Cyclescheme - Hopefully not the normal question!

bails87

Hi, my name's Bails87 and I'm a mountain biker.....

Now that's out of the way (and I hosed myself down and wiped my feet before coming into your relatively clean, other than the 'punani' thread, bit of the forum) I need some help.

I'm a keen MTBer, I've got the time, skills and tools to do nearly every part of maintaining bikes. So basically, the maintenance side of using an LBS is not particularly important to me.

However, I've never had a road bike, in fact I've only been properly MTBing for a couple of years. So I'm not so sure on initial fit, which is obviously very important and I reckon the LBS would be better than Halfords for this.

Anyway, the cyclescheme is starting at work, I may be eligible depending on how quickly it's implemented (contract stuff) but even if not, I was planning on buying a road bike at some point this year anyway. So is something like the Trek 2.1 (£1k, available from the LBS on cyclescheme) actually any better specced than the Boardman Comp (£650, available without any scheme 'faffing' from Halfords)? It seems to me that they've both got 105 drivetrains, (which I think is equivalent to Deore in MTB i.e pretty much the same features as the higher stuff, but a bit heavier), alu frames, carbon forks and a decent level of finishing kit. Is there any difference?

If I'd be paying a similar amount, would it be worth going for the Trek despite the hassle of the scheme, for the fit and initial setup alone? Or is something like the Trek (they also stock Specialized, but I couldn't spot anything at the £1k mark, and Bianchi, but are they more expensive?) just 'better' than the cheaper Boardman?

BTW, I can't just get the Team Carbon from Halfords as we'll be on the non-Halfords scheme. :roll:

spasypaddy

your sig makes me want to post this

bails87

spasypaddy wrote:

your sig makes me want to post this

Really? How interesting.

davis

I think the Boardman is a mix of 105 and Tiagra (the model below), but, even considering that, it looks like very good value for money. The Trek will cost probably slightly less though (depends on your tax, really), and your employer should take care of all the "hassle" for you -- really though, it's minimal work even for them. I wouldn't consider C2W as any kind of inconvenience .

I'd go for the Trek, because:

It's a slightly better spec (Full 105)
It's from an LBS (assuming they're good) rather than Halfords who are hit-n-miss.
It should be slightly cheaper, and you'll spread the cost over 12 months.

Ride both, see which you like more, because that's more important than my opinion.

bails87

davis wrote:

I'd go for the Trek, because:

It's a slightly better spec (Full 105)
It's from an LBS (assuming they're good) rather than Halfords who are hit-n-miss.
It should be slightly cheaper, and you'll spread the cost over 12 months.

Ride both, see which you like more, because that's more important than my opinion.

Thanks for that.

I've gone on the calculator with my 'employer code' and a £1k bike would cost me £706 + the final fee.

I think the LBS are good, probably more roadie focussed, so I might not have experience them at their best yet. But my local Halfords are very good at getting stuff sorted (I've got a Boardman MTB) it's the knowledge and setup that I'm not so sure of. So I'm happy to go with the LBS for that.

Ah yes, the Boardman has bits of Tiagra.

The scheme also includes Ribble and Planet x, but, especially as I'm a noob, should I steer clear of the 'mail order' places?

ex-pat scot

Cyclescheme - you'll be able to buy from Planet X.

Great VFM

davis

bails87 wrote:

I've gone on the calculator with my 'employer code' and a £1k bike would cost me £706 + the final fee.

Wow. That's a lot. Playing about with various salaries from 15k up to 100k still gives me a figure somewhere need the 550 quid mark. I can't really understand how it'd cost you that much.

The scheme also includes Ribble and Planet x, but, especially as I'm a noob, should I steer clear of the 'mail order' places?

I'd go to a shop until you know what fits, yes

bails87

davis wrote:

bails87 wrote:

I've gone on the calculator with my 'employer code' and a £1k bike would cost me £706 + the final fee.

Wow. That's a lot. Playing about with various salaries from 15k up to 100k still gives me a figure somewhere need the 550 quid mark. I can't really understand how it'd cost you that much.

I'm a 'basic' rate taxpayer in the NHS, so I don't think we save the VAT.
Just income tax and NI:

Total cost of bike and accessories: £1,000.00
Net cost of bike and accessories, including finance and admin costs (if applicable): £1,000.00
Income tax saving over hire period: £200.00
NI saving over hire period: £94.00
Final cost of bike & accessories: £706.00
Total saving:** £294.00
Gross salary sacrifice, based on 12 month hire period (this should be the figure displayed on your hire agreement): £83.33
Net salary sacrifice, based on 12 month hire period: £58.83
Percentage saving over RRP: 29.4%

davis

Oh. That sucks.

I'd think they're even on the money side then. Ride both, but my vote is still very slightly for the Trek for the reasons above. The reasons are less important than which bike suits you best though; ride both, and let that decide.

bails87

davis wrote:

Oh. That sucks.

I'd think they're even on the money side then. Ride both, but my vote is still very slightly for the Trek for the reasons above. The reasons are less important than which bike suits you best though; ride both, and let that decide.

I can at least look at it as 0% finance. But the thought of paying another £100 as a final fee isn't too attractive.

Decisions, decisions.....

paulbox

I recently used a cycle scheme voucher to pay towards a new mountain bike (got a £1k voucher, bought a £2k bike). It was dead easy, fillied in my application online and a few weeks later the voucher turned up in the post.

I bought from Pedal-On who were excellent, though I did have to go in person (this is the reason for my post) rather than buying online. Something to do with them having to see photographic proof that I was the person who the voucher was issued to. I think they photocopied my drivers licence and attacehd it to the voucher. This therefore might be an issue for you if you're looking at going to mail order places. I'm sure their websites will tell you.

bails87

PaulBox
Cheers, but no, I'd probably stick to the LBS as road bikes are a mystery to me!

By the way, any recommendations for a £1k bike from Spesh or Bianchi? Or is that Trek the best of the bunch?

andy83

where abouts in the west midlands are you? just going to recomend a brilliant shop

anyway id go for the trek, i love treks but also the knowledge of having someone in a lbs to talk you through the best bike, fitting etc is invaluable

any decent lbs will also recomend the best bike for you, it may be a lower entry trek 1.2 may be more suitable for you then you can use the rest of the voucher for some new shoes and pedals

bails87

andy83 wrote:

where abouts in the west midlands are you? just going to recomend a brilliant shop

anyway id go for the trek, i love treks but also the knowledge of having someone in a lbs to talk you through the best bike, fitting etc is invaluable

any decent lbs will also recomend the best bike for you, it may be a lower entry trek 1.2 may be more suitable for you then you can use the rest of the voucher for some new shoes and pedals

I'm in Solihull.

I've learnt from MTBs to spend as much as possible. Already got SPDs for that, so the pedals could be a £20 M520 job, not really worth taking a step down in everything else for, in my humble opinion of course

Christophe3967

I seem to recall that NHS trusts are not registered for VAT so that reduces the savings significantly, which is a shame, but hopefully won't completely put you off the idea of a proper bike...

On the choice, do have a look at the buyers guide in Cycling Plus then go and try a few out at your LBS.

bails87

Christophe3967 wrote:

I seem to recall that NHS trusts are not registered for VAT so that reduces the savings significantly, which is a shame, but hopefully won't completely put you off the idea of a proper bike...

On the choice, do have a look at the buyers guide in Cycling Plus then go and try a few out at your LBS.

Cheeky, my current one is capable of riding everywhere, this is a road bike with a carbon fork, so it'll melt when it gets wet!

bails87

bails87 wrote:

By the way, any recommendations for a £1k bike from Spesh or Bianchi? Or is that Trek the best of the bunch?

bigmat

Get a Planet X or a Ribble, you'll get waaaaaay more for your money. Bike fit is overrated, you only have a couple of sizes to choose from and either of those suppliers will be able to tell you what to go for based on a couple of dimensions. You can tweak fit with stem length, saddle height, headset spacers etc afterwards if needs be. I wouldn't be dropping a grand on an alu bike* with 105 if I could get Carbon with Ultegra (or Campag if you go with Ribble).


* there are some very good aluminium frames out there, as light and stiff as carbon frames, but I don't believe the two you've mentioned fit into that category...

notsoblue

MatHammond wrote:

Get a Planet X or a Ribble, you'll get waaaaaay more for your money. Bike fit is overrated, you only have a couple of sizes to choose from and either of those suppliers will be able to tell you what to go for based on a couple of dimensions. You can tweak fit with stem length, saddle height, headset spacers etc afterwards if needs be. I wouldn't be dropping a grand on an alu bike* with 105 if I could get Carbon with Ultegra (or Campag if you go with Ribble).


* there are some very good aluminium frames out there, as light and stiff as carbon frames, but I don't believe the two you've mentioned fit into that category...

+1, its what I plan to do. One thing to bear in mind though, is that you go for a Planet X, or pick up from a LBS, they'll probably charge you 10% extra if you use CycleScheme for admin charges.

rolf_f

notsoblue wrote:

+1, its what I plan to do. One thing to bear in mind though, is that you go for a Planet X, or pick up from a LBS, they'll probably charge you 10% extra if you use CycleScheme for admin charges.

They don't charge you 10% extra. What they do is take £100 off the value of the voucher. That means that you lose the savings off that final £100 (which is obviously less than the £100 itself). What it does do is mean that it is best to use the maximum voucher value (ie £1000) but then you should be doing that anyway!

bails87

Okay, just for a bit of context, it's a 15 mile trip each way, I'm currently doing about 40-50 miles per week mountain biking. I wouldn't expect to be doing it every day, not at first anyway.

But what about mudguards? Can they be fitted to any frame?
I know the Planet X doesn't have rack mounts, but I doubt I'd be using panniers anyway, I'm used to wearing a backpack on the MTB, and if nothing else it's somewhere else to put more lights!

notsoblue

Rolf F wrote:

notsoblue wrote:

+1, its what I plan to do. One thing to bear in mind though, is that you go for a Planet X, or pick up from a LBS, they'll probably charge you 10% extra if you use CycleScheme for admin charges.

They don't charge you 10% extra. What they do is take £100 off the value of the voucher. That means that you lose the savings off that final £100 (which is obviously less than the £100 itself). What it does do is mean that it is best to use the maximum voucher value (ie £1000) but then you should be doing that anyway!

Oh really? Then I've misunderstood. My understanding was that if you bought a £1000 bike from a LBS using a cyclescheme voucher, then there'd be a £100 cash charge on purchase? Or if you bought a £1200 bike, then the cash charge on purchase would be £320 (1200-1000+1200*0.1). I'd be glad to be proven wrong

bails87

bails87 wrote:

Okay, just for a bit of context, it's a 15 mile trip each way, I'm currently doing about 40-50 miles per week mountain biking. I wouldn't expect to be doing it every day, not at first anyway.

But what about mudguards? Can they be fitted to any frame?
I know the Planet X doesn't have rack mounts, but I doubt I'd be using panniers anyway, I'm used to wearing a backpack on the MTB, and if nothing else it's somewhere else to put more lights!

Anyone?

Also, is the Ribble Sportive a sensible commute bike? I'd know not to take a Spesh Hardrock down a DH course at full pelt, but don't really know what's suited to what on a road bike. :oops:

paulbox

bails87 wrote:

But what about mudguards? Can they be fitted to any frame?
I know the Planet X doesn't have rack mounts, but I doubt I'd be using panniers anyway, I'm used to wearing a backpack on the MTB, and if nothing else it's somewhere else to put more lights!

I've used crud guards on my mountain bike for years, pretty sure they will fit on anything.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=36521

I know nothing about panniers... :shock:

bails87

PaulBox wrote:

bails87 wrote:

But what about mudguards? Can they be fitted to any frame?
I know the Planet X doesn't have rack mounts, but I doubt I'd be using panniers anyway, I'm used to wearing a backpack on the MTB, and if nothing else it's somewhere else to put more lights!

I've used crud guards on my mountain bike for years, pretty sure they will fit on anything.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=36521

I know nothing about panniers... :shock:

I meant the road style ones that fit closely to the wheel, I suppose 'rain guards' is more appropriate because I doubt I'm going to be riding through much mud on a bike like this

UndercoverElephant

The Crud roadracers will fit on "most" road bikes. Obviously there are some which are more odd than others, but I think with a little tinkering they can be made to fit almost all. They do work very well.

alfablue

I use SKS Raceblades on my P-X SL Pro. They are okay, but I would prefer Crud Roadracers which I believe should fit okay. The SKS ones cost more, are heavier, more fiddly to fit, offer less coverage, as far as I can tell.

I protected the frame and fork contact points with helicopter tape prior to fitting.

bails87

Thanks guys, what a helpful bunch.

[Columbo]Just one more thing....[/Columbo]

If it comes down to PX vs Ribble, it'll be Ultegra vs Veloce. Is there any real difference i.e is one a step above the other, or is it just a personal preference thing?
Ta very muchly!

bails87

Behold, the wonder of the thread resurrection!

Anyway, after some too-ing and fro-ing at work, I will now be staying, so I can try to put the cyclescheme plan into action.

So for a 15ish mile commute, probably through the winter as well, the Ribble Sportive is sensible?

Or would you guys say to go for one of the alu/winter bikes?

DCowling

bails87 wrote:

andy83 wrote:

where abouts in the west midlands are you? just going to recomend a brilliant shop

anyway id go for the trek, i love treks but also the knowledge of having someone in a lbs to talk you through the best bike, fitting etc is invaluable

any decent lbs will also recomend the best bike for you, it may be a lower entry trek 1.2 may be more suitable for you then you can use the rest of the voucher for some new shoes and pedals

I'm in Solihull.

Hi
have you had a look in Cult Racing Cycles ( http://www.cultracing.com )
They are on the outskirts of Earlswood and very helpful, they run the CTW and their own scheme,I have not had a bike as yet as I am still trying to talk the boss into it.
But I did go in and they were friendly and forthecoming with advice and have some nice shiny Felt and Cube bikes in there

aldric

Christophe3967 wrote:

I seem to recall that NHS trusts are not registered for VAT so that reduces the savings significantly, which is a shame, but hopefully won't completely put you off the idea of a proper bike...

Off topic a bit here. Are other public sector organisations also not registered for VAT?

Such as councils or the local police force?

On topic

I was going to get a road bike but the thought of doing a commute 365 days a year on it has made me think more of a Cyclo Cross. You can get proper mud guards, racks and bigger tyres.