cycle to work scheme stitch up! help required

Confused?

Now i'm confused. Just been on the cycletowork website and typed in my postcode, to find a shop, expecting a long list of halfords shops to spring up and to my surprise not one was in the list. Is it because I am in Wales? Is the Halfords thing specific to your company?Anyway I will be having a chat with my boss tomorrow as you can never have too many bikes....

i think it depends on the administration company that is chosen by your company to sort it out.

when i was in a shop we were on the cyclescheme.co.uk which i think is generally any shop that wants to participate, but the bigger companies like mine tend to go with the corporate shops like halfords and evans etc.

i noticed when i was still in the trade it depended on whether or not the person implimenting the scheme at the company was a cyclist, the cyclist would generally choose a scheme that was right for the employees and gave choice of shop like cyclescheme, the non cyclist doesn't always understand the need/want for a particular bike so chooses the easiest option for setting up the scheme which seems to be halfords. i can understand that but i don't have to like it!

If the scheme is specifically so people can buy bikes to ride to work, why do you need to spend more than £1000? The Specialized Sirrus is £650 retail for the 'comp' version with tasty carbon bits. £399 for the base model which is perfectly good enough for commuting.

If I was running the scheme it would be "Right, what size Sirrus do you want?"

you are right in the fact that you don't need to spend a grand, i am, but only by getting deacent lights etc aswel but it sounds like you've missed my point, choice is what i am talking about. whether it be the product or place. i think choice is very important.

if we didn't have choice everyone would dress the same, eat the same, drive the same car etc and in this case ride the same bike.

i don't want that. i want my bike to be different from yours.

besides, can you imagine the fights at the bikepark if we all had the same bike? you'd struggle to find it among the other 50 that are there! then again if they were all the same i suppose it wouldn't matter which one you ride home!

I've not missed your point at all and I don't think that choice is important in this matter. The only choice you need to make is what size bike to buy. This scheme is about reducing pollution and congestion and offering an incentive to the average slob of a British citizen to get off their fat arse and do some exercise.

I bet if the scheme was originally "which size Sirrus do you want", you'd have taken the bike quite happily and not thought twice about it. The problem for both yourself, the government and the scheme managers is that people were given 'choice' and have abused it. Should have kept it simple and everyone would have been happy.

So... Which size Sirrus then?

I agree with Russell , the scheme is not designed for cyclist . it is designed for average people to start riding bikes .

if eveyone rode the same bike it would make very easy for theives to nick your bike, which is what happend where i work. nevermind the security on the gate and the cctv, :roll:
the best thing my company did was to get eveyone data tagged for free. with the help of the local plod.
not shure how well that works though.

no offence russel but i'm not a fan of specialized! not for any reason though, don't even know why myself! just never floated my boat. maybe though, i'll pick your next car for you without knowing who you are and what size you family is and how far you'll have to drive regularly, will i make the right choice for your needs? probably not. and that is where i think the choice comes back into it. but this is a conversation that could go on for ages, i see your point, nobody ever "needs" something nice it is a "want" and choice thing and i choose to want something a little nicer.

and again, what a grey world it would be if everything was the same everywhere!

i do however except that the schemes are aimed at everyone, and am i not a part of everyone? but i think that unfortunately it doesn't matter whether there is a tax benefit or not i think alot of people outhere are people who are "slobs" and can't be arsed to ride to work full stop but might get the bike anyway.

one question you wrote (russel) in the previous post was why do you need to spend more than £1000? i wasn't sure if you missed it but i am not, the bike i want is a practical condor road bike with lights/lock and new helmet and mudguards, not a particularly bling bike, just good quality steel that will last for years to come, hopefully!

please also note that i do see your point and understand it as a reasonable argument but i don't have to get a specialized sirrus so i won't! so there!!

besides this is RETROBIKE if i have to buy new i'll buy retro style not new fangled aluminium!!

anyway off to bed after another night shift! goodnight!

Russell":19n0vqmr said:

So... Which size Sirrus then?

Click to expand...

lol, your communist ideals coming out again Russell,

i think the other manufacturers would have the government in the EU court, under anti-competition laws if they promoted just one brand/model of bike,

plus Halford dont stock Specialized, lol

Hi there,

I managed to jack up a new bike through my local bike shop and not through Halfords.

I work for Cornwall County Council and I had all the crap excuses to wade through but I just stuck to it.

Get your bike shop onside, get them to contact Halfords and state they are going to supply you with a bike.
At this point a deal will be struck bteween the two.

Once this has happened get as many of your colleagues to do same to increase sales and profit as there is not much for a single bike for your shop.

Give them the voucher when it comes in. Take your new bike

Bob's your dads brother.


Down here we managed to swing it for a good few, new bikes and happy riders.

Cheers
The Crow