Cycle to work

duncanskilton

My wife and I are each looking for a mountain bike to get fit, have a bit of fun and cycle to work [weather permitting!]. We are absolute novices; neither of us have owned a bike for at least 10 years let alone ridden one!

We have been searching online for bikes and speaking to our friends who are into road racing. It seems you need to spend £300-£500 for a beginners bike, and if working within that budget should get a hard tail rather than full suspension. Ideally we don’t want to spend more than £200 which is why we are looking at the Cycle to work scheme. The reviews for the bikes are quite limited which is why I wanted to know what you all thought 

The link is - http://www.discovercyclingtowork.com/ca ... tain-bikes

thelonegroover

If you're only wanting to spend £200, you won't gain much tax benefit by using a cycle scheme. Also, you won't get a very good bike. Go and look in Halfords, they probably have the best value bikes and you can see the different price point/specs.

philip171

Do you mind me asking what the difference is between your scheme and https://www.cyclescheme.co.uk/ these? Is it employer preference as to which one they register with?

Sorry to be a pain but with yours, OP you are limited to what they show you, with mine you have a range of shops to choose from

duncanskilton

Thelonegroover wrote:

If you're only wanting to spend £200, you won't gain much tax benefit by using a cycle scheme. Also, you won't get a very good bike. Go and look in Halfords, they probably have the best value bikes and you can see the different price point/specs.

My wife is getting the Scott Contessa 60 (2012 model) which is usually £350 ish, the cost after tax saving is approx £197. I am looking at either the Dawes XC21D (2012 model) or Merida Matts 15-MD.

philip171 wrote:

Do you mind me asking what the difference is between your scheme and https://www.cyclescheme.co.uk/ these? Is it employer preference as to which one they register with?

I have left a message with our HR Department to see which scheme we can use. It seems the biggest difference is, the site I posted above, the funds get deducted from your monthly wage rather than reclaiming the price of the bike back through expenses .

philip171

With the one i posted the money comes out of my wages every week without having to claim it.Must just be different groups running the scheme. I do prefer the fact that i can go into a shop and actually try the bike though rather than just choose from a website.

That said, if possible out of the bikes on there id be looking to put an extra couple of quid a month in an get one of the GT`s.I`ve heard some very good things about them.