Your homeowner's/renter's and auto insurance will cover many of your scenarios. I would understand what coverage you actually need before spending the money. When I've done that, it's never been worth it. I consider insurance to be protection from financial hardship, the loss of a bike probably shouldn't be that.

Home owners and velo insurance (and home owners like lemonade with special bike riders) all have exemptions for negligence.. Not having it locked up counts as negligence.

That said, lemonades policy is really solid... Bike insurance tends to cover racing as a pro, as well as medical expenses and extra liability coverage

I live in Canada, and my bike is covered for damage and theft by my house and auto insurance.
When it's inside my house or on the trainer, it's covered by home insurance. While it's in my car, attached to my car or 5th wheel, it is covered through auto insurance.
Only scenario I don't have coverage for is if I crash it during a training ride or race.
That coverage for my bike (2023 Orbea Ordu ~ 12k CDN) is about 200-300 CDN per year.
What I usually do is get the coverage in the spring around April, and then cancel it in October when I go inside on the trainer. 150$ covers my outside riding. This of course does not cover professional racing. I explained that I am far from that, and this is all for recreational fun and we were all good.

Hope this helps.

Quinner

SelfInsure.com

Step #1.
Don't buy a bike you can't afford to replace

... problem solved...

Tangential benefit:
This might help us solve the problem of ridiculously priced bikes if people would stop buying bikes that are ridiculously priced

I got bike insurance for the first time in spring 2023. Hit by a car in a race in July 2023 and though they may eventually pay for it, in order to get a new bike in any realistic timeline, I tapped into my policy that Farmers Insurance got me through a secondary provider.

Damage/theft to my bike in my house was covered by homeowners, and same with car insurance if stolen while locked on rack or in my car. But, to cover damage in racing or training, I paid $600 for $12,000 in coverage. I notified the company, sent pictures and police report, and within 3 weeks I had $11,500 (12K-$500 deductible). I also got a quote from velosurance which was basically identical.

If you live in a cold place and only plan to be riding outside 6 months a year, get coverage for 6 months and save some $$.

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Blog: https://davidkoppeltriathlon.blogspot.com/
Coaching: https://dkendurance.com/

Bingo!

Self-insurance is the answer.

Be cautious if you add it to you home owners insurance or auto insurance. It will vastly depend on where you live but for states where home and auto insurance are expensive and/or volatile, I would avoid adding it. The last thing you want is for your homeowners insurance to sky rocket due a silly claim for your bike.

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That is definitely a good point. Any experience with any standalone insurance companies? I looked into Velo Insurance, which is super expensive.

I was moving and had nightmares beforehand that my bikes would fall off my rack or the rack would fail somewhere in the middle of nowhere. I purchased insurance through Sundays Insurance. Have not had to submit a claim but their customer service seems really great so far... fingers crossed its just money out of pocket and I don't have to file a claim. I'm keeping them post-move for sanity's sake driving around with the bike(s).

BTW I went with them because I called my insurance for home/auto and neither covered my bikes if they were on the rack and the rack failed etc. So, may be worth a call to your carrier to confirm.

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KJ
Swim and Triathlon Coach
AllTerrainEndurance.com
KJ@allterrainendurance.com

Thanks for the tip. I will definitely contact them. My car insurance (Progressive) doesn't cover bikes either.

I had velosurance 10 years ago for 6 or 12 months. It was inexpensive at the time but then it just kept going up. Not sure what they are charging these days.

I look at it this way, if insurance is $100 a month, that’s $1200/year could be saving going towards my next bike. In 4 years, that’s $4800. That’s a pretty decent bike. If you are accident prone I can maybe start understand the thought process. But even then, you are essentially betting against yourself that something happens to your bike so you come out financially on top.

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