Advice on buying a bike

NAZty

Hi All,

Unfortunately I am going to ask the question which has been asked many times!

I am in the process of opting into the Cycle2Work scheme and would like some advice on what bike to get. I've noticed the scheme has changed (from what I've read previously) where that I will need to keep the bike for an extra 36 months at the end of the hire period (so that I can own it) which I don't have a problem with but obviously I need to take into account the fact that if I'm spending a £1000 on a bike I would like it to last the whole period.

Ok, so when I first started looking I was all about the road bikes - I wanted to be able to go the fastest I could! I then took into consideration the fact that I'd want to use the bike on the weekends for leisure riding which would involve parks etc which moved me over to cyclo cross bikes - best of both? So I found the bike I wanted (Boardman CX from Halfords) and I was happy to go ahead with it. Now it turns out I can't use Halfords, instead I have been provided with a list of indies (not really a bad thing as I've heard a lot bad things about Halfords) but only Halfords stock the Boardmans. This meant I had to start from scratch in my search for the perfect bike...

EvansCycles probably has the biggest range (out of the list of shops) but I just cant decide what to get. They have a small range of cyclo cross bikes and for my budget its hard to find a similar spec to the Boardman. For example, its difficult to find anything in that price range with disc brakes - but are they really that important? Now I'm thinking would I be better off just getting a road bike and putting bigger tyres on it? As I've said I'm not going to be doing any hardcore off-road riding but I'd still like to be able to go off-road and not have to worry about damaging the bike. So with that in mind is a cyclo cross overkill?

Please keep in mind I am a neewbie to cycling and all of this information I have gathered from researching the net, reading reviews, browsing through forums etc this may have been my downfall as now I am really confused but I generally like to look into stuff properly and make the right decision so that I don't look back with regret...

The Rookie

The Scheme rules haven't changed but the HMRC have clamped down on the fair market value at which bikes were being sold on to employees at the end of the 1 year lease period, so now many get around that by extending the lease period (for a nominal fee)until the bike has effectively no value and as such there there is no FMV to pay.

You won't get cross sized tyres in most road frames, a road bike will cope just fine with gravel paths (such as tow paths) but won't be as comfortable as a crosser. You'll struggle to match the Boardman spec for the same money as they are renowned for their value for money, unless you have a guarenteed lease extension it may be cheaper to buy the Boardman yourself than buy a similar spec but dearer bike through C2W and then end up paying the FMV at the end!

Simon