whether to lend a bike or not?

[alexnharvey]

I lent my colleague a bike today after his was stolen.

It's a bike that I have been cycling to work and around town on for several years now. Including carrying my children on it. It is a hybrid converted to drop bars. I last rode it a week ago as it is my wet weather hack bike. I built the rear wheel myself, replaced every other component on it bar the headset which I have serviced, the stem and the seatpost.

He has fallen off on the first ride and injured himself, cuts and a chipped tooth. Riding one handed to adjust his glasses. He describes the steering as pulling sharply to the right before he over corrected and goes off. He says that if you ride it no handed it steers violently to one side.
No hands is not something I'm in the habit of doing very often (not a skill I have fully mastered tbh) but I certainly ride that bike one handed a fair bit to indicate turns and complete various other small tasks.

Have you had experiences of lending a bike going wrong, or any other thoughts on this tale of hurt and woe.

[Jdsk]

You were being generous. Well done.

Has he offered to pay for the repair?

Jonathan

[alexnharvey]

He says the bike is ok. It's well used and if I have to tape the bars or something I will chalk it up to experience. I have a new headset that I could fit to it but I fully expect to find the steering is much like it was before.

[Paulatic]

I have loaned bikes for individual rides without a problem.
When you get your bike back I’d go over it with a fine tooth comb for wheel/ frame alignment. Out of alignment maybe the reason you can’t ride no hands.
I doubt it would be a headset fault you’d be able to feel that.

[tatanab]

If I lend a pedal cycle or let somebody have a go I always say my terms are " You bend it, you mend it. If you get bent it is your look out".

[peetee]

I suspect that when you get the bike back you might find that the steering issue may well exist and It’s a result of his incident not the cause.

[alexnharvey]

Indeed, the thought had occurred to me too. I hope not. We shall see.

[531colin]

That's a bit of a cautionary tale, isn't it?
It has decided me, that next time I lend a bike to somebody, I will make them ride it with me and agree that its all OK and working properly.
I am in the habit of riding bikes no hands...mine and other peoples'... because its the acid test of whether the steering is right or not.
I would expect to notice if the steering was way off even riding with my hands on the bars, although its possible to "get used to" all sorts of things on a bike which you ride often; who hasn't suddenly noticed that the bars are no longer pointing straight ahead!
I wonder if in reality he was attending to his glasses and not road conditions, and hit a pothole which threw him off?
I wouldn't expect just falling off to bend a bike so the steering was off, but my check-over is here....https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=59332&hilit=string

[slowster]

I've no experience of anything similar. If I borrowed a bike from someone and it was damaged as a result of a fall, I would be very apologetic and offer to get it fixed or pay for the damage.

If there had genuinely been a fault with the steering or if there was a pronounced difference in handling compared to what I was used to, I would expect it to be apparent very quickly once I started to ride the bike. I would certainly not ride no handed on any bike until I had enough experience of it to be confident of its handling and to know what its steering characteristics were.

One possibility that occurs to me is that maybe his bike had a relatively much larger trail compared with yours: I think the former requires much more lean to steer no handed, whereas low trail steering requires relatively little lean to initiate a turn no handed.

Frankly he was an idiot to ride no handed on a bike which he was riding for the first time. Maybe the fact that he blamed the bike reflects the sort of (insecure) personality that considers acknowledging that they made a mistake and apologising to be a sign of weakness.

From your posts on this forum (and your action in lending the bike) you seem like a nice person. The fact that you did not robustly rebut his suggestion of faulty steeering and have asked for the opinion of others on this forum, makes me wonder if he is taking advantage of you, firstly in borrowing the bike and now in implicitly blaming you for lending him a bike that was 'unsafe'. I hope that is not the case.

[whoof]

My Brother lent his bike to a friend who then rode it into a wall which wrote off the frame. The friend said it wasn't his fault as the brakes weren't right (the levers weren't in the same place as his previous bike) and said he wouldn't pay for a replacement.
I've lent some things to friends and work colleagues and it's been fine occasionally it's been weeks or months of them saying they will return them and I've had to go to their house to get them.

If you have any worries about the person having your bike say you will take a look at the steering and then whenever they ask about it say you are busy and haven't got around to it yet.

[alexnharvey]

I had hoped for some riding up the street but I didn't stipulate it. Arrived too late to allow that though, late for work already, and a small problem with the bike delayed a little further.

Could've been worse.

Slowster, i think he wasn't riding no hands for the accident but rather one handed. I would also guess that he was caught out by some difference in handling, likely worsened by haste. The road is very rough too.

Many times I have looked for a fault on the bike to explain an accident that couldn't possibly be my own fault

[Cyril Haearn]

Best to be wary of lending a cycle, or anything else
Whatabout insurance, if it is faulty for example?
Forbye many of this parish have too many cycles, there is something to be said for lending and sharing

[philvantwo]

Neither a lender nor borrower be!

[Cyril Haearn]

Seriously, what if it were stolen, is the insurance valid if someone else is in charge of the machine? The borrower might be an easy-going person, might leave it unlocked outside a shop for a moment, then Anything Could Happen

Perhaps one could lend a cycle against a deposit of a few hundred, in cash

[mercalia]

so you lent a bike to some one who had his own one stolen? more fool you. sorry. if he cant look after his own bike what suppose he will for some one elses?