Originally Posted by
Andrew R Stewart
But unless you build under the wing of an established and fully "legal" builder you are not baring the real cost and responsibility of what it takes to be a builder for others. Sure many newbies don't either. But you are only responsible for your own decisions and actions. When you build for others you are responsible for their actions if the courts say so. So if something happened and it was determined that you were responsible can you make good? The reason to have insurance is not to isolate your assists but to reimburse for the loss that your client suffered. .
As far as I know, there is no actual example of any of this ever having happened in the history of custom frame building. And one way you can tell it hasn't happened is that the standard policies do not cost enough to represent any losses of the scale we are talking about.
If you ride a bike, forswear all hope that your frame builder and his 5 and dime insurance is going to make you whole in your time of need. If you see a dime, it will be 5 to 10 years down the road, and your physical recovery will be pretty much all it can be before you get any coverage.
I think it verges on the unethical to promote the industry as somehow looking out for it's clients and their welfare, when this is largely untested waters. The maker's main ethical responsibility is to make bikes that don't kill clients as a first order of business. That seems to be fully achievable.