Bargain Full Susser - Cycle Scheme

stevekoz

With so many companies (including my own) now offering a cycle to work scheme, im thinking of spending the full allocation on a full suspension bike to go alongside the hardtail i currently use for commuting and trail fun. Just to get that bit more fun out on the trails and that bit more travel to soak up some of those harder single track moments.

Given the amount of money you can spend is currently limited to £1000 (heard rumours of increases and contributions but no facts). I've been doing my research and whereas in the past many companies offerings of full sussers under the £1k mark sucked, you can now appear to get a lot of bike for your money that will handle itself well on the trail. Thing is i can't make up my mind.

There are three outstanding contenders for me. All of which i have seen review on BR in the last few months

No 1. B'twin Rockride 9.1 £699 @ Decathlon
http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... 1-12-45756

No.2 Norco Faze DX - £749.99 @ Evans
http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/categ ... x-12-46418

No.3 Boardman Team FS £999.99 - Halfords
http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/categ ... s-12-35829

All get really good reviews.

Obviously spec and review wise the Boardman comes out on top but im not always one to go wtih the crowd and i'm imagining a lot of people will be headed in that direction following just how good they are for the money. But still.

The money is also a factor, less i pay in total is less per month off my salary which is always good. But then do i scrimp and regret it or not worry so much at this price range.

I just can't make up my mind so seeing if anyone has their particular favourite and votes or if anyone has any other option. Can't be over £1k. But there may be other bargains to be had that i've not come across. So guidance and opinions are always helpful and appreciated.

Cheers all.

petriodet

i think you have selected the best three from each of the price ranges.
personally i go with the boardman for the extra £250 you get a hell of a lot less weight (1.5kg less than the norco) you could easily spend double that to get the norco to the same weight.
Ultimately it's your choice, you won't be disappointed with the norco but if you don't mind paying the extra the boardman is certainly worth it

mrmonkfinger

Spec on the boardman is brilliant for the money, geometry looks a bit slacker, I'd pick it on that basis.

Out of the others, the Faze has real entry level suspension, so I'd probably give that a miss in favour of the rockrider which feels like a better buy.

fungus_the_muffin_man

First you need to find out who your cycle scheme provider is. Which could have a huge implication on who you can use and what bikes are available. For instance the Evans scheme is only available for bikes through Evans etc etc....

The Rookie

Also be sure to check out if you'll actually make a saving once you pay the FMV/extended hire fee.

stevekoz

Thanks for the advice so far guys. I am torn between the rockrider and the Norco i think. I know the Boardman is a better bike but as Fungus points out rightly, all schemes don't cover all bikes and ours doesn't cover Halfords as a supplier. So alas probably the best bike is out of the question. Halfords are a little tricky as they do indicate the ability to subsitute and use certificates between schemes but this is not the case.

Anyway. Evans cycles do have a scheme called Ride2Work. This is in partnership with the scheme my work are linked to @ CycleScheme.co.uk and both Decathlon and Evans are auhotrised dealers.

That said, the savings and benefits for the company are there to promote the use of one or multiple schemes, my company is thinking about joining more than one scheme currently to give people a wider choice. Which in the future i hope to take advantage of. For now, i am limited though.

In regards to the saving. IMHO The schemes end of hire agreement to extend use beyond the original 12 months is a little confusing at first glance as you can pay them a fee to extend for 3 years, return the bike or buy the bike at market price. The market price for my last purchase was £221 or i could £59 to have the bike for a further 35 months at which point my company relinquish the bike to me for market value at that time - which will be negligible. So i still end up saving about 43% on a bike roughtly 899 in value. I got my scheme to give me a breakdown of the costs and although overly complicated the saving is there to be had if you are happy to settle for a bike that is never going to set the world on fire, but hey, £1000 is still a lot of cash for a lot of people to spend themselves in one go.

For me i found the monthly payments more than manageable as i was paying £63 a month and ending up with only £42 being deducted from my salary, so it was better than i thought it would be.

To be honest i think if you can afford the payments the pitfalls are very thin on the ground and can get you pedalling pretty quickly - application to owning the bike was about 6 weeks for me.

I'm off to Evans this weekend to look at the Norco and see what i can get and if any deals can be done. I'm not sure if they allow sale price bikes to be included - i know some do and some don't , depends how flexible and friendly they want to be. My last LBS wasn't but did say i could now pay additional premiums myself to cover any cost as of this year, which you couldn't before when i first used the scheme, but i cannot substantiate that claim with any facts i've found on the scheme websites or at HMRC.

So Rockrider or Norco. 699 vs 899 (ish). Similar spec. But i'm leaning towards the Norco. Not sure why though. May be the look.