Just checking my travel insurance cover from my co-op bank policy.

It seems they only ‘sport’ holiday it covers you for is skiing. Anything else can’t be the ‘sole or main purpose of the holiday’. And the only form of cycling mentioned is Mountain bicycling on tarmac† which is a new one on me. Anyone do much of it?

What do people recommend as specialist sport travel cover these days? It looks like i’ve not been covered for the last few years (suspect they’ve tightened the categories at some point)

Its what 29 ers were made for 😉

Hell no. Sounds dangerous.

I recon there are more mountain bicycles used on tarmac than off road.

Surely it should just be ‘cycling on tarmac’

Only a tiny minority of mountain bikes are ever on a mountain. The French got it right, the English-speaking world has those damn Yanks to blame.

I’ve used snowcard in the past (& will be renewing this year)

their website’s fairly clear about what the different levels are (and they let you have one sport that’s in a higher category than you’ve chosen, IIRC (but check that, obvz)

Mine is expensive but that’s mostly because it covers MTB in wilderness (or something like that) and also off-piste skiing and I’ve got it to include the US, which was the big price hit, I think

Never used them, suppose they could be shite

Snowcard is who we’ve used before I think. I guess i can switch off all the cancellation/baggage/theft insurance as that’s covered by my other policy and just take out the sport cover to keep the cost down.

DogTag looks good but cost is high.

I use dogtag, though, touch wood, I’ve never had to claim.

We’ve also always used Snowcard but thankfully never had to test how good they are.

I’ve used Dogtag (they actually give you a dog tag!!) and have made a claim – due to cancelation due to injury – they we’re very good about it and refunded the full cost.

They’re pretty expensive though £30 a week or so for me. I used a comparison site last year and got it for £18 for my whole family – mountain biking for My Wife, Son and I for Mountain Biking and Horse Riding for my Wife (higher risk class than MTB) plus general insurance for my daughter who was only 6 months – I thought that was a bargain.

Worth noting that whilst the specialists are great if you get helicoptered off a Swiss Mountside in a neck brace, they’re not the best if your laptop gets nicked from your hotel room – they’ve typically got low max payouts for stuff like that.

Snowcard here too , haven’t had to claim though . They are more sensible with my existing condition Osteoporosis instead of using it to double the premium .

I use an annual Dogtag policy. Paid out quickly when I broke collarbone in Whistler. Never quibbled partners travel/hotel costs to come down to Manchester to drive me home.
With all companies watch out for cover levels. Basic may well cover off-road riding but you may need higher cover if you’re doing any uplifts of dh riding.

We’ve used dogtag amongst others.

But there are grey areas:-

We quizzed them on downhill vs xc cover and never got a clear answer (it was basically up to us to decide). If you are in big mountains and using occasional uplift then it may well classify as “downhill” (even if you would call it xc).

hey’re pretty expensive though £30 a week or so for me.

You aren’t a type 1 diabetic DHer then? £128 for 2 weeks in Whistler last August 🙁

I use BMC for travel insurance. Started when my trips were climbing / mountaineering but they seem tuned into active people generally. Fortunately I have no experience of needing them to pay out.

The key seems to be reading the small print about what is/isn’t covered and checking payout levels. a low premium usually seems to mean something isn’t covered and calculating the replacement value of all the kit most of us carry about can be an eye-opener

@TomHoward it was probably the ‘North America’ but that did for you – £78 a week for me for Ehistler, but I do have Famila Hypercholeserolemia (easy for me to say I know)

The key seems to be reading the small print about what is/isn’t covered and checking payout levels. a low premium usually seems to mean something isn’t covered and calculating the replacement value of all the kit most of us carry about can be an eye-opener

Nothing to stop you separating out the insurance (or at least confirming what cover you already have elsewhere – there’s no point being double insured as they won’t pay out twice but theres a risk they’ll spend time arguing amongst themselves as to who is responsible). Insuring possessions on the household insurance policy is usually cheaper. Our bank travel policy covers cancellation etc so we only need to worry about ‘extreme sports cover’ when we’re actually doing it.

My travel insurance does MTB but excludes “extreme terrain” 😕

Some people say they were told that means anything other than tarmac, though others have been told different. Anything with an uplift is likely to get “computer says no”. Even for something tame like Passportes.

They also exclude competitive stuff.

Annual insurance for this kind of stuff is v.expensive, so I just went with a single trip with Snowcard for Alps stuff. It’s really just for the injury & recovery part. I excluded any cover for stuff getting nicked, cancellations etc as that’s all on my regular travel insurance.