Help with restricted bikes on cycle2work/bike2work scheme

eshaq786

Hi

My work place seem to have shot themselves in the foot by signing up to bike2work and halfords cycle2work scheme. Both schemes do not appear to have the big chains like decathlon, evans and a few others. The cyclescheme is the only scheme that decathlon and a few others are with. I would've really liked a rockrider 8.1.

With that in mind, I am looking to get something from probably halfords. I have had my eyes on the Boardman Comp HT which is advertised for £650 but they have £60 off at the moment which you can use the cycle2work voucher on bring it to £590. There also maybe a possibility to use a further 10% off using the british cycling magazine subscription.

For the spec, is there anything better from a local bike store in the birmingham area for a similar price? The benchmark I am constantly comparing to is the Rockrider 8.1.

Any help appreciated.

supersonic

In many ways the Boardman is better than the Rockrider - superior fork, lighter frame. Well worth the money.

oxocube1

Halfords can get hold of any bike from Leisure Lakes as they are one of our suppliers. That includes Specialized, Cube, Trek, Scott etc. The Cube bikes are often pretty good value for money, it's just a shame the scheme is capped at £1000! They are refreshing the Voodoo range in July so they could be worth waiting for.

To find out if you can get hold of a certain bike, call the Cycle2Work guys and provide them with the make, model, and size of bike you want and they check if they can get one.

eshaq786

supersonic wrote:

In many ways the Boardman is better than the Rockrider - superior fork, lighter frame. Well worth the money.

Didn't realise the Suntour Epicon was better than the Rockshox Recon Silver. But the rockrider appears to have better components such as Elixir 3 brakes and X7 gears. So you win in some areas and dont in others but I take your point about weight although it is marginal.

eshaq786

oxocube1 wrote:

Halfords can get hold of any bike from Leisure Lakes as they are one of our suppliers. That includes Specialized, Cube, Trek, Scott etc. The Cube bikes are often pretty good value for money, it's just a shame the scheme is capped at £1000! They are refreshing the Voodoo range in July so they could be worth waiting for.

To find out if you can get hold of a certain bike, call the Cycle2Work guys and provide them with the make, model, and size of bike you want and they check if they can get one.

Interesting to note Voodoo refresh their range so I may wait. Any idea what date?

I would be willing to supply a bike model if I knew which one to ask for. If there is anything as good as the Boardman Comp HT or Rockrider 8.1 in the same price range then I will most certainly ask for that otherwise I may just go for the Boardman Comp HT although I may wait to see if Voodoo come up with anything.

njee20

Halfords can get hold of any bike from Leisure Lakes as they are one of our suppliers. That includes Specialized, Cube, Trek, Scott etc. The Cube bikes are often pretty good value for money, it's just a shame the scheme is capped at £1000! They are refreshing the Voodoo range in July so they could be worth waiting for.

Is that legitamate now then? Because it wasn't, and Specialized were pretty pissed that their bikes were being sold through Halfords.

The Rookie

It would be illegal (EU competition law) for Spesh to try and stop it, though that rarely stops company's like that trying - usually by borderline legal ways.

njee20

How would it be in breach of EU competition law? (serious question) Are you not allowed to discrimanate on who sells your products?

All bike companies work on a dealer basis, and will decide who they sell to based on other dealers, projected sales etc. It's how the entire industry operates!

When Halfords started 'selling' Spesh bikes they were basically buying them from another store, and selling on to the customer. Spesh argued that as Halfords were making the purchase they were the owner, and anyone buying their bike from Halfords was essentially buying a second hand bike, and thus wouldn't receive the same warranty and after sales.

The Rookie

njee20 wrote:

How would it be in breach of EU competition law? (serious question) Are you not allowed to discrimanate on who sells your products?

Yes and no, there are different rules for different products, but generally you can discriminate on who you sell to, but not what they then do with it, so unless Spesh strike off LL completely as a dealer, they can't stop them selling the bikes on through Halfords, be it as a sales route or a delivery route. I would imagine LL sell enough Spesh's in their own name that Spesh wouldn't want to loose all of them to stop them being sold in 'this' (whatever 'this' is way), it's not clear if the bikes actually go to Halfords or Halfords just then place an order for the order then to be satisfied via LL.

As an example, Mercedes bought up the entire UK dealer network so that they could control where the cars left the dealer, thus preventing any 'grey' dealership for new cars.

oxocube1

Whenever we get bikes from LL they come in very large Boxes with everything already assembled. They literally just need the Bars turning and they are ready to go out of the door. I personally always check over them first gears, brakes, bolts etc. but they do come "pre PDI'd". I think Head Office places the order and gets it delivered to the appropriate store as we in the store don't usually know anything about the bike until it randomly turns up.

eshaq786

oxocube1 wrote:

Whenever we get bikes from LL they come in very large Boxes with everything already assembled. They literally just need the Bars turning and they are ready to go out of the door. I personally always check over them first gears, brakes, bolts etc. but they do come "pre PDI'd". I think Head Office places the order and gets it delivered to the appropriate store as we in the store don't usually know anything about the bike until it randomly turns up.

What about the boardman comp, does that turn up fully assembled or do you have to assemble that?

oxocube1

Any of the Bikes that Halfords sells directly so the Apollo, Carrera, Voodoo, and Boardmans come in boxed and yes are assembled by a member of staff. You can choose to take the bike boxed and build it yourself if you wish.

njee20

Yes and no, there are different rules for different products, but generally you can discriminate on who you sell to, but not what they then do with it, so unless Spesh strike off LL completely as a dealer, they can't stop them selling the bikes on through Halfords, be it as a sales route or a delivery route

Fair enough, well the take on it from Specialized was that LL were selling bikes to Halfords (which is fine) who were selling them on as new bikes (which they weren't), so it was Halfords who were doing the dirty, not Spesh. Like I say, that may have changed, but they certainly weren't keen on it! Don't blame them, given Halfords rep.

eshaq786

Is it worth upgrading to the Boardman Team RRP £849 or the Boardman Pro RRP £999. These prices will be minus the £60 plus any other discounts such as British cycling 10% off if applicable.

But is the extra price justified for the upgrade in spec?

tarbot18

you will get 10% off those prices not £60 but you wont get any additional money off from british cycling if using the bike2work scheme .
As to whether to upgrade to the others it depends what your going to be using it for but if you can afford it go for it , a grand on the scheme works out at you paying back £650.

kevinharley

eshaq786 wrote:

Is it worth upgrading to the Boardman Team RRP £849 or the Boardman Pro RRP £999. These prices will be minus the £60 plus any other discounts such as British cycling 10% off if applicable.

But is the extra price justified for the upgrade in spec?

Yes, in my view, the upgrade to the Team is better, if you can afford it! I have the Team, and am very very happy with it ... that said, I haven't ridden it back to back with the Comp, so can't directly compare what the benefits are ... but if you can afford the Team, you'd enjoy it.

The Rookie

njee20 wrote:

who were selling them on as new bikes (which they weren't), so it was Halfords who were doing the dirty, not Spesh. Like I say, that may have changed, but they certainly weren't keen on it! Don't blame them, given Halfords rep.

As they weren't being sold but leased, and LL were acting as wholesaler anyway, then I don't see much in the new/old bike argume, as the bikes are being PDI'd by LL again, that seems covered, although your last point I can understand......not being 'keen' is different to being able or willing to stop it though!