whether to lend a bike or not?

[slowster]

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.)

Apologies, I misread your original post.

Reading it again, I can imagine another reason for him finding the handling so different and potentially less stable (for him). If he is used to the saddle being further back behind the bottom bracket than the set up on your bike, that would put more weight on his hands and thus on the handlebars. Removing one hand would then be likely to result in the handlebars turning under that weight, unless he had strong enough core muscles to stop that. Having drop bars with the hands further forward of and closer to the steering axis (due to the narrower width) than they might be on a flat barred bike, would probably exacerbate that effect.

[99.9%certain]

I always go by this when lending anything to anyone.
If you bend,scratch or break it you have bought it.
A few years ago I got that very message from my brother who asked me if I'd look after his Porsche 911 GT3 for 10 days whilst he went on holiday :lol: Despite him asking me for the favour,me spending £100+ to insure it for the duration(fully comp) he said "I don't want a repaired car returned,if you bend it,scratch it or break it you have bought it" :roll: :lol: He added "if you kerb a wheel you buy a replacement wheel.
He got it back as he has left it.

[rmurphy195]

You were being generous. Well done.

Has he offered to pay for the repair?

Jonathan

+1

Many moons ago among a group of friends, if someone was stuck we lent each other some transport - bikes, motorbikes, cars later.
So when my neighbour asked to borrow my unused car (which was up for sale) 'cos he was stuck, I said "OK, as long as you look after it".
Couple of days later he pulled up outside the house for a chat, as I leant inside I could smell something burning so I asked if all was OK, 'cos it smelt like the clutch overheating, can I have it back to have a look at it? "No, its OK quoth he" and sped off up the road (I never used to drive it like that).
Later that evening - knock knock on the door, my sister-in-law answered it (they were staying with us at the time) - its my "friendly" neighbour. "Richards rubbishy car has broken down, if he wants it back its under the motorway bridge on Junction 2" - charming. And so it was - on the edge of an unlit building site. So I gets in, starts it - all OK. Puts it into gear, tries to drive off. No movement at all, there wasn't even enough grip in the clutch to slow the engine down at idle speed. On an 1100 mark 1 escort. Nice neighbour, when asked if he couldn't at least have had it towed home safely his response was "I don't see why I should incur costs for the heap of junk you lent me, I've checked with my mate in Trading standards and you haven't got a leg to stand on". Nice.

My habits re lending things changed overnight, for the worse I'm afraid.

[simonineaston]

its all very well having these firm guiding principles after the event, but life isn't like that most of the time... bloke lends it, no doubt feeling a little bit good (of course!) - why spoil the warm moment by turning it into a business transaction, risking seeming a touch po-faced by bringing up contractual responsibilites to do with a bike in less than its first flush of youth. Things go unsaid, assumptions are made, two different points of view begin to form - all 'cos bloke A had a kindly moment and bloke B was too dumb to realise that not all bikes respond the same way. Crunch!... Now that's torn it! Bloke B comes a cropper, and now either has to admit that he wasn't taking the necessary care and lose face, or else imply that the bike "didn't feel right" and that's why he fell off - no other reason!
So now it's No Win, unless his conscience gets the better of him. So kind bloke A either presses bloke B for compensation and risks falling out with a work colleague, or swallows the costs of the damage himself. Oh Dear...
When I was twenty-ish, I lent a close friend my motor-bike "for a go across the car-park". He lost control and damaged it badly, then refused to pay. That wasn't the last time I've lent things by a long chalk, but I'm much more circumspect about doing it now...

[belgiangoth]

I'd lend a bike to a colleague, but only one I would be okay with never seeing again if it came to it. I would trust a friend with a better bike - if they're a jerk about it they're not really a friend.

[irc]

I wouldn't lend anyone either of my two tourers. Only close family would be lent my Surly Pacer flat bar bike. My favourite bike for local rides.

I lent a good friend a hardtail MTB tourer conversion for a tour when he was over from Canada. When I got it back the chain and cassette were worn out from lack of lubrication. But the bottle of malt whisky he gave me covered the cost of parts.

I lent a friend a bike for a foreign friend of the family stuck in the UK during lockdown. But it was an unloved hardtail mtb. So I'm not too bothered. In this case helping a friend outweighs any risk of damage to the bike.

Riding unfamiliar bikes can cause crashes. The only off I've had in years was riding my son's bike. Forgot I was on flat pedals and tried to bunny hop a kerb ......

[francovendee]

That all sounds unfair to your kind nature in lending the bike.
If it was in the USA then I'd be worried about being sued, they seem to be more litigious over there.

A couple of friends run a small gite here and use it themselves out of season. For their own use they keep bikes there but keep them locked. They're worried if the guest had an accident riding one blame would ensue.

[alexnharvey]

An update.
The bike has suffered a little scraping to the outside of the pedal and the bar tape. It has also lost a brake cartridge insert on the front Vs. I test rode it and it is pulling noticeably to the right. It wasn't doing that when I last rode it (Friday last week). I will have to check the alignment later.

[Trigger]

Perhaps he crashed it, got back on it to continue and then noticed the steering was all to cock and decided to blame that instead of owning up.

My experience is that if you're the type to offer favours or loan things to people then they automatically have you down as a soft touch and will take the **** given the chance.

You tend to learn these things the hard way unfortunately, I certainly have over many years.

[PH]

I'm happy to lend bike to people I know will take care of it, I have a bike which gets ridden more by others than by me, though it's usually in my presence.
It can go wrong, many years ago I borrowed a friends pride and joy VW combi, it dropped a valve into the engine while cruising up the motorway, well below the speed limit. I think we both know it could have happened at any time, but there's still some resentment; from me that I had to pay the recovery costs and from her that I didn't contribute to the repair.

[alexnharvey]

You can imagine a similar outcome here unfortunately, with an unresolvable difference in opinion about what happened when.

I'll have to get to the bottom of why it is steering to the right. I can ride it with care but I will probably choose not to.

[Witterings]

I lent my 29er to someone who was struggling to keep up with us on his 26" MTB and wanted to try one before buying to see if it made a difference and I rode my gravel bike for an outing.

I took a horrible fall on a bend on a farm track / gravel path and as I lay there on the ground thought at least I've got a paramedic following me on my bike but he'd jammed the brakes on solid to avoid hitting me and gone down as well .... he was in a worse state than I was requiring a hospital visit to stitch up his hand as you could see the tendons showing through.

Both of my bikes ended up with a few scratches but nothing as bad as the drivers

[PT1029]

The number of times booking in a repair at work has begun with the words "I lent my bike to........"

[LollyKat]

My son as a teenager once borrowed my husband's hack bike to nip to the shop to get some spares for his own one. Unfortunately he forgot/hadn't noticed that dad's bike had a back pedal brake and ran into the back of a van that stopped suddenly in front of him. Our poor son walked home with the sorry remains and distinctly battered and bruised himself, absolutely mortified at what he'd done. We consoled him by pointing out that dad had never liked that bike and was only too pleased to have an excuse to get a better one!

(I once ran into my father's car parked just round the corner of the house, after a summer in Austria using a local bike. I back-pedalled furiously and nothing happened. My father wasn't very pleased but fortunately there was no damage to the car, bike or myself.)

[boblo]

I'm a bit anal about my bikes and unless I was absolutely sure the recipient was the same, I would not lend one out.

A friend living in the Alps had a nice collection of high end road bikes and generously loaned them to visitors. One of them binned it descending the L'iseran. He then failed to make good to original condition/spec. That's the trouble, people can be utter tw*ts where their money is concerned...