Great American, through Great American Spirit Insurance Company, has submitted more than 20 filings this month to revise its BikeInsure.com program.
About half of the filings propose significant rate increases. The average increase is approximately 90%, with changes ranging from a decrease of 9% to increases exceeding 200%. In some cases, individual filings affect as few as two policyholders. The submissions also include updates to policy forms and rules for the inland marine bicycle product.
The filings apply across 11 states: Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Maryland, Michigan, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas and Vermont, and impact 389 policyholders across these states.
The underwriting program behind BikeInsure.com, a separate entity and Great American’s primary distribution channel for the product, was first introduced in February 2022. The niche bicycle insurance market, however, dates back to the summer of 2012, when Markel, very likely the first mover, launched such a program. Markel based its approach in part on homeowners bicycle coverage, priced at roughly $6 to $9 per $100 of insured value, and in part on benchmarking against a limited excess market competitor.
Tokio Marine HCC, through U.S. Specialty Insurance Company (USSIC), entered the segment in the summer of 2021. Its filing cited Markel and Transamerica Casualty as key benchmarks for rating and coverage. The company also looked overseas when developing the product. According to the filing, physical damage rates were developed in collaboration with an insurtech offering similar coverage in Australia and were informed by Australian loss experience—another indication of how small the U.S. market is, as readily available data does not exist. While liability conditions were expected to differ between the two countries, the company concluded that physical damage performance would be more comparable. For what it’s worth, Starr was once a market participant, as referenced in Great American’s filings; however, it now appears largely inactive in this segment, with no new program-related filings for more than a decade.
BikeInsure.com is associated with Great American.
Sundaysinsurance.com is associated with Tokio Marine.
Velosurance.com is associated with Markel.
Web traffic data suggests Sundays is the current leader, averaging about 45k monthly visits, followed by Velosurance with roughly 30k and BikeInsure with fewer than 10k. The figures reflect the average for the three-month period from November 2025 through January 2026.
AI visibility appears to favor Velosurance. According to Similarweb, an estimated 98.28% of its referral traffic comes from AI chatbots, highlighting the growing role of AI as a top of funnel channel. In contrast, BikeInsure has limited visibility in general insurance or bicycle searches and appears concentrated within the running and endurance community. Sundays shows a more traditional distribution profile, with referral traffic coming from platforms such as Strava, the LinkedIn for athletes, and Upway, the refurbished e-bike marketplace. Despite Sundaysinsurance.com leading in web traffic, there is no clear estimate of the book size, even after reviewing nearly 50 filings submitted by USSIC over time, including five filed last year.
And while the market is counting two exits, there is also a new entrant to track: Accelerant. The carrier first filed a me-too program in November 2025 across 11 states and is now moving closer to nationwide approval.
A quality bicycle typically costs between $1,000 and $2,500. High-end models generally start above $4,000 and can exceed $10,000 to $16,000 for specialized builds featuring carbon frames, electronic shifting, and performance components.
Coverage limits vary by specialty provider. BikeInsure offers limits up to $30k. Velosurance offers coverage from as low as $500 up to $50k. Sundays provides limits up to $21.5k, with minimum insured values below $500. Minimum premiums can be as low as $100, with an average around $250, supporting a straightforward digital purchase process. As a reference point, Lemonade offers up to $10k in bicycle coverage as an endorsement to renters insurance, although the coverage does not extend to e-bikes. By contrast, Progressive through Homesite and GEICO through Assurant do not prompt renters insurance customers to consider additional bicycle coverage during the purchase process.
When USSIC and Great American entered the segment, they did so following a global cycling boom. Industry revenue surged in 2020 to $54.3 billion, up from $38 billion in 2019. Still, the niche has limits. The U.S. ranks second to China in bicycle revenue, and only about 16% of U.S. cyclists are considered frequent riders, defined as using a bicycle two or more times per week. All in all, about 13 million bicycles are sold annually in the U.S., including roughly 920k e-bikes, which represent a small share of units but about 30% of market value.
Google Trends data shows that interest in bicycle insurance remained low and flat from 2021 to 2023, began rising steadily in mid-2024, and reached record highs in 2025 and early 2026, with searches for Sundays standing out as evidence the brand has entered consumers’ mental availability, as users increasingly search for it by name rather than the generic category.
Collectively, Great American’s 2026 rate filings point to a small national footprint, with 1,923 policyholders and $407,952 in written premium for a program that is about four years old.
Markel’s book is significantly larger and likely exceeds $4 million in written premium. In New York alone, the carrier wrote $611k in premium for 1,802 policyholders as of late 2024, already surpassing Great American’s nationwide volume. New York represents Markel’s largest concentration of insured riders, followed by Oklahoma ($600,157 in premium as of September 2024), Colorado ($435,218 as of August 2024), and Texas ($396,648 as of April 2024).
Florida provides a representative example of program performance. As of November 2025, Markel had 1,123 active bicycle policies in the state. The program is outperforming expectations, with actual loss payouts of about $0.34 per dollar of earned premium versus an expected $0.52, supporting an operating margin of approximately 4.8% after expenses.
Most Florida claims involve physical damage to the bicycles, averaging around $3k, while infrequent liability claims are significantly more severe, approaching $20k per incident.
Nationally, the program has processed more than 4,600 claims. Florida losses are somewhat higher than the national average, with physical damage claims running roughly $700 above typical U.S. severity. Despite higher local costs, the program benefits from a large volume of lower severity physical damage claims, providing stable loss experience while the carrier manages exposure to less frequent but higher severity liability and vehicle-related incidents.
In summary, the analysis points to a lack of venture-backed insurtechs pursuing this segment from an underwriting perspective, with most activity concentrated on distribution rather than risk bearing. Voom and Markel are among the few, and possibly the only, active players with underwriting involvement, although their focus is largely on e-bike coverage supported by form-based filings rather than fully scaled direct programs. Surround Insurance, which previously explored the segment by offering coverage for cycling related injuries, has since exited the market.