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14/07/2010 18:01:11
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Mark L
Posts 180
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At work we have the choice of Halfords or Evans.
As Halfords have put the price of the Team Carbon up £200 I've plumped to go for Evans and am torn between the Cannondale CAAD8 and the BMC Streetfire SSX01. Spec wise they are pretty much the same with Shimano R500 wheels and 105 (mainly) kit. There might be some wiggle room with the BMC to get better wheels for a small amount extra.
Any advice would be very much appreciated.
Thanks
Mark
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15/07/2010 12:35:36
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Rachel (Ma Boswell)
Posts 190
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they have put the boardman up £200.....cheeky!!!! not surprised as it is a great bike.
Still worth considering unless the 1200 is too much for the BTW scheme limit!
It is a great bike!
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15/07/2010 14:11:34
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Dave S
Posts 489
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It's getting to the time of year when manufacturers bring out their new models, so you might be able to get a bit of a deal on unsold 'last years' bikes.
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15/07/2010 18:17:33
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MikeC
Posts 344
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Ken Fosters do the scheme, its easy enough to get them on the list if work havent already got them on as an approved supplier. I recently sorted it for my wife who is with the NHS and the guys there really looked after her and gave her a great deal.
She basically chose the bike then told work who she was getting it from then the shop and work worked it out between them.
Worth considering as another option, i bought my first bike from Evans and they were rubbish.
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16/07/2010 09:58:56
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Ben
Posts 726
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I think most employers are only affiliated to one scheme, as are shops. Ken Fosters is part of the most widespread scheme called CycleScheme, but Evans and Halfords are not part of this. So your employer probably isn't part of CycleScheme either, and have gone with Evans/Halfords. This does limit you slightly, although I heard that Halfords can order anything in.
But I think Mike is correct in that your employer can make a purchase tax free without going through a 3rd party like CycleScheme, although I've got no idea how this works.
If you're finding that the bikes you want are over £1000, then it may be worth negotiating with a shop - they could put a £1000 bike through the Cycle to Work voucher system, but on the day of purchase, you could add £200 cash to the voucher and get a £1200 bike. Shops aren't supposed to do this, as they strictly have to put an 'off the shelf' bike through the system at its RRP. It's also unlikely that a high street bike shop will do this.
And don't forget, can buy anything you want up to £1000, so you could get a £500 winter hack/commuter and buy loads of Assos clothes and a super powerful front light tax free !
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17/07/2010 21:13:31
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Mark L
Posts 180
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Many thanks for all the help. We pushed hard at work for cyclescheme so that we could use small local bike shops as well as planet x etc. In their wisdom they decided to go for a co
Company that only source from halfords & Evans. Halfords "say" that they will still do the team carbon for £1000 put I don't entirely trust them. I think I will go for the bmc and see if I can pursued them to put some better wheels on as it is coming to the end of the model year and they have some margin as Evans is the importer .
Mark
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