C2W questions

secretsam

I've got a London bike which is 10 years old and frankly showing its age, will need some expensive TLC soon

The Aylesbury stable includes my ancient 531, currently decked out with Tiagra and other bits, plus road bike plus mountain bike (rarely used)

My thoughts were to convert the ancient steelie to a S/S and use that in London, and use the Tiagra bits to build up a winter bike - but I'd need a suitable frame.

SO: the key question is, can I get just a frame on C2W, or does it have to be the whole bike? IIRC, our work C2W is through Cyclescheme

Thanks in advance

timothyw

I think the answer is Maybe. I did read somewhere (perhaps evans?) that you can now get parts on Cycle to work scheme, but the cyclescheme page doesn't mention it.

To be honest though, unless you have very different expectations from a winter bike to me, I don't see why one of the cheap blue ribble frames or Planet-X rt 58 frames isn't perfectly adequate for this job, and sufficiently cheap that you can just buy it outright - then you've got cyclescheme available to you if you need to buy a whole bike for some reason (crash write off, theft, N+1, whatever) over the next year.

I recently bought a £90 ribble winter trainer frame (I already had a decent fork to use with it) and have been very pleasantly surprised with how good it is - the margin between it and a high end carbon frame really isn't the gulf that you might expect.

ic.

Also interested in the answer to this. A scheme is opening up at work but I don't need a bike. A nice set of wheels wouldn't go amiss though....

secretsam

TimothyW wrote:

To be honest though, unless you have very different expectations from a winter bike to me, I don't see why one of the cheap blue ribble frames or Planet-X rt 58 frames isn't perfectly adequate for this job

It's a fair point about the RT58 - but can it take (say) 25mm tyres plus 'guards? The Ribble certainly can't (otherwise I'd have bought one)

azzurri78

Think you "might" be able to buy a frame at Evans cycles on cyclescheme. I've just bought a bike with them through cyclescheme and pretty sure there's a bit in the checkout to pay with a certificate irrespective of what's in your basket.

Whether it goes through or not is a different matter though. Best giving them a bell and asking.

surrey_commuter

only complete bikes or safety equipment

whatleytom

I think it depends, I've heard of people buying power meters on cycle to work schemes. Probably a bit shady though I'm guessing.

veronese68

I know someone that bought a Kinesis Pro6 frame and some parts through Cyclescheme a while back.

The Rookie

According to the C2W tax rules it is complete bikes or safety equipment (which has quite a generous interpretation) only, components are not permitted. Of course we don't know what the shop put on its invoice!
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... idance.pdf section 2

shmooster

Mate bought a nice pair of Shimano Dura Ace C50s on C2W so it is possible.

The Rookie

If Illegal......

bendertherobot

The Rookie wrote:

If Illegal......

Probably. The list is "may include" and isn't exhaustive. And bikes without wheels are unsafe.

veronese68

bendertherobot wrote:

The Rookie wrote:

If Illegal......

Probably. The list is "may include" and isn't exhaustive. And bikes without wheels are unsafe.

On a bike with rim brakes it would be dangerous to ride with a worn out rim. Would that make new wheels a safety item?

bendertherobot

Veronese68 wrote:

bendertherobot wrote:

The Rookie wrote:

If Illegal......

Probably. The list is "may include" and isn't exhaustive. And bikes without wheels are unsafe.

On a bike with rim brakes it would be dangerous to ride with a worn out rim. Would that make new wheels a safety item?

It would be creative. Of course, much of this is moot and depends on what goes on under the surface and/or is challenged.

Wheels would need to be shown on an invoice though it might show £1k of safety equipment. Of course that's unlikely to be ever challenged as, if I recall correctly, safety equipment becomes zero worth at the end of the agreement whereas the bike has that ascribed value.

shmooster

bendertherobot wrote:

if I recall correctly, safety equipment becomes zero worth at the end of the agreement whereas the bike has that ascribed value.

Next time I'm buying a safety bicycle :-)