Originally Posted by
staehpj1
Just me, but I figure if you can afford to buy insurance to cover your bike and gear while touring you can afford to set aside money to replace your bike and gear if it goes missing. To me that is just part of living within your means. In the long run it will be cheaper, the insurance company is making money after all and with some care you will most likely never file a claim.
Part of that living within your means may involve buying a bike and gear that is at the right price point as opposed to best one you could hope for. Don't lose sight of the notion that good enough actually is good enough. I am not saying you shouldn't have nice gear, but the cost shouldn't become a big burden. Knowing you can afford to replace it all in a pinch gives you a level of freedom that tops the joy of owning the highest end gear possible if you are busting the budget to get that gear.
All of this is especially true for those who are planning to be on the road full time (you are the guy asking about that right?). Frugality would seem to be very much key for someone living on the road, and self insuring in the form of having a cash buffer for the type of coverage you are talking about makes more sense to me than paying an insurance premium.
I agree with that a lot and find the balance between wanting nice stuff and the reality of traveling on the road alone to be interetsing.
People tend to make too much out of having the "perfect" touring bike. Yes, it is fun to build something exactly the way you want (myself included) but that is more often a desire rather than a need. Many people tour successfully with standard fare. There was a favorite poster here for a while who championed the value of expensive custom bikes (though he did not own one himself) over lower quality off the shelf bikes and it was pretty clear his was a daydream wishful thinking POV of touring.
I also think it's fun to own "stuff" but it should not be a total investment of your means to the point that it's loss prevents you from pursuing your objective long term. The reality of solo touring is that usually you need to leave your bike unattended at shops and cafes, sleep with it outside the tent, go bathroom sometime etc... If the fear of theft restricts that because everything is so expensive or one of a kind you lose part of the freedom of bicycle touring. Sure you can think insurance is the answer, and it is for medical or rescue in some regions, but usually they make the money.. because you pay. Once you start to collect the premiums go up, so it is a one or two time solution at best. Eventually you will have to come back to facing the same problem only with far steeper premiums.
I will say, for me personally, touring falls more into the skills camp than the equipment camp. It's about a way of being more than the stuff you possess and paradoxically that is often made better with less..