Best hardtail for £1000 (BTWS)

Brian B

Been a dedicated roadie for 12 years or so but now looking to dabble with the dark side again in the winter months. I am looking to get the best deal I can get for my £1000 on the bike to work scheme. I apologise if this thread has been done to death but would like the most up to date info.

My choice steed would be a hardtail, 29" wheels and hopefully deore spec and its to be used for trail riding.

rockmonkeysc

Boardman Pro 29er would be my choice.
Excellent fork, very good brakes and transmission and a very good frame.
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/m ... -29er-2014
Save some cash for better tyres though.

The Rookie

What suppliers does your scheme give you access to? Not much point recommending something if you then find you can't buy that bike! Example, the above you can only get if your company uses the Halfords scheme.

Brian B

Thanks for relies. Boardman looks good. I am not tied to any specific shop by my employer so any shop who does bike to work will do.

The Rookie

Hmm, no shop does "bike to work" as such, the bike is bought from them by the scheme organiser, so suggest you do some homework and find out.

The scheme is actually "ride to work" (ref HMRC description) and "bike to work" is a specific scheme organiser with a relatively small number of suppliers, the biggest scheme is cyclescheme but Halfords have their own and ONLY supply though that scheme unless your employer is doing it themselves (very rare).

Brian B

Okay I am off work right now so will find out what scheme they actually run but I know from people at work they have got bikes from many different shops in Scotland so whatever system they use they are accepted in several places.

My gut feeling from memory is cyclescheme.co.uk

A lot have got bikes from Dales in Glasgow - see link for the cycle scheme vouchers they accept.

http://www.dalescycles.com/buying-your- ... ucher-a726

The Rookie

Cyclesheme seems likely - which rules out Halfords, ironic that on that page they mention 'cyclescheme' vouchers as a generic term when strictly they would only be from cyclescheme, they should use the tax break description of 'ride to work' really.

Also be sure you understand that this is a rental scheme, at the end of the first year you do not own the bike, there then has to be a further transaction to make the bike yours.

Garryboy

Hi,
My employer uses cyclescheme and I've just picked up this baby from Evans
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/pin ... 6#features

Spec seemed good, but I'm also coming from Roadie world so don't really know! Plus, it's a chrimbo pressie so I can't go out on it till then!

Other one that was recommended on here was on one parkwood. Good fork, groupset and a dropper post. However the large is out of stock till Feb.

Brian B

Thanks garryboy the spec does look good. Does anyone know if you can add money if your purchase is over £1000?

cooldad

Technically, no.

lancew

I have been looking at an On-one parkwood in that price range. 29er thats more trail aimed than cross country.

Just an idea.

The Rookie

Brian B wrote:

Thanks garryboy the spec does look good. Does anyone know if you can add money if your purchase is over £1000?

No, who would the bike belong to? the scheme who put up £100 or you who put up the extra?

That siad some local shops have been known to do a deal by putting on some shonky old wheels (for example) leaving you to buy the wheels off them and fit them to the scheme bike to ride.

chrisw333

cooldad wrote:

Technically, no.

but quite a lot will work round it.

larkim

This is the way that cyclescheme handle it:-
http://www.cyclescheme.co.uk/employers/ ... mrc-update

The Rookie

That has nothing to do with topping up at all!

Briggo

Not cyclescheme but bike2work scheme.

http://www.bike2workscheme.co.uk/faqs/

Can employee's add their own money to their voucher?

Yes, employees are able to purchase items over the £1000 limit, however, this will not form part of their salary sacrifice and therefore they will only make savings on the £1000. All equipment will remain the property of the Employer during the Hire Agreement, regardless of adding their own money.

If a company wishes to allows employees to purchase equipment over the £1000 limit and make savings on the whole amount, they will need a Consumer Credit License from the Financial Conduct Authority.


I'd be surprised if Bike2work scheme can openly say you can do it on their website and it being against the rules, I would hope an administrator of the scheme for a lot of bike shops would have done their homework.

Guess Cyclescheme just doesn't openly advertise it? I've done it on Cyclescheme anyway, easily done.

The Rookie

The tax rules don't exclude (or specifically mention) topping up, by getting the employee to sign over there share would get around the issue, BUT the fact they cant promise you can keep the bike at the end makes it a risk!

larkim

The Rookie wrote:

That has nothing to do with topping up at all!

Was referring to the ownership aspect, but fair point - link was out of context.

Briggo

The Rookie wrote:

The tax rules don't exclude (or specifically mention) topping up, by getting the employee to sign over there share would get around the issue, BUT the fact they cant promise you can keep the bike at the end makes it a risk!

There's no risk in reality, the company isn't going to want to keep hold of bikes it's an unwanted overhead to store/sell/throw away.

You'll pay the total when its due or the outstanding amount in your final pay packet if you leave/get booted and the company gets what they want, not a bike they can't do anything with.

Move on.

Garryboy

Brian B wrote:

Thanks garryboy the spec does look good. Does anyone know if you can add money if your purchase is over £1000?

I did, via Evans. They don't give a hoot. Just paid the extra (£100) as my deposit to order bike in, then voucher for the rest when picking it up.