A cyclist seriously injured when he was knocked off his bike by another rider and into the path of a car, which ran over him, will keep a $1.6 million payout after a ruling by the ACT Court of Appeal.

The accident happened in October 2009 when the two colleagues were riding home on Capital Circle.

The pair had been chatting as they rode partly abreast on a cycle way.

The victim was left with serious injuries and has no clear memory of the accident.

In a letter to his insurers the other man said his bike had struck a tree stake that was lying on the cycle way and that knocked him off balance.

He then struck the victim and knocked him onto the road.

The other cyclist was held liable as he had not kept a proper lookout or seen the wood.

The appeal focussed on whether there was adequate lighting for the man to see the stake, whether the original trial should have called expert witnesses and whether the judge had made a mistake in finding the man had failed to keep a proper look out, when in fact the stake may not have been visible.

Appeal rejected: Area well illuminated

But the Court of Appeal rejected all three grounds.

"There was adequate evidence to support his Honor's findings about additional illumination from vehicles and from the headlights of the appellants bicycle," the judgement said.

"In 2010 the appellant told an investigator that he had good quality headlights which provided adequate lighting and he also said that there was a lot of vehicle lighting."

The court also rejected the suggestion an expert view was needed, finding there was sufficient lay evidence for the judge to reach his conclusions using common sense.

The court ruled there was abundant evidence that the area was well illuminated.

"The primary judge reached the obvious conclusion that the appellant failed to see the stake because he failed to keep a proper lookout," the judgement said.

The appeal was dismissed with costs.