Dang it I hit a pothole

Yesterday. On one of Her Majesty's Highways. It wasn't that broad (the pothole, not Her Majesty), but it was about three miles deep and the front wheel went crunch. Since then the bike is wobbly and feels light at the front, whereas before it would track smoothly. I'm going to have to get it fixed.

I've reported the pothole to the Highways Agency, and asked for claim forms, but I am not holding out much hope that they'll cough up. But what now? I'm not even sure what's wrong, although I'd guess the front wheel's buckled out of shape. Do I take it to a local garage to test it out? Do I file an insurance claim and hand my precious bike over to them? I'm a bit flummoxed.

It should be easy enough to see if the wheel is damaged. Unless there's anything obvious with the wheel itself my guess is that the tyre structure has been damaged. It happend to my daughter in her car last week. The tyre was a write off.

She reported the pothole which was filled in within 24 hours. The snag is they only seem to cough up if it can be shown they knew about the pothole before you hit it. if it's been reported and they haven't repaired it you've got a good chance of claiming. If not they will say they didn't know about it until you reported it.

That's what happened to my daugher. To rub salt into the wound one of her colleagues said she'd hit the same pothole a week previously but hadn't reported it.

A friend of mine (who was a highways engineer at the time) hit a pot hole which knacked his wheel and tyre.

He went home to report it then picked up his layout spray, went back to the pot hole and sprayed brackets around it.

He took a picture of the newly bracketed pot hole and sent it off to the claims people as "proof" they knew about it.

His claim went through just fine.

my guess is that the tyre structure has been damaged.

This sounds quite likely. The feeling is very like an underinflated tyre, with the difference that at slow speeds I can feel it it pulsing slightly.