not sure what to buy on c2w via halfords ? advice pls..

hubba

well i was set on getting the team carbon road bike but my voucher took so long to come in it's now out of my cycle to work scheme limit of £1k, so now i'm kinda deflated a litle, also to add to thsi i managed to take the bike out for a test run. i must say i was a little dissapointed with the performance so i got thinking should i buy two bikes of cheaper value ?..

my thoughts are to buy a road bike entry level and a entry level hardtail mtb..

so carerra vanquish and somthing cheap end mtb ? road bike comes in with a mix of carbon front forks, tigara/sora/shimano drivechain for a snippet over £500 and leaves me around £450 for some form of hartail mtb ??.. any suggestions ?

before you all blow me out of the water my road bike is only for some 2hr runs when warmer weather, rather than climbing up in the woods on the mtb and overheating., also the road bike would mainly be just me but may do the odd group ride (if i can find a group locally)

anyhow any other thoughts into the mix ?.

supersonic

The Carrera Fury or Kraken are the best hardtails they do around that price.

hubba

thanks i'l go take a loot at these on monday.. i think i'm doing the right thing as i got on the boardman team carbon and did not find it anything special + the fact it's price has now gone up has put the hammer down on that..

i don't think that i'll notice much difference from the boardman to teh carrerra vanquish (i'm not that hot on the road but more mtb style..)..

are there any other bikes which can be "special order" that halford can order in as part of the cycle to work scheme ? someone tole me Kona, rocky mountain are also on the order list..

Zombie_donkey

Do you really need an MTB for commuting when your not on the roadie?
Perhaps a Hybrid would be more useful.

The Chingford Skinhead

Halfords will have a phone number that you ring to discuss bikes. So, they can order things that you can't get in store PLUS if you have a particular bike in mind and they can't order it you can go elsewhere. For example, Trek won't let Halfords sell their bikes, so you will find that local trek dealers can take the Halfords vouchers - just ask Halfords which ones or ask at the trek shop first.

Good luck

Zombie_donkey

The Chingford Skinhead wrote:

Halfords will have a phone number that you ring to discuss bikes. So, they can order things that you can't get in store PLUS if you have a particular bike in mind and they can't order it you can go elsewhere. For example, Trek won't let Halfords sell their bikes, so you will find that local trek dealers can take the Halfords vouchers - just ask Halfords which ones or ask at the trek shop first.

Good luck

Really? I can take my Haflords ticket and use it at my LBS?

I hope your not wrong.

Jay dubbleU

You can't use your Halfords ticket at your LBS but Halfords will order any current model even if they don't normally stock it

Zombie_donkey

Jay dubbleU wrote:

You can't use your Halfords ticket at your LBS but Halfords will order any current model even if they don't normally stock it

So I would still have to risk ending up with a poorly built bike. Never mind.

aldric

Zombie_donkey wrote:

The Chingford Skinhead wrote:

Halfords will have a phone number that you ring to discuss bikes. So, they can order things that you can't get in store PLUS if you have a particular bike in mind and they can't order it you can go elsewhere. For example, Trek won't let Halfords sell their bikes, so you will find that local trek dealers can take the Halfords vouchers - just ask Halfords which ones or ask at the trek shop first.

Good luck

Really? I can take my Haflords ticket and use it at my LBS?

I hope your not wrong.

I know Alpine Bikes accept the halfords vouchers as a friend got a trek from there.

mr_poll

I read on here that Leisure Lakes will accept Halfords vouchers - not sure how the scheme works but might be worth a call to them or do a search on the forums for more detail.

hubba

ok i have asked around at different shops like evan's and lbs in the area and everyone has said they cannot take the halfords as it's directly with halfords only..

speaking to halfords they can only supply the companies below

boardman
carerra
viper
van nichols
surly
salsa
rocky mountain
kona
land rover
dawes
condor
bootleg
eddy mercx
klinesis

so for less than £470 what can i get for a mtb ?

hubba

also i'd like the option to ride either e road or mtb comming from an mtb background, and my travel to work can include a woods where hybrid is ok but not great, also every now and again i may want to use the mtb for a ride out other than work related..

fenboy369

I got my spesh from them 18 months ago... :?

downwardslide

My experience with Halfords is that some makes you need to talk to the shop directly to order, and some you need to speak to their dedicated C2W team. My kinesis was ordered through the store, but I got quotes for a ridley and a genesis through the C2W office. Try calling them 08700 660511

dugliss

There was another thread on here in the past couple of weeks and it had links to several shops that would accept the Halfords voucher. Not sure you`ll be able to get 2 bikes with it though

downwardslide

Think it's perfectly legit to get two bikes. The reasoning being that you may do an intermediate section of the journey by public transport and have a bike at both ends. I seem to rememberthis scenario explicitly being permitted in the rules.

the_hundredth_idiot

Definitely allowed two bikes - as downswardslide says, it's explicitly mentioned in the rules.

And some LBSs take the Halfords vouchers - I discussed this with Halfords when I got mine and I seem to recall they said there are about 30 or so LBSs that do.

On Your Bike, Tooley Street, London (and, presumably, their Brum store) do - they have signs up in there stating this and several of my colleagues have bought bikes from there.

Condor, Grays Inn Road, London do - though I've heard they charge an admin fee now.

No idea if any LBSs out reading way do - worth asking, though. Evans definitely don't - I would guess they see Halfrods as too much of a competitor on the bike front.

spen666

The Hundredth Idiot wrote:

Definitely allowed two bikes - as downswardslide says, it's explicitly mentioned in the rules.

you would have to be able to demonstrate to the tax man you did use 2 bikes if challeneged, so unless this is a realistic option, then you may find yoursaelf running foul of the scheme and having to repay any tax & NI savings to the exchequer

hubba

i know it's a little late in teh day on this thread now but i've got two bikes from teh scheme and used both to cycle to work :-)

i got a carrera vanquish and used to go to work as i would drive on each the same roads etc.. not a bad bike, still suffering a little on the adjustment to the drop bars and different hand feelings but getting there, also been out on a couple of weekend loops out so not bad.

i then got a carrera fury, after doing a complete pdi on it as had issues from recieving it from halfords i used this again to cycle to work but mainly along the riverside with a small section of road at the begining and end, also i've used this for a couple of group rides during the week day evenings and really enjoyed it...

so all in all a good all round purchase and enjoying every minute of it, all i need to sort out now is some winter mudguards for the road bike, i don't think that turning up to work looking like a braveheart all over will do any good for customer relationships !.

rolf_f

spen666 wrote:

you would have to be able to demonstrate to the tax man you did use 2 bikes if challeneged, so unless this is a realistic option, then you may find yoursaelf running foul of the scheme and having to repay any tax & NI savings to the exchequer

Hardly going to be any harder demonstrating that you are using 2 bikes than one!

asprilla

I presume you originally wanted the Boardman Team Carbon which is now £1199? Tell Halfords that you are on the C2W scheam and they will discount it back to £999.

Exactly the same thing happened to my mate when the price first went up. He called the halfords C2W helpline about getting a CAAD9 (of which stock is extremely low) and was told just to go to any branch explain the situation and they will only charge £999.

gtvlusso

Asprilla wrote:

I presume you originally wanted the Boardman Team Carbon which is now £1199? Tell Halfords that you are on the C2W scheam and they will discount it back to £999.

Exactly the same thing happened to my mate when the price first went up. He called the halfords C2W helpline about getting a CAAD9 (of which stock is extremely low) and was told just to go to any branch explain the situation and they will only charge £999.

+1 great bike.

Then buy a secondhand Boardman pro mtb for about £450.

hubba

Asprilla wrote:

I presume you originally wanted the Boardman Team Carbon which is now £1199? Tell Halfords that you are on the C2W scheam and they will discount it back to £999.

Exactly the same thing happened to my mate when the price first went up. He called the halfords C2W helpline about getting a CAAD9 (of which stock is extremely low) and was told just to go to any branch explain the situation and they will only charge £999.

yup your right thats what i was going to do, but there was none left and they could not discount it hence my choices on two rather than jsut the one bike, and to be honest i'm happy with both bikes and now i think i really made the right options.

sc999cs

hubba wrote:

i know it's a little late in teh day on this thread now but i've got two bikes from teh scheme and used both to cycle to work :-)

i got a carrera vanquish and used to go to work as i would drive on each the same roads etc.. not a bad bike, still suffering a little on the adjustment to the drop bars and different hand feelings but getting there, also been out on a couple of weekend loops out so not bad.

i then got a carrera fury, after doing a complete pdi on it as had issues from recieving it from halfords i used this again to cycle to work but mainly along the riverside with a small section of road at the begining and end, also i've used this for a couple of group rides during the week day evenings and really enjoyed it...

so all in all a good all round purchase and enjoying every minute of it, all i need to sort out now is some winter mudguards for the road bike, i don't think that turning up to work looking like a braveheart all over will do any good for customer relationships !.

Have fun

hubba

i "had" fun... after only around five weeks the fury has bitten teh dust !, cracked frame on teh seat tube, halfords have agreed frame fault and ordered a new frame but could not exchange it for at leas another five weeks !!! so i kindly offered to swap it all over myself which is not done and took old frame back.. now i'll be back out.. so tumbs up on there dealing with the replacement frame a thumbs down on them exchanging the frame over ! but hey i've done it and i'm back out on the bike ! :-).

sketchley

spen666 wrote:

The Hundredth Idiot wrote:

Definitely allowed two bikes - as downswardslide says, it's explicitly mentioned in the rules.

you would have to be able to demonstrate to the tax man you did use 2 bikes if challeneged, so unless this is a realistic option, then you may find yoursaelf running foul of the scheme and having to repay any tax & NI savings to the exchequer

No you only have to demonstrate that each bike is used mainly for commuting. There is no definition as to what "mainly for commuting" means. The advice to companies running a scheme being that if it obivious the recipient is riding to work then there is no need to check or provide mileage logs or anything.

If you have two bikes say one for summer and one for the winter becuase of your route that is perfectly fine. The two bikes for either end of public transport example is just an example not the rule.

Also if you stil want the carbon boardman you can pay the difference. That's completely in the rules too.

rolf_f

Sketchley wrote:

Also if you stil want the carbon boardman you can pay the difference. That's completely in the rules too.

It's completely not in the rules but it doesn't stop plenty of shops from letting you top up.

dhope

Sketchley wrote:

spen666 wrote:

The Hundredth Idiot wrote:

Definitely allowed two bikes - as downswardslide says, it's explicitly mentioned in the rules.

you would have to be able to demonstrate to the tax man you did use 2 bikes if challeneged, so unless this is a realistic option, then you may find yoursaelf running foul of the scheme and having to repay any tax & NI savings to the exchequer

No you only have to demonstrate that each bike is used mainly for commuting. There is no definition as to what "mainly for commuting" means. The advice to companies running a scheme being that if it obivious the recipient is riding to work then there is no need to check or provide mileage logs or anything.

If you have two bikes say one for summer and one for the winter becuase of your route that is perfectly fine. The two bikes for either end of public transport example is just an example not the rule.

Also if you stil want the carbon boardman you can pay the difference. That's completely in the rules too.

Carbon Boardman is definitely still £999 if you're on the C2W scheme, confirmed separately to me a week ago when I took my Boardman in for it's 6 week (okay, 4 month) service and commented on the price increase. Free service was worth every penny, I swear the gears are more clunky than before they went in.