Recommend a bike for a cycl to work scheme (max £1000)

[Leccy]

Hi Just to let you know we all have to charge extra as they make there money from the charge

10% is standard

I have now refused to supply the Schemes I call them scams As the Government Has changed they way the SCAM works so no benefit apart from 12 months to pay


Frank

I'll respectfully disagree with you with it being a scam.

Financially it's saves an employee a lot of money. They get the tax and NI taken off what they would have paid for the bike.

At the end of the 12 month period there are several ways to hand the bike to the employee. The most common being adding it to their P11D so they pay tax on 25% of the value of the bike for 1 year.

Overall all they get the bike for cheaper than they would have bought new and also get to spread the payment.

No scam if you ask me.

Aside from the financial aspect It's also encouraged a lot of people to get a bike and be healthy.

The people who run the scheme are essentially acting as agents working on commission as they don't charge the employer or employee for the service. The bike shops are getting more sales then they would have without the scheme. Fair enough it's up to them whether this wish to be part of the service or not but to call it a scam is not right IMHO.

 

[banbury frank]

Hi The HMRC rules Have changed see link below

Bad news for the Cycle to Work scheme | Helen Pidd | Life and style | theguardian.com

 

[Leccy]

Hi The HMRC rules Have changed see link below

Bad news for the Cycle to Work scheme | Helen Pidd | Life and style | theguardian.com

Yes. The scheme has changed so you save less but it's still a big saving for employees than if you bought outside the scheme.

Also the link you mention doesn't use the word scam once. A scam is essentially a dishonest scheme; a fraud ; a swindle.

Sorry to split hairs but I would say that word is not applicable to the scheme.

If you'd said the scheme isn't as good as it was before but your still saving a lot of money compared to buying outside the scheme I'd be 100% in agreement

 

[103Alex1]

For a cheap front light to see by which outdoes anything on Halfords' shelf at 4 times the price, you can't really beat these :

Hot 1800 Lumen CREE XM-L T6 LED Bicycle Bike Head Light Lamp/Bicycle Light MSY | eBay

 

[Leccy]

For a cheap front light to see by which outdoes anything on Halfords' shelf at 4 times the price, you can't really beat these :

Hot 1800 Lumen CREE XM-L T6 LED Bicycle Bike Head Light Lamp/Bicycle Light MSY | eBay

Thanks. Do you have one of these yourself? I notice it comes with a us power adaptor. Do you have to buy a UK lead separately or do you just use a converter?

 

[peerjay56]

Thanks. Do you have one of these yourself? I notice it comes with a us power adaptor. Do you have to buy a UK lead separately or do you just use a converter?

This one is better. Uk charger and better battery pack, although you can run them from the bike battery. Search the threads for a howto.
You can also purchase a diffuser to give you a shaped beam, rather than a floodlight effect.

ps I'm using one (sometimes 2) of these, but not from the bike battery, as I need (oops! make that want, rather than need, just in case Flecc reads this) every Ah I have for propulsion

 

[103Alex1]

Thanks. Do you have one of these yourself? I notice it comes with a us power adaptor. Do you have to buy a UK lead separately or do you just use a converter?

Yes I have a few similar 1-CREE units (from various suppliers) plus a 3-CREE which I usually run on lower power as it is too much 'on road'.

Don't take any notice of the lumen claims - they don't give that, but they are very bright and all most people could possibly need. Far better than some £50 lights I got from Halfords. I use them off both standalone 8.4V battery packs and also have one running off my bike battery on one of the bikes. They are basically Magicshine knock-offs. peerjay's link is a bit more expensive but better value due UK plug on charger but mainly the 8.4V rather than 3.7V battery and UK stock. Otherwise the quality is similar. The connectors on the cheap models are OK but not wonderful for full-on heavy rain but there's a fix for that for about £3 with a soldering iron if you don't wan't to wire the lights to run off your main battery.

I've repaired wiring on a battery pack inside a year (after 9-11 months) and d8veh also repaired one due to poor soldering on a contact. Ironically the battery pack which needed repair first was the most expensive one I got (from C&B Seen). Nice package from them but the only real advantage was the connector quality. But all have lasted longer than any retail lights bought here and all still work fine 12 months on. You can get replacement batteries on eBay for about £12 or less if you have any battery problems you don't want to fix yourself.

I've had several expensive lights from Halfords within last year and a half - 3 different types including Topeak all broke in less than a month and were not a patch on these for performance. Ended up taking them back for credit. If you like them you can get longer lasting mounts for handlebars than the O-rings like this :

Swivel mount for Magicshine / Inton / Fluxient / Starlight etc bike lights | eBay

I also use the diffusers peerjay linked. They square off the beam a bit like a car headlight pattern and tame dazzle so are road-friendly.