If you really can't afford to replace it, then you have to talk to him and explain the situation. Maybe he'll understand and cut you some slack, but I feel he does have the right to ask for a similar replacement.
On two occasions recently, I've lent out a spare bike so that people can come on rides with me. Person 1 returned it with 1 puncture, one ripped sidewall and an enormous stantion scratch (granted, not noticed till later).
Tyre was requested, never received. Scratch was mentioned in the context of helping me to fix it with nail varnish or the like. Never mentioned again and no help offered. Basically person 1 has **** all chance of borrowing anything from me again, which is a shame as I like to help people out.
Contrast this to person 2, who borrowed the same bike on the subsequent ride. He replaced the damaged tyre and fixed the puncture. He also discovered the scratch whilst checking the bike over before riding. Person 2 can borrow anything I own!
A few folk have asked me if they can borrow the tandem for a try. I am happy to do so but I always say - "usual rules apply - bend it and mend it". That way its explicit and understood.
I do have a slight anecdote on this, which you may prefer, as it sounds more like the sort of person you want to be...
I worked with a chap, who I get on with very well. We went riding, he complained about not having glasses, I had a pair of (admittedly very old) M-Frames in the car which I offered. He said 'I'll break them' I said 'no you won't' and lent them to him. I got them back 2 weeks later, he'd dropped his tool box on them and broken the frame. He refused to pay on the basis that he'd told me he'd break them, it was my fault that I chose to not believe him. Needless to say we had quite a disagreement on the subject, but in the long run it just wasn't worth worrying about, I still had to work with him, so got on with my life, and we're still friends.
Indeed the same may happen to you with your friend, but I think I'm rather an easy going person, and many would have fallen out over it.
If it were me, I'd talk to the friend, explain you're not in a position to pay, but intend to in the long run, and see if you can reach an agreement.
He said 'I'll break them' I said 'no you won't' and lent them to him. I got them back 2 weeks later, he'd dropped his tool box on them and broken the frame.
Not that it was necessarily a good excuse for him not to pay to replace (at least partially - if they were old and I was in that situation I'd not feel it reasonable to replace new for old), but you did kind of ask for it!
The thing is with lending stuff to mates, you don't do it to enable them to have a go and not worry about breaking stuff, you do it to enable them to have a go without worrying about a little bit of normal wear.
You bend it,
You mend it.
Basic rule of keeping friends.
A really good mate would say not to bother though, and if you were a really good mate, you'd still mend it.
Talk to your friend and tell him the truth that your short of cash and pay him weekly or something.
I bet 0091paddy would pay up if he/she was rich. Learned a lesson though-treat people how you wish to be treated.
Did you have a written contract?
Did you have a written contract?
Why, do you normally make your friends sign and get witnesses when you lend them something? Do you have many friends? 🙄
Why, do you normally make your friends sign and get witnesses when you lend them something? Do you have many friends? [:roll:]
I suppose I might have been commenting ironically on all the barrack room legalise being spouted on this thread. A bit subtle I know... But since you ask, yes, obviously, of course I ****in' make my mates sign a contract if they borrow something. Don't you? Doesn't everyone? For example, last week I loaned someone on here a sense of humour, but sadly he didn't realise what it was and accidentally traded it for a lumpen tendency to take everything he read at face value, etc, pfffff....
Chrism, I wouldn't say I ask for it, people tend to say things like that, and it wasn't like he crashed or anything (which I wouldn't have minded), but they were sitting in the boot of his car and he dropped a tool box on them, that's just careless, which annoyed me more.
Still, as he had told me he'd break them he clearly wasn't going to pay, and it wasn't worth it in the long run.
Paddy, can you now pretend you said 'I'll break them' when he offered them to you? Excellent way to weasel out of paying!
same happened to me last year, except it was a brand new set of easton DH bars that ended up with big chunks of carbon missing, the guy had gone over the handlebars, lent the bike in good faith and the guy didn't even tell me he had crashed (he also scuffed and took chunks out of various other parts), lucky there were several witnesses including me, he promised he would pay for the damage but eight months later no new parts or cheque.
So people are just ****s 😥
njee - not suggesting at all he was right to get out of paying, and I agree with you about it being worse that he broke them whilst not wearing them (though arguably that's covered by "I'll break them", depending on exactly what he meant by that - maybe he breaks everything by being careless).
For example, last week I loaned someone on here a sense of humour, but sadly he didn't realise what it was and accidentally traded it for a lumpen tendency to take everything he read at face value, etc, pfffff....
Do you want me to buy you a new SOH since I broke that one?
I don't lend my bike to others, bad enough if i wreck it but i don't want others to feel like i would (assumption is they would feel the same) if i broke, wrecked, scratched, got dirty, someones elses bike (such a small word).
dunno,
as the op isnt reading anymore its largely irrelavent but here's my tuppence worth.
If i lend something then as long as they dont run off with it I accept that there is a possible risk of it being broken. Just as if i was riding it in the same situation.
That's why I never lend anyone my nice bikes.
But the BMX and commuter are fair game. The commuter owes me nothing and would cost more to fix than buy a new one. The BMX is pretty much unbreakable.
If I leant someone my £300 wheels (not that i own any worth that) I'd presume they were my spare set and I had some better race wheels and cheeper practice wheels so they weren't being used. From his POV maybe he doesn't want to lose the friendship by presenting the OP with a £300 invoice?
Are you drunk? And was the thread really worth reviving for that!?
If I were a race team principal, I wouldn't let him ride one of my bikes.
[url= http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/being-let-down ]thats a grand bit of shit stirring you found yourself thisisnotaspoon[/url] 😉
As others have said if you borrow something and break it, your fault or not, then it's up to you to replace. Why should the guy be out of pocket because he was decent enough to lend you a set of nice wheels?
I think epicyclo summed it up as I see it perfectly-
You bend it,
You mend it.
Basic rule of keeping friends.
A really good mate would say not to bother though, and [b]if you were a really good mate, you'd still mend it[/b].
Agreed that you're morally obliged to replace them like for like, or at least as close as you can get if they're genuinely hard to come by. It's for your mate to decide if anything less is acceptable, not you!
Chrism, I wouldn't say I ask for it, people tend to say things like that, and it wasn't like he crashed or anything (which I wouldn't have minded), but they were sitting in the boot of his car and he dropped a tool box on them, that's just careless, which annoyed me more.
That would wind me up too- I'm perfectly happy to accept that things get broken, but when they could just as easily not have been broken and it's down to people just not thinking about other people's stuff then it's annoying.
i regularly lend my bike(s) to mates who don't have their own so i've got a riding buddy for things like recent trip to wales. I'm trying to work out how I'd feel/what the finance situation would be if one of them stacked it and broke something. I'm not really sure, I guess it would depend pretty heavily on what said mate offered/came back with.
Troll
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njee20 - MemberAre you drunk? And was the thread really worth reviving for that!?
Indeed.
I just read all that then get to the end and find out its 3 months old, i feel cheated! what a fanny for even asking that question in the first place!
appologies for resurecting an old thread, wasn't trolling, must have opened it from a link somewhere and not checked its in-date-ness
Although it does prove a point that accidents happen!
Sobered up now then, that post makes a lot more sense than your first contribution 😉