On Sunday my cycling buddy chose the wrong moment to blast past in a narrow lane and met a car coming, probably also too fast, round a corner. He swerved hard and dived over the bonnet but the car hit his bike with enough force to send it cartwheeling over my head to land on top of the hedge 15 feet behind me. The visible damage is a bent chainring, bent front wheel and crushed chainstay. I don’t think it can be repaired, do you agree? You can squeeze the tube between your fingers and the crack extends about 6″ along the top.

might be, but really if the he should get a new bike/frame from the drivers insurance if applicable.

might be, but really if the he should get a new bike/frame from the drivers insurance if applicable

And then it goes to 50/50 and he (or his 3rd party liability insurance) has to pay for half of the repairs to the car. Which is more expensive?

There are a few carbon bike repair specialists. I’ve just spoken to http://www.carboncyclerepairs.co.uk/index.html and am going to see them soon about a damaged carbon seatstay.

Update: his insurers are covering him for a new bike but they want him to go through their accredited “dealer” which is somebody called Wheelies Direct.

If it’s an off the shelf bike then that’s fine.

If he has a custom build I’d demand the money from the insurers (they have to do this)

Update: his insurers are covering him for a new bike but they want him to go through their accredited “dealer” which is somebody called Wheelies Direct.

If it were my mate I’d advise him strongly to push for a cash settlement rather than take a bike from those lazy, devious toerags.

If it were my mate I’d advise him strongly to push for a cash settlement rather than take a bike from those lazy, devious toerags.

My experience wasn’t great with wheelies. They WILL try it on with the options available to your mate by offering old stock at full price etc. Make sure he insists on a like for like replacement and he’ll be fine. Delivery times can be variable too though…

I got a quote from an LBS who sold my mangled bike, insurers were going to sort out a deal with them to replace it but unfortunately they couldn’t get a replacement for several weeks so I asked insurers for a cheque and they said fine. I’d push for that.

Had issues with a bike and a set of wheels sourced from them.

Repeatedly had to chase them to follow-up on things, silence from them for weeks only to hear they hadn’t done anything.

Also they had no interest at all in arguing my (very strong) case over a warranty.

Worst bike related company I’ve dealt with.

my insurance company also told me to go through wheelies when my bike got pinched last year. it was a custom build so i dug my heels in and demanded a cash payout which i eventually got.
like wwaswas said if its an off the shelf bike then you’ll have to go through wheelies who will give your mates bike a valuation and then take it from there. the good thing about this is that they are able to sort good discounts with the insurer so if the bike is valued at say £1k then after wheelies have negotiated a discount rate with the insurer then they will offer a higher priced bike at that value.
if its a custom build then demand the money.

edit: you may need to get the bike valued by an independent bike shop if wheelies undervalue the bike

It’s a Specialized Tarmac, only a few months old. Spesh have offered a 25% discount on a new bike on condition that they get the old one back so as to ensure it is taken out of circulation. My buddy is waiting for Wheelies Direct to contact him now to see what they can offer. He’s not very good at this kind of thing.

My two bits on Wheelies.

My Dad had to deal with them after writing off one of his Fulcrum Racings 1’s in a crash. NFU told him to deal with Wheelies. Fair enough. They tried for a while to source a single wheel and couldn’t so after a lot of chasing they agreed to send both front and back 😀

Good result for him, but they were a bit of arse to deal with.

It is definitely repairable (as a spare…!) I’ve had my Nanolight sorted by a mate on here – oliverracing.

Shirely that’d buff out?

I found wheelies ok, they couldn’t replace my frame so just told insurers to pay out

Only dealt with wheelies once, took about two months to deliver an ‘in stock’ item, despite me pestering for it after about a fortnight, and then pestering for a refund after another fortnight.