Most mountain bikers just cover their bikes under their home insurance policy. That’s a bit like wearing half a bike helmet. It might be fine, but it probaby won’t be. To prevent your pride and joy from becoming nothing more than a distant memory, taking out a policy with one of the best mountain bike insurance providers is a seriously worthwhile investment. This is especially true if you travel with your best mountain bike and race throughout the season.
Dedicated bike insurers — and a handful of honorable generalists — not only cover your bikes to rather more realistic levels of value, they also include more real-world coverage, like cover away from your home, on your roof rack, or when mountain bike racing, and often include nice touches like emergency pickup if you get stranded miles from home with a bike failure.
This article looks at some of the best mountain bike insurance you can get, to cover both your bike(s) and yourself. For each insurer, we separate out the package that’d be best for general mountain biking, and what you’d need to add on for travel or racing.
The devil really is in the details when it comes to insurance. Most of the companies we’ve listed here are highly rated for customer service and staffed by bike experts, but even the loveliest claims handler won’t be able to pay out if you haven’t met the terms of your policy. We list out things to check for below, including the grade of best MTB bike locks you need, where you can store your bike overnight, and whether it needs to be locked when you store it inside.
Policies and underwriters do change — as former cyclists' favorite PedalCover has done — so be sure to check for things that are important to you, before you buy. All the ones we’ve listed are specialists, though we’re currently hearing good things about Barclays and Halifax in the UK as well, so do phone around.
High prices don’t always correlate with good service, though decent comprehensive cover rarely comes cheap. Often you can expect to pay five to ten percent of the value of your main bike, or £100-300 for a mid-range MTB.
What to look for when it comes to mountain bike insurance
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- Does the insurer pay for a new replacement, or your bike’s secondhand value? All the insurers we’ve listed below pay new value, though some have a cap on bike age.
- Is compensation in cash or via ‘preferred retailers’?
- Keep your receipts for everything, including your bike locks, upgrades, etc., and keep your replacement valuations up to date
- Where can you store your bike overnight? Is your shed excluded? Do you need to lock it within your garage?
- What kind of lock do you need? Most insurers specify bronze, silver or gold certified locks depending on the value of your bike
- What’s limited? E.g. must a recovery service be within 30 miles, and limited to three times a year?
- What’s excluded? E.g. e-bikes may be specifically excluded.
- Even if terms like ‘racing cover’ seem obvious, check what the insurer actually means. For some it means you’re covered for damage, injury and liability at races; for others like Cycleguard it also extends to recovering costs if you’re injured and can’t go.
All of the following providers tend to get good ratings from cyclists.
Best mountain bike insurance: US
Insurance in the US is complicated and there are a lot of different ways you might find some form of coverage. What is hardest to find is coverage for a bike that makes sense to a cyclist. That's where Velosurance comes in. They simply understand what a bike might mean in a way that many US insurance options don't.
Best package for general mountain biking
Velosurance is all about covering your bike in the way that people use bikes. You set the value of the bike, including upgrades, as part of the policy and once it's agreed to that is what's available for payout. You'll only need to add to the standard policy if you need coverage beyond covering the bike.
Best package for traveling and racing
"Racing, even as a pro, is accepted as normal use of your bicycle and is covered" without needing to make any special changes to the policy. That coverage only applies in the US and Canada though. It does cover transportation by land and air but once you head out of those two countries, you'd need to purchase the Worldwide Physical Damage Coverage Extension.
Sundays is a cycle insurance specialist that has two package options — one for cyclists and one for their bikes — you can combine them as you wish. It focuses on fast resolution of claims, and one nice bonus is that it doesn’t increase your premium when you claim. It uses the same underwriter as Wiggle, so you’ll spot some similarities (e.g. the not-enormous injury cover) but some differences (e.g. Wiggle includes taxi recovery).
Best package for general mountain biking
Sundays’ core package covers mountain biking and e-bikes, and includes familiar and useful elements such as kit and wheelsets, and accidental damage on roof racks.
Best package for traveling and racing
You can add optional travel cover and optional racing cover to your policy, and if you’re racing, you probably want to have both ‘cyclist’ and ‘bicycle’ cover (note that racing cover excludes riding in a peloton).
Other types of insurance
USA Cycling membership doesn't cover your bike but it does help fill in health insurance coverage gaps during events. It's there as "supplemental accident medical coverage" and "will pay 70% of the Reasonable and Customary remaining expenses ABOVE the deductible, up to a limit of $25,000."
Best mountain bike insurance: UK
As the official supplier to the British Triathlon Federation, Ride London, and Cycling UK, Yellow Jersey is very much angled to what serious cyclists need. At renewal, it gives you a 25 percent discount, even if you’ve claimed before, and a single policy can be used for up to £50,000 bike value. Its liability insurance even covers you on hire bikes.
Best package for general mountain biking
Essentials covers theft, personal injury, accidental damage and public liability. It also includes family cover and some multi-bike discount, but no travel cover or event cover.
Best package for traveling and racing
Ultimate, which includes racing worldwide travel, crash damage, damage to bike boxes and theft from transition areas. It also includes a 60 percent multi-bike discount and taxis home (in the UK) if you have bike trouble
British Cycling’s insurer of choice, Bikmo prides itself on being run by cyclists.
Best package for general mountain biking
If you already have medical and personal accident cover, the basic ‘Go’ cover works well, with year-round worldwide cover, theft and accidental damage, bike box cover, 24/7 cycle hangar parking, excess-free replacement via local retailers, and 50 percent multi-bike discount. It even includes race fee cover. If you need the medical cover and personal liability, upgrade to the mid-level Plus cover.
Best package for traveling and racing
The Race package adds road, crit and circuit racing, but if you’re only racing off-road, then the Plus cover would be all you need, especially as it includes travel.
Velosure is a warmly rated cycle specialist that gives flexibility to customize your own package, and a detailed and transparent website.
Best package for general mountain biking
Velosure’s core bike package covers a lot of the things that are added extras on other policies, including racing, European cover, and replacement cycle hire. 24/7 cycle rescue, triage, physio, and initial legal advice add to the list
Best package for traveling and racing
Racing and European cover is covered on the core package; worldwide cover is an optional extra. (Racing, travel, and other features are optional extras on e-bike cover)
Pedalsure is super-flexible on the amount of cover you can choose, so it's worth a look if you are after higher than normal coverage, for instance. You get a free Hiplok D-lock with higher-value policies and a maximum individual bike cover of £15,000.
Best package for general mountain biking
Your insurance package is tailored as you submit it, so as you fill in your online form it asks how much cover you want for accessories (£250-£1,000), whether you’ll be racing, and so on.
You can also choose from three optional levels of personal injury cover (up to £1,000 physio cover, £1,250 dental cover and £50,000 personal accident cover and three levels of loss of earnings cover (£750 a week costs about £85 a year).
Best package for traveling and racing
If you’re racing you’d click ‘hell yeah’ on the racing question (really), and if you need cover abroad, you’d pick 'racing overseas' as an optional extra
Cycleguard is a long-established and straightforward bike insurance specialist.
Best package for general mountain biking
Cycleguard’s core package is a solid one, with accessories covered up to £3,500 and injury cover extending to £25,000. Note that legal cover and personal injury cover are optional extras, and this is clear when you fill in the form for a quote. Be sure to check which elements are optional extras when you speak to them, though.
Best package for traveling and racing
The basic package includes 30 days’ cover in the EU; you can add global cover as an extra. For racing, add the Race and Compete cover option, which lets you recoup race fees, travel, and accommodation if you are injured and can’t make the start line, and things lost in the transition area.
Wiggle, the hassle-free sports retail behemoth, now provides bike insurance. As well as bike cover, its policies include unlimited accessories and kit insurance – just list what you have. It will also cover bikes stored in your car, as well as those secured to the roof rack.
Best package for general mountain biking
Essential includes (limited) emergency medical treatment cover, theft, and accident damage.
Best package for traveling and racing
Elite adds global travel cover, races and sportives, and bonuses such as taxi fare reimbursement and replacement cycle hire.
Other types of insurance
Cycling UK membership for £48 a year gives you third-party liability insurance and expert cycling legal assistance, and discounts on bike insurance with Yellow Jersey and Pedal Cover.
British Cycling offers similar liability insurance, legal support, and insurance discounts, plus the option of liability insurance and legal support for racers.
Sportscover Direct is worth considering as an addition if your current bike insurance meets most of your needs but excludes something specific, like overseas competitions, or jumps. Fun fact: it can also cover you for ‘medieval combat with steel weapons’ if you need them to. Bicycle jousting, anyone?
