New commuter and more

jimmybell

Hey all - first bikeradar post

I'm looking for some opinions as to what my options are, drawing from no doubt a lot more experience and opinion than i currently have.

For the past 2.5 years ive been commuting to work on my bike, previous to that i commuted to university via a much older (1980's) raleigh. Either way, i love cycling, and any opportunity to ride more is great.

During my last job, i made use of the ride2work scheme, purchasing a 2010 fuji cross comp cyclocross bike ( http://www.evanscycles.com/products/fuj ... e-ec022174 ). This was a great bike, swapped out for some slicker kevlar tyres this made my commute super speedy, and i could use it on some soft trails on the weekends, i also used it for a few charity rides (50-100m).

This inevitably was stolen, and i'm looking to use the cyclescheme.co.uk scheme in my new job this year for a replacement. Luckily i now have a very secure home and very secure work to park in, nobody will be nicking this one! I was looking into planet-x pro carbon bikes, ive heard good things, the price is great and they are customisable beyond belief - i've even been to the east london showroom and had a play, very nice!

What i'm wondering, is from experience here, particularly commuting (i'd like to do some more charity rides and a sportive or triathlon this year too) - what bike should i be looking at? Whilst the planet-x is very nice, i can't help but llove the look of some of the bianchi kit, theres some nice willier's and lots more...

http://www.evanscycles.com/product_imag ... d-bike.jpg
Lovely!

I loved my fuji - it was light, quick and the top bar brake levers were great around london. The cyclocross idea still makes a lot of sense as a commuter / part time 'real' cyclist. I'm looking to upgrade this time, rather than spend £1000 and not feel i've gained anything in the last 2 years, but im not sure what the next level is.

Regardless of peoples advice against buying 'stealable bikes', i'm looking at an upper limit of around £1400, lower limit is .. if it ticks my boxes, id rather spend less..

What im after? Strength, resiliance, rolls speedily, i can fit a bottle to it, i can add some top brakes, it's lighter weight than the old one, looks great and on seeing the spec and it's looks - i want to own it.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

joelsim

You can't spend more than a grand on C2W scheme unfortunately, unless you do a deal under the radar.

asprilla

Joelsim wrote:

You can't spend more than a grand on C2W scheme unfortunately, unless you do a deal under the radar.

No strictly true. You can't spend over a grand unless your company has a consumer credit licence. They are effectively loaning you the cash and to loan more than a grand you need said licence.

Obviously some companies have them and allow you to spend more.

jimmybell

Yeah, i'm aware - there are some sellers that "do this every day". I understand the consequence of split payment means shared ownership and something then becomes screwy as part of the scheme but i think it's the norm to do so.

I'm pretty sure even my local evans said its not a problem, you just pay the rest.

Either way - I'm looking for opinion and ideas, aside from the looks not being 10/10, if anyone can pursuade me back to cyclocross bikes, or non carbon, etcetc. If not - i'll buy the pro-carbon ultegra.

bails87

Joelsim wrote:

You can't spend more than a grand on C2W scheme unfortunately, unless you do a deal under the radar.

Or your employer has a consumer credit license (I think).

Anyhoo, I've got a 'racy' carbon bike for commuting. It's good, I like the fact that it's quick and light! But my commute is country road, head down pedalling, rather than picking my way through traffic.

Now that I want to keep commuting by bike during winter I've hit the problem of limited tyre clearance. So I'm getting a Boardman CX for winter use, maybe year round use if it turns out to be not too much slower than the Ribble. Also, the Ribble hasn't got rack mounting points which means a pannier is tricky to fit. I use a backpack instead as I don't have much to carry. Mudguards are fine as Crud roadracers are pretty good.

handful

jimmybell wrote:

Yeah, i'm aware - there are some sellers that "do this every day". I understand the consequence of split payment means shared ownership and something then becomes screwy as part of the scheme but i think it's the norm to do so.

I'm pretty sure even my local evans said its not a problem, you just pay the rest.
.

I can't speak for all companies or schemes obviously but my employer used to offer Halfords and they will definitely not allow overspending. Evans and Cyclescheme are the current offerings and they both will allow overspends and they have no credit license. There is something in the T&Cs that states that you sacrifice the part of the bike you pay for in the event of any problems in the deal.

Some shops impose their own limits, I think Ribble allow around £1300, Planet X I think are unlimited.

jimmybell

cool - so are there any recommendations for bikes (CX or Road) around the £900-1300 mark?

If there's a carbon offering, i'm interested, or if there's a nicer cross bike (probably wont be carbon) for the upper end giving more than what you get for ~800?

I've heard good things about the boardman bikes, i also like the look of some of the Canyon's and Ribbles for the spec and design, but no nothing of them.