Student friendly cycle insurance

Can anyone suggest a decent cycle insurance firm that's student friendly?
I'm going to Sheffield Hallam, and taking the university provided home and
contents insurance is mandatory. Their bike cover costs £50 and covers £250
worth of bike, which is a bit poor.

The bikes are an old Raleigh Banana (£10 worth of bike, with various bits
and pieces hanging off it making it £60 + freebies to replace), and an
Inbred mountain bike, which would be about a grand to replace from new. The
racer's going to be my way to get from A to B, and the Inbred's going to be
locked up (most likely in my room) with a couple of hefty chains whenever
I'm not riding it.

TIA for any ideas.

Doki wrote:
Can anyone suggest a decent cycle insurance firm that's student friendly?
I'm going to Sheffield Hallam, and taking the university provided home and
contents insurance is mandatory. Their bike cover costs £50 and covers £250
worth of bike, which is a bit poor.

I presume that is because you are going into halls. You surely do not
have to take the bike cover. Forcing you to take a specific policy is
perhaps not on the correct side of legal, unless it is part of the deal
to stay in a university hall. Requiring appropriate H&C insurance for
thos in university accommodation is reasonable but requiring from a
specific broker? Methinks someone is being shafted.


The bikes are an old Raleigh Banana (£10 worth of bike, with various bits
and pieces hanging off it making it £60 + freebies to replace), and an
Inbred mountain bike, which would be about a grand to replace from new. The
racer's going to be my way to get from A to B, and the Inbred's going to be
locked up (most likely in my room) with a couple of hefty chains whenever
I'm not riding it.

TIA for any ideas.

Good idea for the inbred. You may need to bag it as it is not usual to
allow bikes to be stored in rooms.[1] Just keep it well locked up out
of sight. For the other one, good locks are always a key thing to get.
It may be convenient to get several and leave them in the usual places
so you are not constantly lugging a big lock around with you (ie one in
teh hall bike shed, one on the main campus etc.

The additional security would be to convert the racer to a fixie. It'll
only get stolen for as far as the first corner then.

...d

Good idea for the inbred. You may need to bag it as it is not usual to
allow bikes to be stored in rooms.[1] Just keep it well locked up out
of sight. For the other one, good locks are always a key thing to get.
It may be convenient to get several and leave them in the usual places
so you are not constantly lugging a big lock around with you (ie one in
teh hall bike shed, one on the main campus etc.

There is a counter argument to doing the above. Having 'fixed' locking
points dotted around ensures that the bike makes fairly predictable
appearances and renders the bike vulnerable to a targetted attack.

Having said that, the Banana is unlikely to be targetted unless the thief
has a fruit fetish :-)

The additional security would be to convert the racer to a fixie. It'll
only get stolen for as far as the first corner then.

Have you looked at Endsleigh? It used to be a specialist insurance company
dealing with students' specific needs. It's a long time since I used them
so can not comment on their appropriateness.

Vernon

"vernon" wrote in message
...


Good idea for the inbred. You may need to bag it as it is not usual to
allow bikes to be stored in rooms.[1] Just keep it well locked up out
of sight. For the other one, good locks are always a key thing to get.
It may be convenient to get several and leave them in the usual places
so you are not constantly lugging a big lock around with you (ie one in
teh hall bike shed, one on the main campus etc.

There is a counter argument to doing the above. Having 'fixed' locking
points dotted around ensures that the bike makes fairly predictable
appearances and renders the bike vulnerable to a targetted attack.

Having said that, the Banana is unlikely to be targetted unless the thief
has a fruit fetish :-)

The additional security would be to convert the racer to a fixie. It'll
only get stolen for as far as the first corner then.

Have you looked at Endsleigh? It used to be a specialist insurance
company
dealing with students' specific needs. It's a long time since I used them
so can not comment on their appropriateness.

£120 just to cover the Inbred. Which is a bit dear - had quotes of £80 for
both. According to people who've claimed, the major problem with bike
insurance is being told that you have to buy your bike through Halfords or
some other company if you claim. It'd be very handy if anyone who's
sucessfully (or not) claimed could chip in.

"David Martin" wrote in message
oups.com...

Doki wrote:
Can anyone suggest a decent cycle insurance firm that's student friendly?
I'm going to Sheffield Hallam, and taking the university provided home and
contents insurance is mandatory. Their bike cover costs £50 and covers
£250
worth of bike, which is a bit poor.

I presume that is because you are going into halls. You surely do not
have to take the bike cover. Forcing you to take a specific policy is
perhaps not on the correct side of legal, unless it is part of the deal
to stay in a university hall. Requiring appropriate H&C insurance for
thos in university accommodation is reasonable but requiring from a
specific broker? Methinks someone is being shafted.

The bike insurance is optional. The home and contents is pretty cheap -
around £20 IIRC. The problem is that it precludes taking out home and
contents insurance that covers the bike as well.

The additional security would be to convert the racer to a fixie. It'll
only get stolen for as far as the first corner then.

Never mind that, I'll get as far as the first slope. You're not too familiar
with Sheffield are you ?

"Doki" wrote in message
...
Can anyone suggest a decent cycle insurance firm that's student friendly?
I'm going to Sheffield Hallam, and taking the university provided home and
contents insurance is mandatory. Their bike cover costs £50 and covers
£250 worth of bike, which is a bit poor.

The bikes are an old Raleigh Banana (£10 worth of bike, with various bits
and pieces hanging off it making it £60 + freebies to replace), and an
Inbred mountain bike, which would be about a grand to replace from new.
The racer's going to be my way to get from A to B, and the Inbred's going
to be locked up (most likely in my room) with a couple of hefty chains
whenever I'm not riding it.

TIA for any ideas.


Get a folder??? Keep in room when not in use - takes up less space than
MTB??

Can be carried with you.

Cheers, helen s

Doki wrote:
The bike insurance is optional. The home and contents is pretty cheap -
around £20 IIRC. The problem is that it precludes taking out home and
contents insurance that covers the bike as well.

No it doesn't, as long as you only claim on the one..

The additional security would be to convert the racer to a fixie. It'll
only get stolen for as far as the first corner then.

Never mind that, I'll get as far as the first slope. You're not too familiar
with Sheffield are you ?

I've been there a few times. Not exactly pancake land [1] here in the
steppes of Scotland either.

...d

[1] That does of course depend on how you cook your pancakes..

"wafflycat" waffles*$*A**T*v21net$*££*D*O*T*co*D£$£*O*T*uk wrote in
message ...

"Doki" wrote in message
...
Can anyone suggest a decent cycle insurance firm that's student friendly?
I'm going to Sheffield Hallam, and taking the university provided home
and contents insurance is mandatory. Their bike cover costs £50 and
covers £250 worth of bike, which is a bit poor.

The bikes are an old Raleigh Banana (£10 worth of bike, with various bits
and pieces hanging off it making it £60 + freebies to replace), and an
Inbred mountain bike, which would be about a grand to replace from new.
The racer's going to be my way to get from A to B, and the Inbred's going
to be locked up (most likely in my room) with a couple of hefty chains
whenever I'm not riding it.

TIA for any ideas.


Get a folder??? Keep in room when not in use - takes up less space than
MTB??

Can't go mountain biking on a folder...

vernon wrote:

There is a counter argument to doing the above. Having 'fixed' locking
points dotted around ensures that the bike makes fairly predictable
appearances and renders the bike vulnerable to a targetted attack.

Given that it is fairly predictable that there will be bikes in the
hall bike shed, and bikes parked outside lecure theatres etc., it
doesn't really make a lot of odds leaving the locks around (unless
someone does something nasty to them like glue them up or cut them off.


...d

"Doki" wrote in message
...



Can't go mountain biking on a folder...
Well you can, but as to how successful you'd be, that's another matter

Cheers, helen s