Roadside Recovery

[essex tourer]

I find the only available Roadside Recovery to be both expensive and too limited. For example, the one promoted as a membership benefit is limited to 50km and costs over £80 per year along with other travel cover. It seems odd that it is more costly and more limited than Roadside Recovery cover for a car, where recovery of a bicycle and rider would be much simpler than that of a car and its passengers.

[drossall]

They probably find that people use it more often...

[Paulatic]

I’ve never thought about roadside recovery as I use 'call the wife'.
Looking into it though ETA appear to offer excellent value for £18. How do they do that? Surely one call from a hill top somewhere and you’ve got your money back.

[essex tourer]

Thank-you. ETA does look good. I had not seen that before.

[mercalia]

can a bike break down that much? not to me so far touch wood

[LollyKat]

I've only had to rescue my husband once, when the threads on his bottom bracket shell stripped and the square taper BB unit was rotating in the frame.

Now that we no longer have a car it will be a bit more difficult if it happens again.

[foxyrider]

can a bike break down that much? not to me so far touch wood

You wouldn't think so but I've had to call Dad's taxi for recovery for insurmountable mechanicals 3 times since September! On one further occasion I would've done but instead nursed the bike home 20 miles across the Peak District (one gear and no freewheel!) Thankfully all these incidents were fairly local and I hadn't had any ride stopping incident for a very long time before that.

I've long considered some sort of roadside rescue a good idea for bikes, what if something did go wrong out of Dad's taxi range? It could be hitting a pothole and breaking a rim or similar, what then? There isn't always a bike shop, if there is there's no guarantee it'll be open and you've still got to get to it.

I'll have to look at that ETA set up, £18 is a bargain if the cover is useful.

[ossie]

can a bike break down that much? not to me so far touch wood

You wouldn't think so but I've had to call Dad's taxi for recovery for insurmountable mechanicals 3 times since September!.

What do you do when touring abroad ?

[Warin61]

What do you do when touring abroad ?

Abroad is a rather large place with lots of variability.

Ranging from places
similar to London - very dense with people .. and public transport
to the wilds of Scotland - few people and no public transport

Not to mention the weather.

Most of the time there is no 'cover' avalible.. and if there is, it probably won't be worth find it and paying for it.

Fortunately the wilder the place the better the people are at fixing things .. it may not look nice but it will get you moving, and what is more it will not be expensive and it will be a faster fix than in any city. And the wilder the place the more people are inclined to help.

In any large city .. you can expect to be ignored by most, pay lots of money and join a queue for 'service'.

[foxyrider]

can a bike break down that much? not to me so far touch wood

You wouldn't think so but I've had to call Dad's taxi for recovery for insurmountable mechanicals 3 times since September!.

What do you do when touring abroad ?

Touch wood never happened, guess i'll find out if it ever does.

[ossie]

I've had two breakdowns abroad (Europe) that seemed like insurmountable mechanicals but weren't really. Things get compounded when you're tired, no idea where you really are, language problems and you can't pick up the phone and call home to collect I guess. One was in the Pyrenees and one was in the absolute middle of rural France. One required a bike shop, one required hours of patience with the slightly unnerving, unsettling pit in the stomach feeling that I'm 700 miles from home. Fair play to those on here who go beyond the realms of 'proper' civilisation.

The comforting thing when your'e on the side of the road with panniers / tent strewn everywhere (even just changing a normal flat) is that people will generally stop and ask if you're okay.

[LollyKat]

My daughter once phoned us from the middle of a French forest say that her gears had jammed...my husband talked her through a bodge that got her to a bike shop.

[Rule5]

I’ve never thought about roadside recovery as I use 'call the wife'.
Looking into it though ETA appear to offer excellent value for £18. How do they do that? Surely one call from a hill top somewhere and you’ve got your money back.

Can I call your wife too?

[Paulatic]

I’ve never thought about roadside recovery as I use 'call the wife'.
Looking into it though ETA appear to offer excellent value for £18. How do they do that? Surely one call from a hill top somewhere and you’ve got your money back.

Can I call your wife too?

Don’t know what reply you’d get.
It costs me a little more than £18/yr for that service

[horizon]

Thank-you. ETA does look good. I had not seen that before.

AFAIK ETA (albeit the best) don't do anything. Basically you get (again AFAIK) a taxi that will take you to the nearest station. I don't know what happens if that is closed.

The obvious roadside recovery is the telephone number of the local taxi firm. You could Google that or just take a card from your BandB. Most taxis will take a bike.

AFAIK there is no bicycle equivalent of the AA who might attempt to fix your bike.

ETA:

The ETA were the first to offer a recovery service for cyclists, included at no extra charge when you take out bicycle insurance. If you are unable to complete a journey due to a crash or mechanical failure, we will pay for the transportation of you and your bike from any road in Britain, with an average response time of 39 minutes. We will take you and your cycle to a railway station, cycle repair shop, back to your car, home, or to alternative accommodation – whichever is nearer. Should you require cover in the rest of Europe, you will need our Cycle Rescue stand-alone policy.