Cycle to work

hammerite

Apologies for another Cycle to work thread (I did a search with the keywords but it came back with loads of unrelated results!!).

I've been asked at work to investigate cycle to work. I've got the info pack from DfT, so now I'm looking at providers.

Am I right in thinking as a company you join a scheme that ties you in with a specific retailer? If that is the case which retailer can people recommend as providing a good service/range of bikes?

Our company is in MK (but we also have people who are London based), we have Evans, Halfrauds and a couple of independents locally. Or should I be looking at online retailers (although I have a problem with this as people won't be able to try their bike out).

alfablue

The company can devise it's own scheme and allow you to choose any dealer you want.

Alternatively they can use Cyclescheme, which gives you a very wide choice of LBS's and online dealers (but you can't buy from Planet-X on cyclescheme).

Or you can use Evans, Wiggle, Edinburgh Cycle Co-op, Halfords schemes, which tie you to their shops (though Halfords undertake to source any bike for you regardless of whether they stock it, but it will be at full cost), and I have seen one other retailer that accepts Evans vouchers.

We lobbied our employer to use Cyclescheme because we wanted the freedom of choice and had an allergy to Halfords, though I was a little disappointed to find that I couldn't get a Px, whereas the Halfords scheme would allow me to get a Px! But the downside of using Halfords is you get their customer service, their pre delivery assembly quality (!) and Halfords warranty cover rather than the manufacturers (apparently).

One thing to note is that when buying with Cyclescheme, as the vendors pay 10% commission to the scheme, they usually won't do any deals or special offers, Spa Cycles for example, charge an extra 12.5% on top of their (admittedly great) web prices. Evans and Wiggle as far as I know, let you have the advertised price. But there are downsides with Evans (sometimes suspect service, and some models are "de-specced" by Evans), and Wiggle (great service, great range of desirable Focus bikes sold exclusively by them, but you have to buy online).

The advantage of using an established scheme is that your company have ready made paperwork so there is minimal hassle, but I reckon the ideal is for a company to run its own scheme and give you the money to spend at any retailer you want.

rich r

I spoke to Halfords yesterday who said I could go to a local dealer (BerkshireBikes) with whom they had a relationship, pick a bike, then speak to halfords, and have the bike released by the local dealer

Sounds good to me, as i'm buying through a proper dealer (Trek, Specalized), with their pre-delivery checks etc.

homercles

rich r wrote:

I spoke to Halfords yesterday who said I could go to a local dealer (BerkshireBikes) with whom they had a relationship, pick a bike, then speak to halfords, and have the bike released by the local dealer

Sounds good to me, as i'm buying through a proper dealer (Trek, Specalized), with their pre-delivery checks etc.

This is pretty much the set up they have with Condor Cycles in London - I spent my Halfords voucher in there yesterday. The bike will be delivered, built etc entirely through Condor so Halfords essentially act as the scheme administrator and have no other role in my purchase.

hammerite

Thanks for the replies people. I like the idea of Halfords where you can get a bike from anyone.

We're aiming this to be for everyone in the company, not just those enthused about bikes (I probably won't take advantage of it myself yet until I need a replacement for mine!). I think that most of my colleagues who would be interested in this would just walk into their nearest Halfords and buy something off the shelf in there, and not look about at the quality of other bikes that Halfords could source from elsewhere. Where as at least Evans keep a decent stock in store, so if someone sees something they like they can get it (and the quality would be reasonable).

Cyclescheme looks interesting. Our local quality LBS (and triathlon specialist) offers Cyclescheme so this could be a goer (I wonder if aero bars and new race shoes would qualify as accessories? )

alfablue

The Halfords claim to source any bike is not totally reliable, for instance I gather they can't get Bromptons and some other brands. I also gather that some customers have had to haggle a bit to get the bike they want as advice they get from Halfords has been inconsistent.

tomgth

alfablue wrote:

The company can devise it's own scheme and allow you to choose any dealer you want.

Alternatively they can use Cyclescheme, which gives you a very wide choice of LBS's and online dealers (but you can't buy from Planet-X on cyclescheme).

Or you can use Evans, Wiggle, Edinburgh Cycle Co-op, Halfords schemes, which tie you to their shops (though Halfords undertake to source any bike for you regardless of whether they stock it, but it will be at full cost), and I have seen one other retailer that accepts Evans vouchers.

We lobbied our employer to use Cyclescheme because we wanted the freedom of choice and had an allergy to Halfords, though I was a little disappointed to find that I couldn't get a Px, whereas the Halfords scheme would allow me to get a Px! But the downside of using Halfords is you get their customer service, their pre delivery assembly quality (!) and Halfords warranty cover rather than the manufacturers (apparently).

One thing to note is that when buying with Cyclescheme, as the vendors pay 10% commission to the scheme, they usually won't do any deals or special offers, Spa Cycles for example, charge an extra 12.5% on top of their (admittedly great) web prices. Evans and Wiggle as far as I know, let you have the advertised price. But there are downsides with Evans (sometimes suspect service, and some models are "de-specced" by Evans), and Wiggle (great service, great range of desirable Focus bikes sold exclusively by them, but you have to buy online).

The advantage of using an established scheme is that your company have ready made paperwork so there is minimal hassle, but I reckon the ideal is for a company to run its own scheme and give you the money to spend at any retailer you want.

I'd go along with this - just download Cyclescheme/wiggle et al forms and top and tail it with your company information. It's what I did. The contract is between the employer and the employee. Essentially the company is buying the bike and renting it back to the employee.

hammerite

In your experience what is the take up of the cycle to work scheme like amongst employess who do not currently cycle?

Obviously for us that are interested/enjoy cycling it's a good way of getting a subsidised new bike! But have you found others within your companies have taken up the chance to get a new bike, then actually used the bike to get to work on?

Also what sort of value bikes have those not currently interested in cycling opted for? I'm aware that the lbs on cyclescheme tends to stock bikes for the enthusiast/top end rather than entry level. I would imagine that a lot of people here would worry about spending more than £250 on a bike (not because they can't afford it but because they probably can't understand justifying a bike that is any better/more expensive!).

homercles

hammerite wrote:

In your experience what is the take up of the cycle to work scheme like amongst employess who do not currently cycle?

Obviously for us that are interested/enjoy cycling it's a good way of getting a subsidised new bike! But have you found others within your companies have taken up the chance to get a new bike, then actually used the bike to get to work on?

Also what sort of value bikes have those not currently interested in cycling opted for? I'm aware that the lbs on cyclescheme tends to stock bikes for the enthusiast/top end rather than entry level. I would imagine that a lot of people here would worry about spending more than £250 on a bike (not because they can't afford it but because they probably can't understand justifying a bike that is any better/more expensive!).

I think this is an interesting question. Our experience here would suggest that the impact of the Cycle2Work scheme on those who don't cycle is absolutely zero. The only thing that makes me slightly wary of making a complete judgement based on this is the fact that the scheme was introduced in November which strikes me as a stupid time to try and encourage new people to cycling.

At our central London office we have in the region of 400 staff. Take up of the C2W scheme: 4, or 1%. Of those 4 all were already cycling in and have essentially used the opportunity presented to improve current equipment (all spent over £500 on a new bike).

In total around 15 staff cycle in (or rather, are still cycling in now it's winter - it's more like 20 in summer), or 3.75%, which seems in line with cycle commute figures I've seen, so I guess we're fairly representative. It should also be borne in mind that we have showers, secure garaged parking etc, so we are quite well set up to accommodate cyclists, make things comfortable for them. Despite all of this, as mentioned, the C2W scheme has essentially had no impact (though I'm getting a new bike )

rich r

I don't think Cycle 2 Work schemes actually encourage people to cycle.

You can buy a 'commute' bike for a couple of hundred anyway, and you'd more than save that in petrol/train fares quickly. cost isn't the issue in persuading people with £1 a litre fuel and above average train fare increases.