General Road and Highway Discussion

[danbrotherston]

This matches my experience. I've had many bikes stolen. Not one has been while it was locked while I was shopping. Overnight, from my house is the most common example.

I figure it's pretty safe, I know lots of people do lock their expensive bikes while shopping, and few have had thefts happen. With a good enough lock (i.e., requiring an angle grinder) most thieves are not going to make an attempt in front of a store....at least in KW.

I'm curious though...for dtkvictim, is your concern about your bike financial or sentimental? If it's financial, my solution to that has been to get insurance. My home insurance covered all my bikes that were stolen (as they were stolen from my home) but I only made a claim when I had many bikes stolen making the deductible worth it. But when I moved here and bought an expensive (relatively...3500 is a lot for a bike for me) ebike I paid for insurance for it.

I'd say it's 50/50 financial and sentimental. I would be emotionally bummed out, and though I could luckily afford to replace them, a sudden expense in the thousands of dollars still hurts. Are you saying you have separate insurance specifically for your bike? I didn't realize that was an option, unless you mean this is something in the Netherlands.

But those anecdotes are reassuring. I store my bikes indoors, and I do have a reasonable Kryptonite u-lock and cable combo for locking in public, so maybe I shouldn't worry so much for quick stops. I think a dedicated bike whose purpose is to get stolen would put my mind completely at ease, though.

Yes, separate insurance for my bike is available here, and that's what I did get. It's kind of interesting. You pay a lump sum when you buy the bike and then it's covered for a term (1 to 5, years) against theft, and if stolen, it's replaced as new.

In Canada you can get additional coverage for bikes as part of your home insurance policy because the maximums are kind of low for a cargo bike or an expensive road bike. And that will cover you even when not in the home (at least for TD insurance). (Fortunately in my case I don't really have expensive bikes, just...you know...a lot of them).

In Canada you can also get bicycle specific liability and loss insurance, this is most often done in the context of racing (it's often required to race) and you are covered for damage and injuries and crashes and such, but most of these insurance companies will also cover you for all harms, theft, fire, etc. While this may bother some of us in this forum, it's more or less just a form of insurance on recreational vehicles like ATVs or skidoos.

The sacrificial bike is definitely a viable option though. None of my bikes were worth claiming on insurance with the deductible. It only became worth it to make a claim when I had four bike stolen...which definitely made me sad. They were stolen from inside our building, but that was a major break in and a dozen people suffered thefts during the course of the night, it's kind of a difficult thing to protect against.