Paweł ChalacisPaweł Chalacis

I must say that last four weeks passed by faster than I could've ever expected. But more surprising was the speed of my recovery. My face is almost healed (some red marks here and there, but nothing serious) and my left hand is getting better every day. I've even managed to start doing some weights workout at the gym. But no matter how nice all that is, nothing will beat the fact that I have a new bike! I was little worried that I won't be able to sort out insurance things on time, but in the end it all lined up perfectly.

First of all, let me just point it out once again - I had an insurance. My previous bike got stolen in November and when I bought new one, the first thing that I did was getting it insured. I decided to go with Evans Cycles Insurance and now I can tell it was a good decision. I'm only glad that I've picked more expensive option, that covers not only robbery, but also accidental damage and public liability. It also has some personal insurance as well, but one has to lose limb or eye to get anything (and it's free if you get public liability). For my postcode and 1500£ of value, it was not that expensive, only 17£ per month

It turned out that in case of claim one doesn't receive money, instead they issue a voucher that is valid in chosen shop. I've picked Evans Cycles once again (if it ain't broken...) and I could spend that money on whatever I wanted (not only bike). Now that gave me a lot to think about.

From my damaged bike I could still use few parts (rear wheel and brake, rear derailleur, saddle) and I also wanted an upgrade to a better frame this time. On the other hand I found nice TT bike in reduced price. I was close to get one, but in the end I (gladly) realised that I truly do not need TT bike, at least not now.

Instead, I've found a beautiful BMC Pro Machine SLC01 frame on Ebay. Yes, it is used and few years old, but looks quite new, doesn't have any defects and I got it for a fraction of the cost of the new one. I've also bought carbon fibre handlebars (Pro Stealth Evo), basically unused and for less than half of the cost of the new one. My eBay shopping ended with missing pieces of Shimano 105 groupset. That was all I've spent. Rest came from insurance.

At that point I was missing only few parts (pedals, cranks, chain, front wheel), and I had to spent whole voucher at one transaction, so I could go nuts with shopping. I ended up getting Ultegra cranks, carbon fibre Look pedals, Ultegra chain and Shimano RS21 wheel.

For the rest of the voucher I got:


Tacx Bushido turbo trainer,


new shoes, GPS for my polar watch and few other minor things. That was really nice day :)

Last thing to do was increasing the insurance amount, just in case. My monthly payment is now higher, but that's still a very good deal.

It is still missing proper racing wheels and I will be replacing 105 with Ultegra at some point in the future, but it's definitely the best bike I've ever had. Period.

I've done over 100km so far on this bike (half on road and half on trainer) and it's just perfect. Fast, responsive, aggressive and comfortable. Can't wait for my London Revolution event next weekend.