She had a flat tyre and couldn't fix it. We were about 200m from our house so took her there and fixed it for her. As we were chatting we found out what she was doing and I offered to help her get fit again and accompany her on the rides, but not the charity ride itself. My husband did that. She was terrified of roads initially. About 4 weeks before the charity ride itself, her old bike failed permanently. She couldn't afford a new bike or anything that was fit for what she was doing (and the others doing the ride with her were all men with much larger bikes than she could ride or only had the one bike). So I lent get my road bike and taught her how to ride it, how to corner, use the brakes, even change gear on it. It was about half the weight of what she had been riding so I soon had her riding much faster than before and climbing much faster etc. on the day, I lent her some locks, spare for repairs etc. She needed none of them and completed the entire ride (she did try quitting close to the end but my husband ignored her because it wasn't a safe place to stop so cycled on to somewhere safe and by the time she got there she was over her little tantrum and ready to eat something and continue).

So yes and yes my bike got damaged when she fell off it, I always knew it was a possibility. I didn't know her beforehand and only one her for about 8 weeks before lending her the bike, but I would do it again.

 

[Specialeyes]

My Sirrus is on long-term loan to the wife of a friend whose Specialized Amira was nicked. I'm happy it's being used regularly, and I often see it being ridden as we have commutes which cross. As far as I am concerned, she can ride it 'til the nuts fall off as it makes me smile just as much to see it in use as it would riding it, and I can't ride two bikes at once.

 

[ianrauk]

Yes I would and yes I have. An expensive one too. But only to trusted friends.

 

[Andy_R]

My wife allowed me to lend her bike to an absolute beginner I was teaching. The lady in question had a bike that was too big and giving her major confidence issues. My wife's bike fit her much better and she made major headway - so much so she was crying with joy after riding around a local disused tennis court unaided. So yes.

 

[Vantage]

Only if they could pry it from my cold dead fingers.
I value it too much.

 

[Moodyman]

I heard someone say they would rather share their wife than share their bike.

 

[burntoutbanger]

I would to someone I knew and trusted but it would be my hack bike and certainly not my best bike. And I suppose I would have to accept a risk of loss or damage.

 

[Dave 123]

One of Mrs Dave's bosses wants to lend the tandem. I'm sure it would come back in one piece, but having met the bloke a couple of times I just couldn't do it.

He's one of those 'oh, you rode 100 miles in 6 hours, I did it 4....' kind of people

 

[Illaveago]

I have plenty of bikes, some of which I have put together from recycled parts. I have offered my friends the option of borrowing one if they need to at any time. There are a couple which I would not lend out as they personal favourites.
I can remember as a kid lending a friend my new bike to let him finish his paper round, he came back with the rear derailleur broken. It was a Simplex plastic one.
My dad made a new parallelogram out of aluminium blocks.
The friend went to another school so we went our separate ways.
I think it depends on personal circumstances as I have built up a bicycle for somebody who needed one. The parts were being thrown out and so they didn't cost me anything, as was the frame, so it was a bit of a mix and match affair but they were happy with it.

 

[byegad]

Never! Well nearly never.

I once lent an old bike to a relative. I wasn't using it and wasn't too bothered if it came back in one piece or not. He used it for commuting to work and eventually offered to return it, when he'd bought a car. I asked for some accessories off it to be returned and asked would he then scrap it, which he did.

This was a good job as I had nowhere to store it by then n+1...well 3 applied by then!

 

[Globalti]

Not a bike but my parents agreed to lend our large family Vango tent to one of my school pals. He stored it in the boot of his car, which he had painted inside with bitumen underseal. His spare can of petrol leaked and yes - you've guessed it, the tent got soaked in diluted bitumen. So the next time we used the tent we unfolded the fly to find it had a nice big inkblot on it, making it look like a symmetrical Freesian cow. No offer to replace the fly was ever forthcoming and when the same bloke asked if he could borrow my Dad's SLR camera for a project he got huffy when I refused!

 

[Alan O]

I've lent bikes to trusted friends/family in the past, and would happily do so again. I don't have anything expensive, so that's not really an issue - my best bike is a steel one that cost me only around £250 to build (though I guess the investment in effort is more valuable than the cost).

If I had a super expensive bike I might think differently, but I'd never buy one so I'll never need to consider that.