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The recent incident in the UK that saw a bike rider ordered to pay £100,000 in damages to a distracted pedestrian had a lot of people talking about insurance.

We published an article that posed the question, do I need insurance while riding a bike? – to which we fielded a lot responses.

We’ve found there are two short answers to the question, which most riders are quite comfortable with:

Yes, it can be a good idea to have bike insurance if you have spent a considerable amount of money on your bike and want it to be covered for theft or accidental damage. For many riders, this may covered under an existing home and contents insurance.

Yes, it can be a good idea to have personal insurance cover in the case of a crash. Again, many people are comfortable covering this with their private health insurance or are prepared to use the public system. However, specific bike riding insurance can cover other things like non-medicare costs and loss of income.

However, most of the questions we received have been about third party insurance. Regular riders, particularly those who ride in larger groups, need to know if they are covered for damages caused to other people or their property should they be involved in a crash.

The ‘Loco Lore’

An interesting response we encountered was from Louis Pelizzari of the Loco Cycling Group in Victoria, who told us about the ‘Loco Lore."

“One of our policies is that Loco riders must be insured by Bicycle Network or Cycling Australia to cover liability due to an accident."

“A rider must demonstrate that they have insurance cover to be allowed to participate in the rolling turns in our regular weekday rides. A rider who is not adequately covered must remain behind the gatekeeper."

“A new member is forbidden from purchasing Loco kit and participating in the rolling turns until insurance details are confirmed.”

These rules are designed to maintain safety as the highest priority and to protect their members from financial hardship should they have an accident on their bike.

Bicycle Network membership

Bicycle Network membership includes insurance for up to $5 million in cover for injury to someone else or damages to their property – as well as reasonable legal costs and other expenses incurred in the investigation, defence and/or settlement of an occurrence or claim.

While this insurance is something that we hope our members don't have to use, it does provide peace of mind for those who ride regularly and in large groups.

Click the button below learn more about the many benefits of Bicycle Network Membership you receive for just $10.99 per month.

Recent third party claims

We’ve spoken to a number of members with third party insurance needs lately, including:

Stephen, who was riding in peak hour traffic when the car in front slammed on the brakes, leaving no time to stop, and resulting in $3,000 in damages to the back of the car.

Matt, who had a similar incident with a suddenly turning vehicle that inflicted almost $5,000 damage to the car.

And Elliot, who fell off his bike and into a parked car, leaving him with a $1,700 bill.

Thankfully, Stephen, Matt and Elliot were all covered for third party damages through their Bicycle Network membership, and we were able to pay out their claims in full.