Has anyone e bought a bike from the cycle to work scheme.

[notacooldad]

What were the pros and cons.
Just out of noseyness, what bike did you get?
Would you recommend the scheme?

Just bumping my thread. There is a random e in the question but I'm just seeing if anyone or their partners had a good expierence using the cycle to work scheme.

Yes, years and years ago
obvs it’s cheaper than buying one at full price outright, and you pay over a year I think (it’s so long ago I can’t actually remember)
Got a specialized hybrid
Only ‘con’ was about 5 minutes filling in the thing at the end to make it officially mine

I also got one years ago, a Brompton for the train. My colleague recently got an e-bike on the scheme and loves it!!

I deal with payroll and know quite a few that have. More recently they are having issues getting the bikes they want. I don't know if that's issues with the scheme or just supply problems generally.

My son's thinking of doing it, depending where he gets a flat.

You do have to use it for work. Mine is a weird scheme where you never end up owning the bike - you have to lease it for x years then decide if you want to buy it and keep it.

The pro is that you save loads of money. I think I paid something like £15 a month for a year then £20 ish for a £300 road bike and accessories like lights, lock, helmet.

The con is that there's some paperwork/ admin.

But overall it's brilliant, if you want a bike and have access to the scheme then I think you'd have to be mad not to use it...

Years ago yeah. I was supposed to pay a nominal amount to keep the bike at the end of the loan period but never did as my company’s admin was shit

years later I’ve moved jobs several times but still love the bike. At the time I don’t recall certain bikes being included it was just a case of a bike and anything else you want (helmet, locks etc) to a certain value.

i thought you were asking about e bikes which is far more interesting ….

Oh and Ps I never actually used it to cycle to work. Nobody cared.

Former colleague did this when the scheme started, though never cycled to work. I asked her about a year later how much she used it. She'd sold it to her sister!
Maybe they've tightened the rules since then?

You really don’t have to use it for work! I used it to buy my son’s bike a few years ago and it was absolutely painless

My son had one - started April last year. Ridiculous restrictions on the bike he could get etc then at the end he had to pay £250 to actually transfer ownership so it wasn’t exactly a saving. Two weeks after he paid it off it got stolen from his workplace 😡😡

Yes , got a Specialized hybrid too. I had £700 of bike and extras for I think 12 payments of £37. It's the best quality bike I've ever had and a pleasure to use.

A colleague did this a few years ago. Unfortunately his bike was stolen within a few months (from a supposedly secure bike store) and he had no insurance. He suddenly had to cough up nearly a thousand pounds to pay the loan back - I think because he was also leaving through redundancy. So he suddenly had no money and no bike☹️ Definitely get insurance!

I've recently used it to get a Specialized hybrid. It was a doddle, a slight wait for it to arrive. If you are thinking of getting a bike anyway I would. If you are in the higher tax bracket it's an even better saving.

DH did this for his last bike and it saved a lot of money. (He didn't use it for work in the end)

Yep, have four of them! All on the bike to work scheme.

I did it years ago so it could be different old scheme rules. Was great. At the time Halfords were doing Boardman bikes which were really good value for money (I wouldn’t normally recommend Halfords, was just lucky timing) I bought one for about £1000 paid about 600 for it in the end and got way more bike than I could’ve got elsewhere even shopping around. I used it for occasional cycles to work and 4 months later I used it to cycle 800 miles and it held up well (a lot less creakily than I was by the end of that 🤣). It’s still a good bike even though it’s old.

Yes I did years ago .. there were no Cons

Pro's ... tax beneficial
Got the bike I wanted
Didn't cycle to work and was never asked to ?

Word of note - it is more beneficial for higher tax rates. Different companies run their schemes differently too. Exh recently got a bike, will work out an approx 50% saving but he's a higher tax payer

Legally you do - that’s how the tax rules work. Technically you have broken the law - sounds daft I know but god knows how anyone would ever find out.

Actually it might be the employer who has broken the law

DH and I both did this quite a few years ago. I cycled a 10 mile round trip to work 5 days a week and he did a 40 mile round trip twice a week, he drove in the other days. The bike I got cost me £500 with the discount he spent 1k on his.

I’ve done it twice. Both times I got a folding bike to take on the train. Brilliant scheme, I saved loads of money.