Cycle to work question plus which bike?

toybhoy

Hi Guys,

I have a few questions and would be great to get any advice.

Do you know if the governments Cycle2Work scheme allows you to buy bikes that are on sale? or is it full price only?

As I will soon have £1000 to spend, is there any bikes you would recommend?

Ideall, I would like to save £200 for things like pedals, clothes, gloves, shoes etc. so I have £800 to play about with.

So far, I the following bikes in my mind.

Specialized Allez Sport 2010
Bianchi Nirone 7 2009
Boardman Road Comp 2009
Scott Speedster S40 2009
Specialized Secuer Sport 2010.

It seems you dont get alot for £800 nowadys as most comes with a mix of Tiagra/Sora at that pricepoint. I was hoping for at least Tiagra all round. Is the Sora bad?

I have a Hybrid commuting bike already so this new road bike (my first!!) will be just for having fun with. Maybe doing 100+ miles or a few local sportifs if I get better.

Any suggestions guys or even recommendations? Am I asking too much for £800 which I appreciate is not alot of money for a road bike?

Rich Hcp

SORA isn't bad, as such, but the lever actions over the brakes is better/easier on the higher end models

The best bike for you is the one that fits the best and is most comfortable

snig

I'm doing C2W but the max is £500 my work allow,but we also get 15% free for safety stuff so thats £75,check to see if yours is the same.

Rockhopper

The sale bikes thing depends on the shop you go to, some will, some won't.

I've got Sora on my bike, works perfectly as far as i can tell. I'm in no rush to change anything anyhow.

gkerr4

snig wrote:

I'm doing C2W but the max is £500 my work allow,but we also get 15% free for safety stuff so thats £75,check to see if yours is the same.

thats the first time I have heard it being capped below the £1000 national guideline (companies can go above that if they have a credit licence) - any reason why your company are being weird about it?

xraymtb

My previous employer capped the scheme at £400.

I believe it was to stop what they saw as 'abuse' of the scheme - people spending £1000 on a bike that would never be seen locked up outside the office and was only being used for racing or weekend MTBing.

In addition to that, the employer does have to shell out the full value up front, then recoup the VAT and finally the payments from the employee over 12 months. At £1000 per bike, for a 250 man uptake (say 1 in 10 people for a large company) - that could be £250,000 needing paid out that the company won't recoup fully for 12 months. Take that to any Finance Director and watch them scrap the scheme the very next day.

For £500, there are plenty of bikes that fulfil the job they are meant to be doing - taking the employee to work as an alternative to driving/taking the bus. My commuter is a 3 year old £400 road bike and does the job perfectly...but I wouldn't be taking it racing on a weekend.

alfablue

But they stand to save 12.1% on Employers NI contribution - 12.1% return on your investment is pretty good by any standards, these days. There are also savings to be had with tax right-offs with this capital expenditure on work equipment, I understand. They could also earn 15% from keeping the VAT (though this should be passed on to the employee in my opinion). Whilst there is an initial outlay, the scheme does make economic sense to a solvent business. Admin is far easier and more minimal than is often made out, plus the 250 person uptake is unlikely to happen simultaneously. My employers now have over 200 employees using the scheme, now in its 3rd year, and they sing the praises of the scheme and wear their green credentials with pride!

gkerr4

^ some good points - I hadn't considered the cashflow implications if it had a high "take-up" within the organisation.

xraymtb

alfablue wrote:

But they stand to save 12.1% on Employers NI contribution - 12.1% return on your investment is pretty good by any standards, these days. There are also savings to be had with tax right-offs with this capital expenditure on work equipment, I understand. They could also earn 15% from keeping the VAT (though this should be passed on to the employee in my opinion). Whilst there is an initial outlay, the scheme does make economic sense to a solvent business. Admin is far easier and more minimal than is often made out, plus the 250 person uptake is unlikely to happen simultaneously. My employers now have over 200 employees using the scheme, now in its 3rd year, and they sing the praises of the scheme and wear their green credentials with pride!

I agree with most of this, however its maybe not so clear to the employers when they set up such a scheme. Some employers do pass on the VAT and employer NI savings to the employee - thereby making the bike even cheaper - but in the process making the scheme cost more to the company.

The key point there is that this makes sense for a solvent business. In the current economic climate, a large number of businesses are not so confident about their cashflow and outlay like this can be difficult to justify.

Irregardless of any of that however is the fact that, buying a bike for commuting to work doesn't cost £1000, and can be done quite well for under £500.

alfablue

I agree with your last point, £500 is enough (just, gets a bit squeezed if you want an acceptable bike and helmet, lights, mudguards and waterproofs), though more is nicer.

The NI savings are inevitable, as the scheme works on salary sacrifice, neither employers or employees NI can be paid on the portion sacrificed.

What to do with the VAT seems discretionary, though I think it is wrong for an employer to profit via a tax on the employee that is not actually being collected for HMRC. Many employers (mine, government, local government, NHS, education, charities etc) can't reclaim the vat however.

pedrojake

toybhoy wrote:

Hi Guys,

I have a few questions and would be great to get any advice.

Do you know if the governments Cycle2Work scheme allows you to buy bikes that are on sale? or is it full price only?

As I will soon have £1000 to spend, is there any bikes you would recommend?

Ideall, I would like to save £200 for things like pedals, clothes, gloves, shoes etc. so I have £800 to play about with.

So far, I the following bikes in my mind.

Specialized Allez Sport 2010
Bianchi Nirone 7 2009
Boardman Road Comp 2009
Scott Speedster S40 2009
Specialized Secuer Sport 2010.

It seems you dont get alot for £800 nowadys as most comes with a mix of Tiagra/Sora at that pricepoint. I was hoping for at least Tiagra all round. Is the Sora bad?

I have a Hybrid commuting bike already so this new road bike (my first!!) will be just for having fun with. Maybe doing 100+ miles or a few local sportifs if I get better.

Any suggestions guys or even recommendations? Am I asking too much for £800 which I appreciate is not alot of money for a road bike?

I placed my order through the C2W Scheme this week...
Specialized Elite - £800
Pedals - £60
Specialized Pro Comp shoes - £90
Cateye 'Cadence' comp - £60
Spesh Bib Shorts - £60
Spesh Team Replica L/S Jersey - £60

Total was £1130, and with a bit of discount ended up £1034. I paid the 34 quid and the balance will go through the c2w voucher, and costs me about 45 quid per month for 12 months. Just waiting on delivery now!