You don't have to have insurance for your bike. As it's not the law, the majority of people either don't consider it or just assume their house insurance will cover it.
If you fall into either category, or (like me), you have natural tendency to assume the best till the worst happens, it's really worth taking five minutes just to consider what might go wrong...
Bike theft. Unremitting and a fairly constant of life for many who live in a built up area. Having said that it's not a great idea to leave your bike insecure anywhere.
The more the cost of your bike, the more the insurance, but you can of course do a lot of things to reduce the chance of it getting nicked in the first place. Choose a good bicycle lock (look to spend about 10% of the value of your bike) and lock it in a sensible place. That doesn't include bollards, or drain pipes that are pretty easy to break. Recently one of our staff got their pride and joy stolen by a thief cutting down a sizeable tree to get at it. So a little forethought will go a long way.
It's not just a good idea to think carefully about how/where you lock your bike, it's also more than likely a requisite for the insurance. You'll probably be given a list of locks you must use, and be told to take certain precautions when locking your bike.
Personal injury and damage to bike. Over 2000 people are killed or seriously injured on Britains roads every year. This isn't about to descend into an essay on the likelihood of injury on a bike (slim!), but it is of course a possibility. Forgetting riding off road or in heavy traffic for a moment, it's quite possible to cause yourself some mischief on a secluded bike path. Trust the voice of experience!
Even if you're unhurt after an incident, your bike may not be. Again, what value do you place on your bike? For the vast majority of riders it is a false economy to not take precautionary measures.
Break down. It's important to learn the basics of bike maintenance. You shouldn't really need to ask for help when fixing a flat for instance, but when something more major (my derailleur/crank/wheel/brakes etcetc fell off) goes awry, your average Joe Commuter is walking the rest of the way to work.
Your basic home insurance is highly unlikely to cover these aspects – and thus more likely to let you down. We'd recommend becoming familiar with the contents part, particularly with reference to items stolen outside the boundaries of your home.
It will probably be more cost effective in the short term than specialist cycle insurance, which will almost certainly cost more, but long term it could of course save you a lot more money.
We're not going to recommend an insurer to use, but would recommend around £60 a year for full coverage as being around a fair price. And for complete peace of mind we think that's a bargain.
Post script: Some (good) bicycle lock companies will offer some sort of anti-theft protection. Great as these are, they don't replace insurance! Read the small print carefully (for instance most will require you to send in the broken lock and to have registered within a short space of time in the first place).
