Bike insurance for UK cyclists

What bike insurance actually covers

Home insurance treats your bike as one item among your possessions. Specialist bike insurance treats it as the thing you ride, in the places you ride it. Three things separate the two.

Cover away from home. A Pedalsure policy covers theft and accidental damage whether the bike is at home or out and about, subject to our security requirements. Most home contents policies cover a bike away from the property only as an optional extension, if at all.

A limit that fits the bike. We insure individual bikes from £400 up to £15,000. AXA's home insurance, by comparison, publishes a limit of £350 per bicycle and £1,500 per claim where several bikes are stolen together. (Source: axa.co.uk, verified 19 August 2026.) For anything beyond a supermarket bike, that gap is the whole argument.

Claiming doesn't cost you your home cover. A bike claim on a home policy affects your home no-claims position and your renewal premium for everything under your roof. A bike claim on a bike policy affects only your bike cover. And with Pedalsure, your price will not change during the policy year, whether or not you claim.

What's included

Read the detail: everything we cover, with every limit and every exclusion →

What's optional, and what that means for your price

Personal accident, the bike itself and personal liability are separate, selectable cover sections. Overseas cover and competition cover are paid extensions. That is how a £2.47 starting price is possible — you are not paying for cover you will never use.

It also means you need to check your schedule. Two conditions catch people out and we would rather you knew now than at claim time:

• Racing and sportives need an additional premium. Any accident while the bike is being used in competition is excluded unless the required additional premium has been paid and the cover is shown on your Policy Schedule. If you enter events, tick the box.
• Overseas cover needs an additional premium too. As standard your bike is covered anywhere in the United Kingdom, Channel Islands or Isle of Man. Worldwide cover for up to 30 or 60 days a year is available for an extra premium and must be shown on your schedule.

How much does bike insurance cost in the UK?

Most insurers won't put a number on a page. Here are ours.

Personal accident cover on its own — no bike, just you — costs £4.83 a month for Bronze, £9.66 for Silver and £14.50 for Gold.

What actually drives your premium

• The value of the bike. The single biggest factor. Insure it for what it would cost to replace with the current equivalent — not what you paid in a sale.
• Where you live. Theft rates vary enormously by postcode. Police-recorded bike theft in Oxford ran at 454 per 100,000 residents in 2025; in most of the country it is a fraction of that.
• How many bikes. Up to five bikes on one policy, to a combined £30,000.
• What cover you select. Personal accident tier, overseas days, competition cover and accessories all move the price.
• Your claims history. To be eligible you must not have made more than two bicycle-related claims in the past year, or a single bicycle-related claim of more than £500.

Two things that don't change your price: claiming during the policy year (your price does not change during the policy year), and finding it cheaper elsewhere afterwards — our Price Match Promise means that if you find a cheaper quote for the same cover within 7 days of buying, we'll match it.

Read more: how much does it cost to insure your bicycle? →

See how our cover compares to Bikmo, Laka, Yellow Jersey, Cycleplan and Sundays, with a source link and a check date for every claim →

Bike insurance vs home insurance

Rule of thumb. If your bike is worth less than your home policy's single-article limit, you never ride it anywhere you'd have to lock it, and you don't ride events, home insurance may be enough. Beyond that, the maths stops working.

Read the full comparison: does home insurance cover my bike? →

What we don't cover

Publishing this is unusual. We think you should be able to read it before you buy rather than after you claim.

• Theft where the security requirements weren't met — an under-rated lock, or the bike not locked through the frame to an immovable object
• Theft where you can't produce the lock key and a receipt for the lock (showing make and model), or the remains of the lock
• Theft where the bike was left away from home for more than 12 hours — or more than 24 hours at your place of work or in a cycle rack at a railway station
• Any claim without evidence of ownership — an original purchase receipt showing date, price, bike details and the seller's name and address, or equivalent proof
• Unexplained loss or disappearance
• Wear and tear, gradual deterioration, depreciation, and mechanical or electrical breakdown
• Cosmetic marks — scratches, dents and finish changes that don't affect how the bike works
• Business use, other than commuting — the policy excludes use for "hire, reward, courier services or carriage of paying passengers" and any business, trade, profession or employment other than commuting. We treat food delivery riding as falling within that exclusion.
• Bikes in transit with a courier or delivery service
• Air travel without a rigid bike box and the airline luggage receipt. A fabric bike bag is not a bike box.
• Theft of more than one bike from a vehicle, and theft or malicious damage to a bike stored in a boat or narrow boat
• E-bikes that aren't road-legal EAPCs, including twist-and-go throttles unless the throttle only works in walk mode
• Competition use without the additional premium, professional racing (time trials excepted), and stunts
• Personal liability in the USA and Canada

Every exclusion, in full → · The full policy wording →

Security requirements, in one place

Most claim disputes in this category come down to the lock. Ours are simple and we publish them.

And in every case: lock the bike through the frame to an immovable object. We recommend locking through the seat tube and the rear wheel. Wheels and tyres are only covered if they're secured to the frame or to an immovable object by an approved lock.

An immovable object means: any solid object fixed in or onto concrete or stone that can't be undone, removed with the bike, or lifted over or under it; a properly fixed vehicle roof rack or bike rack; or a bike rack supplied by a train station for securing bikes.

Time limits. Away from home, don't leave the bike for more than 12 hours — or 24 hours if it's at your place of employment or in a cycle rack inside a railway station.

Two conditions worth setting a reminder for:

• Upload photos of your bikes within 30 days of buying your policy. Failure to do so may invalidate your cover. It takes two minutes in your dashboard and it is the single most common avoidable reason a claim runs into trouble.
• Keep the lock and its receipt. For a theft claim we need the key and a receipt showing the lock's make and model, or the remains of the lock.

Need a lock that qualifies? Pedalsure customers get up to 40% off Hiplok — the Hiplok DX for £30 (Sold Secure Diamond), Hiplok Gold for £40 and Hiplok E-DX for £50, one lock per bike, up to five.

The Hiplok DX satisfies our Gold-or-above requirement at any bike value: Sold Secure Diamond sits above Gold on Sold Secure's own rating scale.

See the Hiplok offer →

Bike insurance by what you ride

How claiming works

1. Report a theft to the police as soon as possible and get a crime or lost property reference number.
2. Log in to your dashboard at pedalsure.com and open the claims section — or email claims@pedalsure.com, or call 0800 888 6745 (Mon–Fri, 9am–5pm).
3. Complete the claim form with the details, including your evidence of ownership and, for theft, the lock key and lock receipt or the lock's remains.
4. We assess your claim within 24 hours.
5. Settlement is by repair or replacement through a specialist dealer who invoices us directly, or a supplier you nominate. If we don't repair or replace, we pay in cash — less the policy excess, and subject to your sums insured.

Report a bodily injury claim within 28 days of the accident.

One thing to get right at the start: insure the bike for its current equivalent replacement cost, not what you paid. If your sum insured is lower than the bike's value, any settlement is reduced proportionately. Sale prices and end-of-season deals are not what a replacement will cost you.

Make a claim →

Am I eligible?

You can buy a Pedalsure policy if:

• You are aged 16 or over
• You are resident in the United Kingdom or the Isle of Man
• You own the bike and it has no existing damage at the time of purchase
• Each bike is worth £400 to £15,000, up to five bikes and £30,000 in total (higher values only where we have agreed cover and reflected it in an endorsement)
• In the past year you have not made more than two bicycle-related claims, or a single bicycle-related claim of more than £500
• You have not had insurance declined, cancelled by an insurer, refused, or had special terms imposed
• You have no unspent criminal convictions other than motoring offences

If you're insuring an e-bike, it must be legal for UK road use as an electrically assisted pedal cycle (EAPC) and not treated as a motor vehicle. Twist-and-go EAPCs are not eligible unless the throttle only works in walk mode.

Who we are and who insures you

Frequently asked questions