Damages and Liability in Racing
Damages and Liability in Racing
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Discussion

russy01

Original Poster:

4,823 posts

210 months

Thursday 21st February 2013
quotequote all
Evening Chaps,

My 17yr old brother is an avid cyclist and has started racing this year (did national hill climbs etc last year and the odd CAT4 closed circuit, but this year has decided to go for it and start building up some points.)

Saturday just gone he had a closed circuit race at ludgershall (Hes paid to do the winter series and some coaching). On the second lap of the race some knob (first time in a race) pulled straight into the side of him on the straight. Needless to say they both come off.

My brother thought he had been lucky, he is grazed to hell and back and every bit of clothing is torn/ripped, But the bike and his bones seemed fine. The other chap however was a mess, he snapped 3 of his front teeth off and cut his face to pieces (needing stitches) as he was wearing glass glasses.

Whilst annoyed about £100 of clothes and shoes being ripped and scraped to bits, my parents took my brother on home and got on with it. The commisaire had a good talking to the chap who caused the accident and hes getting some warning or something.

HOWEVER, fast forward to today and my brother popped out on his race bike for a little ride and to check it over properly (been on another bike earlier the week) and guess what - a nice crack has developed right along his carbon frame, its done for.

So as you can imagine hes absolutely fuming. I assume that racing is "at your own risk" and nobody takes liability for damages - which I'd say is acceptable for small damages like clothing etc. But when it comes to a frame its a massive stter, especially when the other chap is 100% at fault. He is stuck without a suitable bike for this weekends race and has a broken bike.

So where does he go from here? Does he have to take it on the chin?

You all probably want to know what bike it is, its a Boardman Carbon Pro. So nothing massively exotic, but like I have said above hes 17, so its all relative price wise.

This is all a bit annoying after I got hit by a car 2 weeks ago, where the driver broke my carbon frame!! But being a car I claimed off her insurance and got a new bike yesterday!

Let me know what you think.

rhinochopig

17,932 posts

227 months

Thursday 21st February 2013
quotequote all
Are you sure it's not repairable. According to my BIL - who was a sponsored rider - a lot of damaged frames can be repaired.

Worth giving these chaps a call? My BIL knows them from his racing days.

http://www.fibre-lyte.co.uk/


russy01

Original Poster:

4,823 posts

210 months

Thursday 21st February 2013
quotequote all
rhinochopig said:
Are you sure it's not repairable. According to my BIL - who was a sponsored rider - a lot of damaged frames can be repaired.

Worth giving these chaps a call? My BIL knows them from his racing days.

http://www.fibre-lyte.co.uk/
Hi,

Well we're not sure yet (he called from many miles away), it would have to be looked at.

But ultimately thats not the point. It was perfect and now its broken, whether it can be repaired or not.


rhinochopig

17,932 posts

227 months

Thursday 21st February 2013
quotequote all
russy01 said:
rhinochopig said:
Are you sure it's not repairable. According to my BIL - who was a sponsored rider - a lot of damaged frames can be repaired.

Worth giving these chaps a call? My BIL knows them from his racing days.

http://www.fibre-lyte.co.uk/
Hi,

Well we're not sure yet (he called from many miles away), it would have to be looked at.

But ultimately thats not the point. It was perfect and now its broken, whether it can be repaired or not.
I know it's not the point but I couldn't offer a definitive answer re liability.

Thought the link might help though if he can't get any compensation as they do fix cf bike frames.

McFsC

578 posts

181 months

Thursday 21st February 2013
quotequote all
That company is superb, many people in my team/club have used them/him and none complained about anything...

As for damages/money - if he races, it should be insured. Probably less than £15 per month for him which gives him just one crash in 10 years to make it worthwhile.

russy01

Original Poster:

4,823 posts

210 months

Thursday 21st February 2013
quotequote all
rhinochopig said:
russy01 said:
rhinochopig said:
Are you sure it's not repairable. According to my BIL - who was a sponsored rider - a lot of damaged frames can be repaired.

Worth giving these chaps a call? My BIL knows them from his racing days.

http://www.fibre-lyte.co.uk/
Hi,

Well we're not sure yet (he called from many miles away), it would have to be looked at.

But ultimately thats not the point. It was perfect and now its broken, whether it can be repaired or not.
I know it's not the point but I couldn't offer a definitive answer re liability.

Thought the link might help though if he can't get any compensation as they do fix cf bike frames.
Yea thats fine, sorry if I sounded snappy.

Ill defo bear them in mind when weve established just how bad the damage is.

anonymous-user

83 months

Thursday 21st February 2013
quotequote all
it aint dead till these guys say its dead!

http://www.carboncyclerepairs.co.uk/index.html

Its Kurtis Rowe isnt it? I remember his bike being in photgraphed in CW at the national hillclimb championships in 2011!! hopefully youve been in touch with the BC talent scouts?!... [/stalker]

I was gutted when i caught the chain on my bike chipping the paint off down to the carbon and hated myself for adjusting the mech so badly but now its just a scar and nothing more, if it can be repaired by a specialist as above, it will be fine to compete on.

Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 21st February 20:21

russy01

Original Poster:

4,823 posts

210 months

Thursday 21st February 2013
quotequote all
pablo said:
it aint dead till these guys say its dead!

http://www.carboncyclerepairs.co.uk/index.html

Its Kurtis Rowe isnt it? I remember his bike being in photgraphed in CW at the national hillclimb championships in 2011!! hopefully youve been in touch with the BC talent scouts?!... [/stalker]

I was gutted when i caught the chain on my bike chipping the paint off down to the carbon and hated myself for adjusting the mech so badly but now its just a scar and nothing more, if it can be repaired by a specialist as above, it will be fine to compete on.

Edited by pablo on Thursday 21st February 20:21
Yes well like I said above I haven't seen the bike yet, my parents just had a very distressed call from him about 20miles from home. Ill give him a bell ina bit and get a photo.

Yup that was him at the nationals on his trusty old ribble.

Ill drop you a pm if you don't mind.

russy01

Original Poster:

4,823 posts

210 months

Thursday 21st February 2013
quotequote all
Just had a chat with him now he's calmed down a bit and is confident it can be repaired - so he's going to get on the phone tomorrow and see what can be done.

Tricky start so far -

He had a puncture on the last lap of his first race (he was leading).

Second race his cassette froze up in the snow/slush and he couldn't shift to sprint for the finish. (Pics below).

Then his third race he gets punted off.

Certainly getting some experience.






russy01

Original Poster:

4,823 posts

210 months

Saturday 9th March 2013
quotequote all
pablo said:
it aint dead till these guys say its dead!

http://www.carboncyclerepairs.co.uk/index.html

Its Kurtis Rowe isnt it? I remember his bike being in photgraphed in CW at the national hillclimb championships in 2011!! hopefully youve been in touch with the BC talent scouts?!... [/stalker]

I was gutted when i caught the chain on my bike chipping the paint off down to the carbon and hated myself for adjusting the mech so badly but now its just a scar and nothing more, if it can be repaired by a specialist as above, it will be fine to compete on.

Edited by pablo on Thursday 21st February 20:21
Incase you're interested he won his first race today. It was great fun to watch, now sits on 16pts after his first 4 finishes.

CAT 3 Next week!!

anonymous-user

83 months

Sunday 10th March 2013
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thumbup

mph1977

12,467 posts

197 months

Sunday 10th March 2013
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can you not get insurance ? doesn't the clubs require insurance ?

my main experience with competitive sport is dinghy sialing and that was a few years ago now, but it was usually the requirment of inland clubs and in most if not all notices of race that you had sufficient 3rd party insurance and it was possible to get racing risk insurance that was effectively 'full comp' ...