Cyclescheme - which shops will sell SALE bikes

Brixtonbiker

Which london bike shops will sell bikes that are ON SALE on the cycle to work scheme called CYCLESCHEME.

My company only uses cyclescheme.

Thanks

AW cycles said no.... I wanted

http://www.awcycles.co.uk/category/bike ... index.aspx

passout

Are you restricted to London? If you are willing to 'go postal' then Merlin Cycles will do.
Planet X are good value and use cyclescheme.

Harry B

Your firms cycle scheme should tell you which shops you can use. I think it is probably unlikely that they will let you have the bike at the sale price. When I got my bike on the scheme they wouldn't give me any discount even though our firm has a standard 10 % set up with them. But then that particular shop was a big pile of poo and I had so many problems with them that I've vowed never to give them any business again :evil:

Good luck though

TCBLUE

Condor on grays inn road but you have to buy at full rrp price no discounts

Big Red S

Cyclescheme take something in the region of 12% of the sale price in fees IIRC, and a blanket no-r2w-on-sale-bikes is easier to implement than no-r2w-on-these-bikes.

Especially since you're already getting nigh on 50% off...

ris

when i bought my allez sport a couple of months ago i spoke to a couple of cyclescheme shops that had it marked down. the first one told me they couldn't offer it under the scheme as the 'vat was too tricky to work out'. a crock of shite, frankly, and not very impressive.

the second told me they were happy to offer it at the 'official sale price' but if they were marking any more off then they usually asked the customer to meet then half way to cover the cost of the scheme (they pay 10% of the voucher to cyclescam).

guess who got the 700 quid order?

Big Red S

ris wrote:

guess who got the 700 quid order?

The shop that only got £630 for the bike?

avoidingmyphd

i'm not sure recommending shops where "you have to pay at full rrp no discounts" is much help to the OP haha.

Bagman

i wanted to buy a bike through the scheme. the bike i wanted was in the sale at cyclesurgery but they said if i bought the bike, i'd have to pay RRP. I can't understand this because I could go in with cash and buy the bike for the reduced price now.

Brixtonbiker

I know what shops do cyclescheme. I have justed helped set it up.
Just looking for the best deal i can get for £999 max

I also want to recommend shops with the best deals to my colleges that are interested as they come to me for advice.

I know Evans who have there OWN scheme will do SALE bikes on that scheme, so i know shops do sale bikes. I need to know which on cyclescheme do SALE bikes.

Planet X do not operate cyclescheme anymore.

No it does not have to be london,

Also i want a European racing bike.....

fossyant

You can't have it both ways - I'd reccon HMRC's rules state RRP etc..... and the shop get's a bit of a hammering... sales bikes are that - the most common sizes are all sold - so unless you are tall or short, you'll not get one....

We are still waiting for our scheme, we don't get the VAT off, but I can save 30-40% on price........ looking for a fixie......

Big Red S

Bagman wrote:

i wanted to buy a bike through the scheme. the bike i wanted was in the sale at cyclesurgery but they said if i bought the bike, i'd have to pay RRP. I can't understand this because I could go in with cash and buy the bike for the reduced price now.

Let's say they've bought the bike for £600, its RRP is £800 and they've discounted it to £700, which seems reasonable.
Someone comes into the shop and expresses an interest in it.
If they buy it with real money there and then, the bike shop receive £700 there and then, the bike leaves the shop and is replaced with an 09 model.

If they buy it on Cyclescheme at the sale price, the bike shop will receive about £630, after someone's gone through and filled the forms in. They will probably have to hold the bike until the customer gets their voucher through (in space that they'd really rather be holding '09 stock), and wait a further few weeks before getting the money from Cyclescheme.

Selling to someone at full price through a normal means of payment, they get about twice the profit [1], get rid of the bike there and then, and get the money sooner.


Also, it's generally held that since you've already got about 50% off whatever you end up paying, it's a bit rich to insist on getting the bike at the sale price.



1] obviously this varies between brands and price points, but 40% is a very good markup on a bike, and 10% is a pretty big dent in that.

alfablue

passout wrote:

Are you restricted to London? If you are willing to 'go postal' then Merlin Cycles will do.
Planet X are good value and use cyclescheme.

Planet-X stopped doing Cyclescheme 2 weeks ago, Cyclescheme emailed me saying they would not honour the voucher that they had issued me and which I had already sent to Planet-X (and paid delivery and for my bottle cages) because of what they called a "system incompatibility". I made a stink, and reminded Cyclescheme that my employers had put about 150 bike purchases their way! They relented and honoured the deal. Planet-X do their own scheme, and are setting up arrangements with another bike to work company. Interestingly, on the day that Cyclescheme pulled the plug, P-X put the price up on the Carbon Dura Ace build by £200 - they had clearly priced it at £999 to encourage Cyclescheme purchases, shame it has come to an end - glad I was lucky!

Edit: in fairness, although I was totally pi**ed off with Cyclescheme with their initial action (I mean how can you renege on the deal AFTER the voucher is sent out, it had already taken me a month to get to that stage and I was faced with starting all over again???), the lady I dealt with when I complained (the finance manager I think) was extremely pleasant and helpful, and credit to them for changing their mind).

alfablue

Ribble cycles add £50 to Cyclescheme purchases, Spa Cycles ad 12.5% - both of these shops have very good prices to start with, so may still be worth it, however I did call Ribble hoping to buy a Nero Corsa and they were rude and unhelpful - they lost the sale, Planet-X gained one. Spa Cycles though, have been excellent when I have dealt with them (though they are predominantly about touring bikes).

Funnily enough, I went in to Avon Valley Cyclery in Bath - they are owned by the same people who run Cyclescheme. I was sure I would get a good price (seeing as they would be paying the commission to themselves) , but no - list prices only! TBH I am not too impressed with the shop anyway.

giltkid

Condor also surcharge £50 for Cyclescheme, although overall I think Cyclescheme is pretty good as the network is quite extensive and is nearly all LBS' - you may not get the big discounts but it keeps you out of the clutches of Evans and Halfords. Winstanley's do Cyclescheme if you're happy to buy online.

Brixtonbiker

Had a look at Ribble, I Like the look and sound of the Dedacciai Nero Corsa Centaur 10 Double for £999. Don't know how good they are?

Emailed them to find out if the will do it for that on cyclescheme.
The web site is appalling, Supprised they can make may sales from it.

Finbar Saunders

passout wrote:

Are you restricted to London? If you are willing to 'go postal' then Merlin Cycles will do.

With Merlin you have to add 10% to the sale price of the bike, which I think is fair as it covers the 10% lower price they receive for the bike via most schemes.

giltkid

Brixtonbiker wrote:

Had a look at Ribble, I Like the look and sound of the Dedacciai Nero Corsa Centaur 10 Double for £999. Don't know how good they are?

Emailed them to find out if the will do it for that on cyclescheme.
The web site is appalling, Supprised the can make may sales from it.

You're right - its like a not very good website from 1999!!
I'm colluding with my gf to use her works Cycleschme to get a new bike for me so I'm taking an interest in this thread - such a pity Wiggle don't do it as I'd really like a Cayo!

alfablue

Brixtonbiker wrote:

Had a look at Ribble, I Like the look and sound of the Dedacciai Nero Corsa Centaur 10 Double for £999. Don't know how good they are?

Emailed them to find out if the will do it for that on cyclescheme.
The web site is appalling, Supprised the can make may sales from it.

Don't hold your breath waiting for an email reply, I never got one, so I phoned, when they put the final nail in their coffin with rude and unhelpful service. Maybe it will be better for you...

Brixtonbiker

Yes a pity wiggle don't do it as i liked the review in C+ of the Kiron Scandium.

And you get very good service from wiggle.

shirty

I've just bought a Specialized FSR XC Comp 08 (£799 from £1399) from http://www.mcconveycycles.com/store/go/contact-us/ (Based in Belfast) using cyclesheme.co.uk

I found a Specialized FSR in a local shop who weren’t part of the scheme. Had a quick blast around the block and then went to McConvery guys who were very helpful and responsive. I live in York and they had no problems delivering it to me.

Find a bike, look at pricerunner, froogle or other price comparison webistes for that bike, pull up their contact details, shove their postcode into the bike shop finder http://www.cyclescheme.co.uk/employee,intro.htm and then hope that they're in the scheme.

Cheers

Rich

ris

Big Red S wrote:

Let's say they've bought the bike for £600, its RRP is £800 and they've discounted it to £700, which seems reasonable.
Someone comes into the shop and expresses an interest in it.
If they buy it with real money there and then, the bike shop receive £700 there and then, the bike leaves the shop and is replaced with an 09 model.

If they buy it on Cyclescheme at the sale price, the bike shop will receive about £630, after someone's gone through and filled the forms in. They will probably have to hold the bike until the customer gets their voucher through (in space that they'd really rather be holding '09 stock), and wait a further few weeks before getting the money from Cyclescheme.

Selling to someone at full price through a normal means of payment, they get about twice the profit [1], get rid of the bike there and then, and get the money sooner.

Also, it's generally held that since you've already got about 50% off whatever you end up paying, it's a bit rich to insist on getting the bike at the sale price
.

i completely agree with you, it is a bit cheeky to ask for the sale price if using the cyclescheme - but i'm still going to ask so that i know what the position is before i make an order.

i've got no problems with shops not allowing sale bikes under the cyclescheme (or whichever tax-free bike system they operate), after all it is up to them at the end of the day. what i was not impressed with was being sold a line about them not doing it because the 'vat was complicated'. i'd much rather be told straight that they don't do sale bikes on the scheme because it's not cost effective. i might be a bit cheeky but i'm not expecting them to fall over themselves on my account if it doesn't work out financially for them.

as i understood it from the place i bought my bike the price reduction was coming from specialized themselves and they are happy to sell an 'official' reduction price on the schemes (i suppose it is in effect the current RRP). if they add a further mark down at the shop then they ask the purchaser to a contribution which is fair enough. as they are in possibly a franchise arrangement maybe they are operating in a slightly different way.

i've heard more than one shop say that while the scheme costs them 10% they have been selling plenty more bikes and therefore it is cost effective for them, i'm sure if the bottom line wasn't working out then they would be withdrawing from the scheme.

alfablue, i've usually found avc service to be pretty good when i've been there (i got my airnimal there, and used them for servicing etc), but they took so long getting giant stock in i eventually went elsewhere. for what it is worth, johns bikes and total fitness are on the cyclescheme as well and have good reputations for service with people who have bought from them at my office.

Brixtonbiker, total fitness are on the scheme and have orbea in stock. johns had a wide range of road bikes last time i looked around but wouldn't know my euro from my us to be honest!

alfablue

ris wrote:

Big Red S wrote:

alfablue, i've usually found avc service to be pretty good when i've been there (i got my airnimal there, and used them for servicing etc), but they took so long getting giant stock in i eventually went elsewhere. for what it is worth, johns bikes and total fitness are on the cyclescheme as well and have good reputations for service with people who have bought from them at my office.

Brixtonbiker, total fitness are on the scheme and have orbea in stock. johns had a wide range of road bikes last time i looked around but wouldn't know my euro from my us to be honest!

I may be speaking out of turn here, but I think AVC's best staff were recruited by John's bikes a few years ago. My last visit to AVC I found the sales staff "under informed" about their products (a bit like going to Dixons and having to tell the staff about their products, cos they don't know). I also found the mechanic fairly unenthusiastic. However, this was just one visit and no doubt they have better days/staff.

John's Bikes, always superb, Total Fitness, second choice. AVC is the obvious place if you are after a folder.

Rockhopper

JE James in Chesterfield were more than happy to offer sale bikes on the Cyclescheme deal with no surcharge either.

biondino

Wiggle were a pleasure to deal with direct - why anyone uses cyclescheme whose stupid fees take away a lot of the benefit, especially for those spending less, I have no idea. It was really easy for our accountant to set up the Wiggle scheme. And I was able to buy a £1400 bike no problem, and make changes to it, paying the extra above £1000 myself direct by cheque.

Big Red S

biondino wrote:

why anyone uses cyclescheme whose stupid fees take away a lot of the benefit, especially for those spending less, I have no idea.

Because it means you're not tied to a particular shop. I thought that was quite obvious.

I don't see how it affects 'those spending less', though. Sale bikes come in at all price points, and so do non-sale bikes.

Brixtonbiker

Got a quick reply from Ribble. So far so good. They can do the bike i want, £50 fee though..As i work for a charity, we cant claim VAT, so the savings are not looking to good now...