Halfords, cycle-to-work scheme, and which bike?

horrgakx

Hi folks, under the companies' bike to work scheme I can get a voucher to the value of £600 for Halfords. I might ask if I can put maybe £50 towards it as there seems to be a gap around that figure.

Anyway, these are 3 bikes I have been looking at but they all seem pretty similar to me. A mate said about weight, forks, etc but I'm not sure. I'd be using it on the road and on trails (did the Altura trail on a £250 bike with slick tyres two days ago ). Which one and why?

1) http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165499
2) http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165499
3) http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165499

Thanks folks.

jmillen

Links not working for me, seems to be an error on the Halfords website...what bikes are they ?

Daz555

Remember that with the C2W voucher you do not need to get a bike from the Halfords store or online. Halfords will order just about any bike on the market for you.

BigLee1

I`d suggest buying a copy of What mountain bike and having a look in the back of it for their ideas of good bikes for that sort of money. It might also be worth putting a bit towards a better bike if it`s worth it. Good luck and enjoy your new bike!

Anonymous

Daz555 wrote:

Remember that with the C2W voucher you do not need to get a bike from the Halfords store or online. Halfords will order just about any bike on the market for you.

hey Daz.....is this true with http://www.bikescheme.co.uk/ our work uses that and Edinburgh cycles, but like you say if Halfords can get any bike on the market?? just you've quoted C2W and not Bike2Work.. just wondered if they were different at all?

Thanks again D

G

fenboy369

C2W with Halfords will not allow any more cash to be put to the voucher as its a 'rental/hire' agreement and adding more money would split the ownership. Its a pain, but if you havent ordered your voucher yet all is not lost. Just claim a £700 or 800 one and get some bits too. Shorts, helmet, jacket, pumps etc...

horrgakx

No it's not ordered yet, the scheme opens tomorrow.

So I won't be able to spend a penny more than £600? How can I claim a 700/800 one?

As for selection of a bike, I'm probably going to order tomorrow and the ordering will be done through a portal that takes our user name & password so I expect the choice to be the same as their website.

Daz555

GmanUK101 wrote:

Daz555 wrote:

Remember that with the C2W voucher you do not need to get a bike from the Halfords store or online. Halfords will order just about any bike on the market for you.

hey Daz.....is this true with http://www.bikescheme.co.uk/ our work uses that and Edinburgh cycles, but like you say if Halfords can get any bike on the market?? just you've quoted C2W and not Bike2Work.. just wondered if they were different at all?

Thanks again D

G

It's all related to the suppliers that you are allowed to deal with. At my company it is Halfords or nothing but it does not matter too much due to Halfords operating a system where they will order any bike. Only slight disadvantage is that you always pay RRP for any 'non-Halfords' bike.

horrgakx wrote:

As for selection of a bike, I'm probably going to order tomorrow and the ordering will be done through a portal that takes our user name & password so I expect the choice to be the same as their website.

If you want a Halfords bike then no worries. If however you want something else, then just call them and they'll source it for you. 08450 778 850

horrgakx

I'm probably going to go for one of the 3 I listed, so any recommendations between them would be appreciated.

Si78

horrgakx wrote:

I'm probably going to go for one of the 3 I listed, so any recommendations between them would be appreciated.

hi horrgakx

which bikes have you short-listed, as the links dont seem to work

cheers,
Si

BigLee1

I`ve also tried the links and they`re not working

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165602

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165602

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165602

If it`s any of these 3 I`d pick the 3rd one

britishseapower

You need to take the [/size] tags out of the links for them to work. until then the three listed above are Voodoo Wanga, Boardman sport and Kona cindercone.

The spec of the Voodoo looks good to me as does the boardman and as usual the kona is a bit cheaper on the components but will have a good frame, I've had no experience with Voodoo or Boardman frames so cant really comment but Boardmans i think are generally well liked.

I'd also definetly try and get a higher value voucher so you can include helmet, lights, lock and a few tools etc as these sort of things soon start to get expensive once you're fully kitted out so you might aswell get money off these too.

fenboy369

Where I work you could choose a voucher upto a maximum of £1000, so thats what I asked for. Dont know the rules that your work has.

bodisgod

The scheme is a Government lead initative. C2W is Halfords take on the scheme, and are therefore bound by what the Government has laid out. It's essentially a hire purchase scheme, your company buys the bike and hires it to you. You pay a monthly amount over a set period of time. At the end of the scheme you pay a nominal amount to 'buy' the bike from your company. The scheme has a £1000 limit.

So you cannot add money to your voucher value. Whilst paying for the bike over the 12 or 18 months you don't technically own the bike, so making upgrades etc would need to be considered.

Si78

I just picked up my Boardman Sport from Halfords on the cycle2work scheme.

Feels good, nice and light, frame is really well finished, welds nice and smooth etc. Not had chance to go out for a proper ride yet but im sure it will be great.
Just been setting my seat height, moving gear selector and brake levers around, and removing reflectors and bell :oops: lol
I only got a cycle2work voucher for £550, wish Id got £1000 now cos the Boardman Pro I sat on was awesome....

Never mind tho, Boardman Sport will be fine for me, and in these cash-strapped times I couldnt really justify spending much more

At the end of the scheme (in a year) I will hopefully have saved up enough pennies to up-grade the fork and brakes 8)

Si

kazzie

Si78 wrote:

I only got a cycle2work voucher for £550, wish Id got £1000 now cos the Boardman Pro I sat on was awesome....

Si

My best mate has the Boardman MTB Pro and it rides really nice. Ive set up a few over the last few months and they are well worth looking at. For the price they have a great spec.

Si78

kazzie wrote:

My best mate has the Boardman MTB Pro and it rides really nice. Ive set up a few over the last few months and they are well worth looking at. For the price they have a great spec.

Totally agree Kazzie, Pro ticks all the boxes.

Just hoping some of the Pro's DNA has filtered down into the Sport... cant wait to take it out properly and find out

Si

horrgakx

Thanks guys.

Links (at the very first post) are now corrected and work.

The Boardman Pro wasn't one of the 3 choices. So again, I need to pick one of the 3.
It does sound like the Boardman Sport might be a good choice though.

... and the spec list on the Kona looks good, so why are they substandard?

jmillen

I'd personally go for the Boardman, at £100 cheaper its a good buy...I like the looks of it and although the spec may be slightly less than the Voodoo the Richey bits and overall package means the Boardman gets my vote

Just my 2p worth...

Si78

jmillen wrote:

I'd personally go for the Boardman, at £100 cheaper its a good buy...I like the looks of it and although the spec may be slightly less than the Voodoo the Richey bits and overall package means the Boardman gets my vote

Just my 2p worth...

I agree.
Maybe the spec of the Voodoo makes it worth the extra £100, but im no expert...

Kona looks ok, im sure the frame will be good as a lot of people on here rave about them. Has same front sus as Boardman. Kona will probably be heavier. Kona has shimano drivetrain.

Like I said earlier, I got a Boardman Sport yesterday. Im really happy with it. Looks good, reasonably priced, very light and nimble. Was unsure about the tektro brakes, but they stop really well on mine, nearly went ar*e ovet t*t this morning lol. Boardman has Sram drivetrain, which I prefer.

And if you get the Boardman you can spend the remaining £50 on accessories 8)

Hope that helps!

Si

Si78

horrgakx wrote:

Hi folks, under the companies' bike to work scheme I can get a voucher to the value of £600 for Halfords. I might ask if I can put maybe £50 towards it as there seems to be a gap around that figure.

:oops: I just read the first post again... the Voodoo is out of your price range anyway, as you cant add money to the voucher! I asked in both the Halfords nearest to me, and both said no.

Si

horrgakx

I've ordered the max value voucher (£600) 8) . As you say I can not add cash to this so just to refresh, my revised shortlist choices are these;

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165499

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165499


Should be getting the voucher through the post maybe next week.

Northwind

The big question is what sort of riding you'll be doing. Those are both quite similiar XC bikes. Traditionally Kona have been bad value at this price- not bad bikes, just bad value- but it looks like the drop in the Boardman's spec for 09 brings them to a pretty similiar point. (last year, a Dart 3 on a £600 bike was pretty much a kick in the nuts, this year it seems to be quite standard)

This might sound a bit daft, but I think you might be better going cheaper- Halfords have 20% off the 08 Fury again, so it's £400. If you want something for a bit more rough and tumble, it'd make a lot of sense, it comes with a better fork, mavic rims, nice finishing kit... But also it's a stronger, heavier built bike, very well suited to general c**king about. Not an XC rocket though! but for trail centre work etc it'll most likely be a better bike. Because it's last year's model, the spec is high- Tora 318 fork, Mavic rims, good finishing kit etc. The 09 Fury looks to be more expensive and less good but these old ones are still good. There's also an Avalanche of some description that comes under your budget, Agressor XC1 I think it is, which is a similiarly excellent build, though again a bit on the burly side.

Neither of those 2 is as good an XC machine, but personally I'd sooner have either than the ones you have shortlisted, and spend the rest on accessories. But ymmv.

Northwind

The big question is what sort of riding you'll be doing. Those are both quite similiar XC bikes. Traditionally Kona have been bad value at this price- not bad bikes, just bad value- but it looks like the drop in the Boardman's spec for 09 brings them to a pretty similiar point. (last year, a Dart 3 on a £600 bike was pretty much a kick in the nuts, this year it seems to be quite standard)

This might sound a bit daft, but I think you might be better going cheaper- Halfords have 20% off the 08 Fury again, so it's £400. If you want something for a bit more rough and tumble, it'd make a lot of sense, it comes with a better fork, mavic rims, nice finishing kit... But also it's a stronger, heavier built bike, very well suited to general c**king about. Not an XC rocket though! but for trail centre work etc it'll most likely be a better bike. Because it's last year's model, the spec is high- Tora 318 fork, Mavic rims, good finishing kit etc. The 09 Fury looks to be more expensive and less good but these old ones are still good. There's also an Avalanche of some description that comes under your budget, Agressor XC1 I think it is, which is a similiarly excellent build, though again a bit on the burly side. Both represent pretty great value, though obviously they'd reduce your actual buying power, but since they're last year's model from before the price hikes and spec drops they really give you a good return on your money.

Neither of those 2 is as good an XC machine, but personally I'd sooner have either than the ones you have shortlisted, and spend the rest on accessories. But ymmv.

jmillen

Yeap, if you are open to other ideas....definitely consider the Fury. As you can see from my signature, I've got one at the moment and couldnt' really fault it for the £500 I paid, let alone the £400 you could get it for if the timing is right. Worth every penny