So I picked up my new back at the weekend. First bike for over 10 years. It’s worth a descent amount of money. I’ll call my insurer today and ask how much it would cost to add the bike on as an individual item. I’ll then compare to a bike insurer and go with the cheapest. Is there anything else to consider here?

I then need to secure the bike whilst it’s in the garage. What bike locks are people using for this i.e. it doesn’t need to be light weight as it won’t be carried around whilst on the bike.

Also, is it worth registering the bike so it can be traced back to me if it’s ever recovered? Do I really want the bike back 6 months later, having sorted a replacement through the insurance? What would be the implications of this, give the new bike back, keep both bikes, give the old bike back?

Thanks.

Probably best to have worked this out BEFORE bringing the bike home…

https://securityforbikes.com/

For ground anchor and chain.

i use an Almax Series IV chain. If they get through that without anyone hearing, i’ll be impressed

Sold secure gold locks normally required for insurance. The OnGuard brute is a decent s lock in this category that isn’t really expensive. Can’t be bolt cropped – they’ll have to cut it in 2 places with a grinder (16.8mm shackle). You need the long version to be practical.

You’ll need a ground anchor to lock it through – Oxford do some for not a huge amount of money. Or motorcycle retailers usually sell some very solid ones.

I find home insurance is normally cheaper than stand alone.

Also, is it worth registering the bike so it can be traced back to me if it’s ever recovered?

Not unless it’s stolen. Why advertise a high cost bike in a national register that can be bought or hacked by organised criminals.

You’ll need a ground anchor to lock it through

Preferably with no access … using a hacksaw or battery powered grinder on a chain that moves about is much much harder than something clamped nicely to a firm surface. [added bonus they might lose fingers]

Preferably with no access … using a hacksaw or battery powered grinder on a chain that moves about is much much harder than something clamped nicely to a firm surface. [added bonus they might lose fingers]

Doubt it makes any difference, a battery grinder has to be fed quite gently and its not going to take any fingers off! It’ll still get through just about any chain / D lock in a couple of minutes or less.

Home insurance is generally cheaper than specific bike insurance, but the t&C’s are also completely different. Both will require a gold sold secure lock and anchor whilst stored at home. But be careful about where it’s stored at home – some home insurance say it has to be in a building/room attached to the house, some say in the house etc. Some are ok with a seperate garage but not a shed….
Specific bike insurance usually covers you for when your out and about on the bike too, for example it it’s stolen from the roof or boot of your car. Racing insurance, public liability insurance etc etc etc.

Essentially they are very different things, I’ve specific bike insurance which costs almost as much as my car insurance.

Id ask the insurance company this question TBH, my insurer specified I need the bike locked to a ground anchor, no specifics about quality/grade of lock or anchor or extra security measures for the garage.

I thought asking them on a recorded call would be good evidence for the future if they then tried to get out of a claim.

Nationwide home insurance recommended 🙂

Bikes up to £1000 covered as standard in your home/garage, don’t need to be locked if inside.
An addon of bike insurance is available for a couple of pounds which extends it to out and about (UK wide, plus abroad for up to 90 days). It has to be locked but there is no standard specified!
They paid out £700 no problem for my old bike locked to a lamppost with a Tesco cable lock.

I recently added a new bike valued at £3k. Best bike specific insurer quote I could find was around £18 p/m so I was hoping for better than that… £7 with Nationwide. Per year 🙂

Lock standards for insurance aside, I am still going to be using an OnGuard D-lock, 13mm Pragmasis chain and an alarm this time. Inside a secure metal bike hangar. The more overkill the better lol

i use an Almax Series IV chain. If they get through that without anyone hearing, i’ll be impressed

The problem is they don’t need to. They can just cut through the frame as so much of the value is in the components that are effectively untraceable.

Locks and ground anchored are irrelevant and an inconvenience at best at stopping a determined theif, if they want your bike, they’ll get it. I only use them to validate the insurance.
But the more obstacles the better.
CCTV
PIR lighting
Alarms
Locks
A big dog
Etc.

Even with all of this we’ve still had several low value items stolen from our property – thankfully they’ve not got to the bikes or know where they are.

Thanks all.

Annual cover has cost me £29 and that covers me in and out of the home as long as I don’t leave it unlocked in a public place. Also doesn’t cover racing, etc. but I have not intentions of entering anything.

It doesn’t specify that I need it to be locked in the garage but I’m going to buy a lock anyway and will look at the ones suggested in this thread.

This has been done to death on the forum. To summarise:

Almax great.
Pragmasis great.
More of less all other locks, useless.
Sold secure certification: manufacturers’ cabal to try to differentiate between their shit locks and their very shit locks. Usefull for insurance claims only.

If they have a battery grinder and plenty of time then Pragmasis and Almax also of limited use.
But if they want the components enough then they’ll just cut the frame.

Bucket’o’crete.
Tyre’o’crete
Etc

Annual cover has cost me £29

Bloody Nora that’s cheap. For what bike?

@monkeyboyjc Have all of them except the dog! Just need a better lock than the current one.

Agree, if they want it they will take it. The more deterrents though, the ‘higher quality’ of thief required. I think the deterrents stop the idiots, druggies, etc. and therefore the likelihood of it being stolen.

@thegeneralist I did a few searches on here and came up with nothing. I’ll check out the Almax and Pragmasis, thanks.

@thegeneralist Yeah, I’m pretty happy with that. It’s the 2021 Stumpjumper comp.

@weeksy what length do you have and do you have a ground anchor too? Thanks.

2.0m and no ground anchor, it’s hanging.

Get your insurance and work around that, my insurance through bikmo states it has to be secured to an immovable object, i.e. ground anchors in my case, old insurance had a limit for anything stored in an outbuilding, including garages, so moved to bikmo due to that.

I have a fair few locks and chains, ranging from good old D locks to a 22mm chain from oxford, also have the fahgetaboutit chain, pic below gives you the size difference between that one and the 22mm ;o)

Jesus that 22mm chain is a beast!

Wonder how long that would take to grind through…..

There’s a guy on YouTube. He cut through a 22mm chain link in just over 2 mins. This was both sides of the link so 2 cuts. He used a cordless grinder and said it was the most powerful one on the market so only just had enough battery power to get through it.

stumpymark
Full Member
There’s a guy on YouTube. He cut through a 22mm chain link in just over 2 mins. This was both sides of the link so 2 cuts. He used a cordless grinder and said it was the most powerful one on the market so only just had enough battery power to get through it.

And after they get through it there’s the other locks, ground anchors and security measures to contend with ;o)

Reality is if someone does break in, they’ll more than likely knacker the bike any way, best thing is to match your insurance needs to what you implement, don’t skimp on insurance, and don’t read all the clauses, last thing you want is to have to use it, then find out there was an outbuildings clause, or an immovable object, class of lock, away from home or whatever clause that ends up with you getting a pittance, or nothing.

Just ask as many questions as possible, you want as full coverage as you can get, it’s all good and well having full on coverage at home, but if you have bike holidays, family visits, etc then having no away from home, or as many of them do, only 24 hour cover or the likes you may want to go to a more specialist company like bikmo and the others who specialise in activity based insurance coverage.

I’m going through this at the moment. My bikes are on home insurance. Itemised and covered away from home too.

This Friday will be four weeks since notifying them of theft and they’re yet to pay out.

The claim’s approved so I should hopefully receive funds this week. But for ease of claim, zero excess and speed of resolution I’ll be going with Laka from now on.

Not all home insurance companies are the same but I know for certain that I won’t again be relying on a home insurance policy to insure my bikes.

Purely my experience and I know others have had some success with their home insurance providers so YMMV. Just wanted to add my two cents for consideration.

I went with klarna, thought I’d try it for a while, see how it worked out. Seems easy re limited caveats and requirements and covers accidental damage, away from home etc. Need a gold sold secure lock only if away from home. £3k bike plus some bits and bobs working out about £17/ month. Locked in wooden garage (big old fashioned solid one on brick dwarf walls etc) with 3 massive locks and chain on doors, hard wired alarm, pir lighting etc with ground anchor and a 15mm super short shackle chain. Shame we don’t still have a dog!

Shame we don’t still have a dog

I’ve got a boxer and one damn jittery, noisy collie/whippet cross.

The b’tards were quiet enough that the dogs didn’t even notice. They’d carefully placed the outhouse contents up against the garden fence, so had obviously taken account of the ‘Beware of the dogs’ sign on the gate.