Help: Boardman Comp Cycle 2 Work With Bits & Bobs?

Cody

Hi guys, struggled to find a bike code on halfords website for the boardman comp bike for £649.99 as I'm trying to apply through the C2W scheme. I rang Halfords up, they gave me an 8 digit code of some sort, don't know if it will work. I tried searching for the bike on my company intranet where I'm applying for the bike through, and nothing shows up except boardman road bikes. They also produced a receipt totalling the cost of goods and extras. My company requested the amount on receipt as proof or on company letterhead. They did it on a receipt for me. I forgot to mention to them I want a pair of decent lights which I can recharge on the mains or usb powered but don't know the diferrence between the two and what's a good price to pay for a really powerful one. I've seen the Lezyne Micro LED back and front in silver aluminium for £50 off the Halfords website. I also chose an Altura yellow blitz jacket which they made me try on a tight fit one which looked like I was wearing a womans bra, so ill have to go for the next size up. Also I chose the boardman helmet with yellow on the back patch for £49.99, its mostly black and a bottle holder for £14.99. I forgot to choose mudguards. I'm not sure if I've chosen the right priced accessories or should I just be ok with mid range or anything cheaper? Also, if the bike is £649, what is the actual price I end up paying for it as I'm in the higher tax bracket which means 40% off? and does the discount apply for the accessories too? I plan to buy a 1 metre cable lock from Evans cycles in Leeds which is £10 and secures my bike from front wheel through to the back wheel which prevents theft. Any cost effective way to reduce the prices so I don't end up paying too much on the C2W scheme or should I just be happy with it.

Please advise, thanks.

cooldad

Two posts was probably unnecessary, but as you don't work it's tax fraud.
My tax to be precise.

Cody

Yh but I do work however I work for a private ltd company which doesn't do the scheme.

Read my post and please advise, thanks.

Briggo

Cody wrote:

Yh but I do work however I work for a private ltd company which doesn't do the scheme.

Read my post and please advise, thanks.

The bike isn't going to be used by your dad, it's tax fraud.
My tax to be precise.

TheGava

Haha.... Holy heck, my friend rode my bike at Hamsterley last week that I got on the C2W scheme.... Best go into hiding!! Tax Fraud...... Yes it's my Tax as well but I don't mind!!!

Last time I got a bike through Halfords all I had to do was put the amount in I required for the Voucher, best bet would be to Ring Halfords up and ask if they have a specific code etc!!

CitizenLee

You can have my tax, better than politicians spending it on rent boys and second homes

cooldad

CitizenLee wrote:

You can have my tax, better than politicians spending it on rent boys and second homes

That's a bit harsh - think of the poor starving rent boys you'd be depriving of their livelyhood.

Cody

Hi guys, decided not to apply through cycle to work as I cannot apply with Halfords, it chooses other bike stores and boardmans are exclusive only to Halfords. Will pop down to Halfords tomorrow and place an order, ready for collection on the weekend.

Anyone else give me any advice on accessories, I think ebay is a great place to start they are cheaper than halfords!

supersonic

Do you want lights to see or be seen with? IE do you plan to light the road up?

Cody

supersonic wrote:

Do you want lights to see or be seen with? IE do you plan to light the road up?

To be honest, both will do. There's a set on ebay right now for 99p lezyne micro led back and front. It's a private seller Aswell. It will probs go up to about £15 I think. Or new they are £30! Halfords are £50, saving money don't you think?
I don't need a helmet just yet or a jacket. Too expensive. I got a yellow running shirt and yellow high visibility jacket by karrimor which will do, it's fluorescent so it does the job. I've even got a karrimor predator 45 rucksack in olive green I bought from the military, it looks cool! 'Google it' ok for putting lunch in and water bottles and snacks and clothes etc
I'll shop around for accessories. I'm going to halfords tomorrow to place an order. It's currently 10% off so the bikes £589.99. There's one on ebay in Leeds for £550 open to offers, and a boardman team MTb for £509 new on gumtree in West Yorkshire somewhere. But I'm going ahead with the comp edition. Looks nice.

So if you could recommend any decent accessories for the bike please do, I.e lights etc

Much appreciated.

The Rookie

The Lezyne Micro is only good for being seen, if you are riding on dark roads it won't cut it.

The macro is good enough for commuting, I really like mine, I use a Moon Shield on the rear as I REALLY want to be seen.

The gava, as long as more than 50% of the use of the bike is for you commuting to and from work, there is no tax fraud regardless of other use, however if you never used it to/from work it still would be my tax you are defrauding me of! Although 'd probably feel less defrauded than for the circa £2.5K I have to give to the Indian govt each year!

Briggo

Cody wrote:

I don't need a helmet just yet or a jacket. Too expensive.

:roll:

Well done.

larkim

I asked my 14 year old to ride his bike around the garden at the weekend to test out the new cable I'd put into his rear derailleur - "don't bother with a helmet" says I. "No, it just doesn't feel right riding without one, even just a little bit" says he. And I'd like to point out our garden is flat grass!

(He does things on his bike which send shivers down my spine, at speeds I can't contemplate. I can't teach him anything about riding, but I gave myself a metaphorical pat on the back for his helmet sensibilities).

Cody

The Rookie wrote:

The Lezyne Micro is only good for being seen, if you are riding on dark roads it won't cut it.

The macro is good enough for commuting, I really like mine, I use a Moon Shield on the rear as I REALLY want to be seen.

The gava, as long as more than 50% of the use of the bike is for you commuting to and from work, there is no tax fraud regardless of other use, however if you never used it to/from work it still would be my tax you are defrauding me of! Although 'd probably feel less defrauded than for the circa £2.5K I have to give to the Indian govt each year!

I could however buy a maglite and use that for night vision as opposed to paying £50 for a set of lights, but I don't know much about lights you see, all I know is when we were teens we use to go to pound shop and put cool looking battery operated lights on our bikes. Realistically I want something that does bit of both. Be seen and be able to see. And, something which blinds people when they look at it from a distance and would want them to think, what's approaching them, some sort off alien ship, alien invasion. Lol

But yh I'm gonna have to save up for a set of lights, might take couple of months to save £50. But when it gets dark early I'll consider buying one. It gets dark at 8pm now so I finish work at 6. So I think I'll buy a set around mid September time early fall October. Ebay have good deals going on the lezyne lights, as mentioned in my previous response, but I think the macro is only one light and that's £50. It's no good to me unless I can get back and front for same price.

Please advise, thanks.

Cody

Right people, I went ahead and purchased the boardman comp today from halfords for £589 plus £30 for annual service and repairs. Some chap from Leeds was offering me one on ebay for £500 cash, but i just could not wait. I went last minute.com around 7.15pm and was done by 7.30, they closed at eight. I chose a 19" inch frame, I hope this is the right size as he said it was, I'm 5ft9 tall so, but my previous bike Carreras fury was an 18". Does it make a difference? I think it does with it being 27.5 inch wheels.

How do I upload pictures on here?

cooldad

Annual service is pointless, because unless you do regular maintenance it'll be dead in a year.

Uploading pics is in the FAQs

Briggo

The guy at Halford said it'd fit...

.. Didn't think to try it out to find out for yourself?

Ye not the sharpest knife in draw are ye.

Cody

Briggo wrote:

The guy at Halford said it'd fit...

.. Didn't think to try it out to find out for yourself?

Ye not the sharpest knife in draw are ye.

Hi, yeah I tried it. My foot was lifting off the floor on my tip toes. The last bike I purchased was an 18" with 26" rims, a carrera fury from halfords in May 2011 which I sold in April 2013. Do you think I should have purchased an 18" this time round even though their 27.5" rims?

I'm not sure, please advise.

Cody

cooldad wrote:

Annual service is pointless, because unless you do regular maintenance it'll be dead in a year.

Uploading pics is in the FAQs

I paid £589, plus £30 for annual service. What I meant was they will service my bike throughout the year free of charge so all labour costs are covered e.g tyre punctures, brake failures, and anything else, just the parts I have to pay additionally for.

cooldad

Most maintenance only takes a few minutes. Lubing chain, minor adjustments, changing pads, checking everything's tight etc, and in nasty weather may need doing every ride or so.
Fixing a puncture takes a few minutes, and it's less hassle to do at home than book a bike in, drop it off, pick it up. And then pay for whatever they felt like changing.
Like extended warranties, a rip off.
Especially when most punctures occur miles from anywhere, in pouring rain.
IMHO of course.

Cody

cooldad wrote:

Most maintenance only takes a few minutes. Lubing chain, minor adjustments, changing pads, checking everything's tight etc, and in nasty weather may need doing every ride or so.
Fixing a puncture takes a few minutes, and it's less hassle to do at home than book a bike in, drop it off, pick it up. And then pay for whatever they felt like changing.
Like extended warranties, a rip off.
Especially when most punctures occur miles from anywhere, in pouring rain.
IMHO of course.

Yh, I bought some chain lube about 3 year ago and de-greaser which in total cost me £20 or near enough. Changing pads I don't know how to do I messed up last time I removed the silver clip inside the avid juicy 3's which clings on to the rotar disc and i couldn't put back in again, took me couple of hours, eventually had to take to halfords. lol the brakes were sqeaking after riding for approx 2-3 months. I had a puncture on it aswell, 1 puncture in 4 months riding. I guess its not so bad? but can be avoided. lot of people leaving glass everywhere and not bothering to clean up. I don't know how to fix punctures for the bike so I guess a good way to learn would be to try myself with some instructions? i use to do it on old bikes, but i think newer bikes are more sophisticated. Also I've realised with my carrera fury that, 21st century bikes or the new bikes they have out nowadays have more things go wrong with them as opposed to older bikes from 15 years ago. I've paid for the bike now in cash, I decided to go for the comp instead of the team which I could have got for £570 from Manchester from a private seller brand new used only couple of times. But I didn't bother, too far for me, 30 miles from where I live so I went to Halfords instead. If I feel a 19" is too big for me I can cancel the order tomorrow after going down to pick it up and asking them to build me an 18" frame instead, is it possible to do that?

I've orrdered a shimano chain stay protector on ebay for £1.98 free postage, lizard skins were £8.60.
I just need a set of lights now and a 1 metre cable lock from evans cycles in leeds which is around £10.00 and a padded padlock for a fiver and a set of crud catcher mudguards. All from ebay I guess!

CitizenLee

Get a helmet before mud guards

On One are doing one for £9.99 at the moment...

http://www.on-one.co.uk/c/q/clothing/helmets

Briggo

CitizenLee wrote:

Get a helmet before mud guards

On One are doing one for £9.99 at the moment...

http://www.on-one.co.uk/c/q/clothing/helmets

Unless he can get it from ebay, it's a no go.

Cody

Halfords rang me at 1.30pm today whilst I was in the barber shop. They said bike was ready to collect. When I got there I asked about the returns policy he said, once it leaves the shop you can't return it unless there's a major fault with the parts or frame. Is this true? so he also said, my £30 a year bike service covers all maintenance, except the bleeding of the brakes,which costs £18 for one brake, thats a bank breaker and a ripoff! When I got the bike home, after giving my dads car a full valet, I took the bike for a little spin around the block and realised the brakes are not very good, they stop the bike 5 minutes later after pressing them. Why is this? the Halfords guy said the 'chhh' noise when the brake discs press together will go away after a few rides. All in all I think its a better bike then a Carrera bike, but I realised with the Carerra bikes they don't charge you for bleeding the brakes and puncture repairs and other bike maintenance. I guess when it comes to their own brand they seem to throw more cards on the table. As for ebay, I pretty much buy everything off there, even clothes that I wear and shoes. But the guy who set up my bike today in Halfords said to my dad as we were leaving, to buy helmets and accessories off ebay like the Giro ones for £10-15. They gave me some tools with the bike like a spanner and some allen keys but he said they don't fit on any part of the bike. I must buy a allen key handy tool set for £8 which has all the tools on it. The good thing is, the chain cassette cog has a 2 year guarantee, awesome.

cooldad

Cody wrote:

Carerra bikes they don't charge you for bleeding the brakes and puncture repairs and other bike maintenance.

You think?

Briggo

Brilliant thread, what did you have for din dins Cody?

Cody

cooldad wrote:

Cody wrote:

Carerra bikes they don't charge you for bleeding the brakes and puncture repairs and other bike maintenance.

You think?

Yes. That's the case with my old Carreras fury bike, they didn't charge me not one bit. Even when the cassette cog lost 2 of its teeth and was slipping gears, they replaced it which cost them £40. They said I was riding on low or high gears continuously which caused the damage. Either way it wasn't my fault because it was within two months and was a new bike. I had to get rid of it eventually as I wanted to buy a car, which I did, then didn't use it as much so one year and six months on I've still got the car and now bought a bike again which I hope to ride often.

Cody

Briggo wrote:

Brilliant thread, what did you have for din dins Cody?

For breakfast I had, 2 fried eggs, 2 slices of toast and daal lentil curry and tea with honey.

For lunch, a salad sandwhich in a bap.

For evening meal, meat curry and naan.

I usually eat only one or two meals a day, today i had three.

cooldad

Cody wrote:

cooldad wrote:

Cody wrote:

Carerra bikes they don't charge you for bleeding the brakes and puncture repairs and other bike maintenance.

You think?

Yes. That's the case with my old Carreras fury bike, they didn't charge me not one bit. Even when the cassette cog lost 2 of its teeth and was slipping gears, they replaced it which cost them £40. They said I was riding on low or high gears continuously which caused the damage. Either way it wasn't my fault because it was within two months and was a new bike. I had to get rid of it eventually as I wanted to buy a car, which I did, then didn't use it as much so one year and six months on I've still got the car and now bought a bike again which I hope to ride often.

What does breaking teeth and having the cassette replaced under warranty have to do with puncture repairs or brake bleeding?

ElliesDad

I had the 2012 Boardman Comp, great bike but I went for the 19 inch frame which was too big, I am 5ft 10. Got a 2012 Boardman Team FS in an 18 inch frame and it fits like a glove.

Bike maintenance is a piece if cake, do it yourself.

Bleeding brakes is fairly straight forward too, pick up a bleed kit on eBay.

If you haven't bedded in the brakes properly you may not get rid of the brake noise.

Finally, as for C2W and fraud, most people on the C2W scheme are committing fraud anyway as they don't use the bike for work!

Cody

ElliesDad wrote:

I had the 2012 Boardman Comp, great bike but I went for the 19 inch frame which was too big, I am 5ft 10. Got a 2012 Boardman Team FS in an 18 inch frame and it fits like a glove.

Bike maintenance is a piece if cake, do it yourself.

Bleeding brakes is fairly straight forward too, pick up a bleed kit on eBay.

If you haven't bedded in the brakes properly you may not get rid of the brake noise.

Finally, as for C2W and fraud, most people on the C2W scheme are committing fraud anyway as they don't use the bike for work!

Yeah well I've bought it now its too late, they said once ive taken it out of the store i couldn't take it back which pissed me off really. so as an act of revenge i went and rode it through the woods in mud and dirt and took it home, satisfied, NOT. but was happy that i bought a new bike. Wasn't too keen on the colour though, i preferred black as opposed to white, someone might nick it, black looks pretty plain and simple and doesn't stand out as much.

anyway my bender fender mudguard arrive on wednesday which i fitted, crud mudguards arrived today which i havent fitted as im still at work right now, and my 7ft kryptonite cable lock came on wednesday but just need a padlock for that but the chainstay protector which i bought for £2.00 on ebay taking the piss, hasn't even arrived yet! so might go down to halfords and get a black one neoprene for £7.00.

Bike seat hurts my ass man, feel like its being rubbed against a handsaw. lol

any ideas for a bike seat, madison flux in brown, yes/no?

send me a link for the bleed kit on ebay please i shall have a look, but how do i do it is important thing?

bike maintenance is harder on the newer bikes, more technical and im not technical.

its been in the garage a week now, rode it yesterday on road, bike seat still hurts my bum.