Hi Guys

Hoping for some advise please….

I had 2 bikes stolen over the weekend. One was my beloved Bronson C which the insurance company will replace (hoping to convince them to swap it for a Nomad). The other was an old Lapierre Zesty that I use mainly to tow my toddler around trail centres in his Croozer trailer.

For the Lapierre, they have agreed to either give me £1700 cash OR they said I can purchase a bike through their supplier (Wheelies) to the value of £1800 and they will give me £500 Cash (both options are really generous considering the bike is 3 years old).

Do I;

A – Go all out and get the best hardtail I can for the £1800 and possible upgrade parts with the cash (bearing in mind it will probably be overkill for what I would need). If so any suggestions?

B – do the sensible thing and take the £1700, buy a cheap hardtail (or a Canyon)and pocket the difference.

Either way, I think hardtail is the way I need to go for trailer towing, especially as I have my F/S for the other stuff.

My mind is clouded by the prospect of shiny new toys so hoping anyone sensible out there can throw their opinion in / offer advise.

Wont they just replace with a new zesty?
New for old policy?

Firstly sorry to hear about the stolen bikes and glad to know the insurance guys will make good.

I would go with the cash option, if all you need is a HT for as you say trailer towing and not so full on days. You can easily pick up good used HT’s on here or PB and upgrade parts and still have plenty cash left.

Plus you might need some spare dough to replace the Brony off the shelf spec?

They initially offered a Fuel EX 8 but told them I need it to tow (think it confused them) and so they said jump on wheelies and I can choose anything up to £1800…. Never mentioned the new zesty..

Sorry to hear about the bikes, I had a beloved town bike stolen last night.
The insurers will replace it with a newer model, but I’m in two minds, as a new bike will be even more nickable than the last one.

Sound advise tuskaloosa. Built the Bronson up myself but the payout would only allow for an off the shelf Bronson or Nomad – not complaining though.

Check what the offer is and which website, there are two wheelies sites. One is the general site which has offers last, year’s bikes and reduced stock. The other site is their insurance site and everything is full price, no discounts. When I was helping my mum find a replacement, they would only sell the bike at full price when they only had one in stock and it was advertised with a 40% discount on their other site.

They claim they are two separate companies, but they only seem to have one registration number, (at the time) this may have changed..

Good heads up TheDT.. The site they gave me is the insurance site (bikereplacement.co.uk). If I go option A – I would be the Specialised Stump Jumper Comp Carbon….

crikey are those prices correct on the bike replacement site… 6.4K for a Process

Is your policy not New for Old in which case the Zesty offer is a piss take (read your policy). If the zesty is redundant apart from towing why not take the cash and look up something from On-One etc and pocket the difference.

Totally take the money and run. Wheelies won’t be able to get you a deal as good as you shopping around with cash in hand. Plus you’re not limited to what they have in their stock.

Thanks for input guys. Going to take the cash and shop around.