In California, a person on a bicycle generally has the same rights and responsibilities as the driver of a vehicle. That means a cyclist is entitled to use the road, and drivers must treat them accordingly — a point insurers conveniently forget when they blame the rider.
Because cyclists have those rights, fault after a car-on-bike crash is decided the same way as any collision: by what each person actually did. The assumption that the cyclist must have been reckless is a bias, not a legal rule, and it has to be proven, not asserted.
California also follows pure comparative fault, so even a cyclist found partly responsible can still recover, with the amount reduced by their share. So being assigned some fault does not end a claim — it affects the amount.