Bike to work scheme advice

Inquitus

Hi,

My employer will only deal with http://www.eurocycles.ie/ , they have negotiated a 20% discount on the list prices. I wish to purchase a road bike and avail of the full 1000 euro the scheme covers. I don't mind putting additional money on top of that to the tune of 200-300 euros if needed.

As I am only new to road cycling could the kind people of this board advise me of what the best option for me would be from that supplier. I am 5ft 11" and inside leg of about 32" so I would imagine I fit into the normal frame size brackets and don't require anything out of the ordinary in that regard. I wish to use it for cycling in the evenings and starting out with a cycling club. I have a hybrid for my short commute.

Tnx a mil,

Inq

Lumen

Based on what's on their website, I'd say Focus Variado or Felt F65.

You might call and ask them if they can order in any other Focuses, e.g. Cayo 105.

hobochris

Sounds like the company my Gf works for, are they based in Blackrock by any chance?

funkyjebus

no they are in naas road, st. william street and airside RP. think ur gf could be fibbin, dont know of a bike shop in blackrock!!

go with the f65 op, i believe it has a few hundred off atm and has ultegra sl. i got my felt in there a year ago with 20% before btw aswell made it awesome value.

Inquitus

Okay so I had a chat with them, and they only have 1 F65 left and its 58cm frame and I need @ 54cm, so its a no go. I also had a chat with work, and they may be amenable to Halfords instead of Eurocycles, which opens up the Boardmans.

Can people revise their advice accordingly please, and many thanks for the guidance so far.

ShevY

I got boardman team carbon for €550.
Using scheme and axa 15% off voucher I printed
Just put a relatives policy number on it. Didn't expect them to accept both.
Great deal, however I have had to have rear wheel replaced already.
A spoke broke, they just gave me a new wheel no question.
They are a joke of an operation but its worth it if you can get huge savings.
That was halfords mahon point cork btw

funkyjebus

Is that F65 in all their stores? Yeah personally if i could do it all again i would go for a boardman team carbon myself (althought i do love my felt, and just upgraded to ultegra sl last week). But halfords wont give you 20% off, but as shevy said there is some axa trick you can do, pehaps shevy might recap, as i was still thinking of going for a team carbon sometime soon myself. they were also reduced a while back to like 1200 afaik, anyone know when that was, perhaps that time of year is coming around (winter perhaps, when sales fall). You should read this review, it should sell you on the boardman. Not as nice looking as the felts though, but so cheap for what you get.

petethedrummer

Last time I was out there, the Eurocycles in Swords had a decent selection of bikes, mainly Felts. The one on south william st has a fair few too and is getting better as a bike shop.

positron

ShevY wrote: »

I got boardman team carbon for €550.

Looking at Halfords website and it says 1499 or so? Could you find the item on their website please (or what is the model number / sku?).

Thanks in advance ShevY, I am looking into buying a started bike - currently considering Defy4, Specialized Allez etc, all in similar €600 range, so curious to know if there's better deal out there.

Inquitus

positron wrote: »

Looking at Halfords website and it says 1499 or so? Could you find the item on their website please (or what is the model number / sku?).

Thanks in advance ShevY, I am looking into buying a started bike - currently considering Defy4, Specialized Allez etc, all in similar €600 range, so curious to know if there's better deal out there.

He means 1499 less the 15% Axa discount and then factoring in the bike 2 work scheme tax benefits it worked out at 550. I also remember seeing it for 1299 a while back and I presume thats the list price he started at to get to 550.

ShevY

Inquitus wrote: »

He means 1499 less the 15% Axa discount and then factoring in the bike 2 work scheme tax benefits it worked out at 550. I also remember seeing it for 1299 a while back and I presume thats the list price he started at to get to 550.

This is correct except the starting price was €1250 when I bought it. Halfords irish and uk sites seem to be down this minute.

axa voucher available here: http://www.axaplus.ie/halfords_index.htm

also when I bought the bike I had to have wheels trued and gears setup properly at a proper bike shop.

hobochris

Inquitus wrote: »

My employer will only deal with http://www.eurocycles.ie/ ,

funkyjebus wrote: »

no they are in naas road, st. william street and airside RP. think ur gf could be fibbin, dont know of a bike shop in blackrock!!

Didn't say bike shop, said company that will only deal with bike shop.

positron

Thanks again ShevY, I think here's the Team Carbon at halfords.ie -

http://www.halfords.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_11101_catalogId_15551_productId_502001_langId_-1_categoryId_212536

Inquitus

ShevY wrote: »

This is correct except the starting price was €1250 when I bought it. Halfords irish and uk sites seem to be down this minute.

axa voucher available here: http://www.axaplus.ie/halfords_index.htm

also when I bought the bike I had to have wheels trued and gears setup properly at a proper bike shop.

Shevy, what time of year did you buy it? Was it a 2009 model reduced to clear? I ask because I would quite happily hold off a month or 2 until the 2010 model is reduced as it will inevitably be replaced with a 2011 model in due course.

Tnx a mil,

Inq

olmo

I got a team boardman €1250 in June, it's the 2010 model. I went to Halfords Swords and the guy there (Chris) was very helpful and knowledgable. The price may have increased due to currency fluctuations?

ShevY

olmo wrote: »

I got a team boardman €1250 in June, it's the 2010 model. I went to Halfords Swords and the guy there (Chris) was very helpful and knowledgable. The price may have increased due to currency fluctuations?

around june

funkyjebus

ShevY wrote: »

around june

june just gone, as im positive its been longer since i saw at that price. was it listed in store and on the web at that price?

Inquitus

olmo wrote: »

I got a team boardman €1250 in June, it's the 2010 model. I went to Halfords Swords and the guy there (Chris) was very helpful and knowledgable. The price may have increased due to currency fluctuations?

Indeed, went from 0.94 late last year to as 0.81 in June, makes sense

positron

On one of the bike radar reviews, someone has posted a comment that the price has gone up by 200 sterling. So, may be Halfords got "greedier"?

I was semi-excited about the possibility of buying a carbon framed bike - not to be I think..!

Inquitus

positron wrote: »

On one of the bike radar reviews, someone has posted a comment that the price has gone up by 200 sterling. So, may be Halfords got "greedier"?

I was semi-excited about the possibility of buying a carbon framed bike - not to be I think..!

If you can pull off the 15% Axa Blagg it brings it down to 1274.15 which is manageable, need to check to see if any rellies have axa discs in their cars! Unfortunately myself and the wife moved to cheaper insurers from Axa 6mths back

ShevY

funkyjebus wrote: »

june just gone, as im positive its been longer since i saw at that price. was it listed in store and on the web at that price?

It was €1250 in store and on web. bought on june 7th



they didnt even look at axa details. You could just go round the car park until you see a car with an axa policy number

funkyjebus

Inquitus wrote: »

If you can pull off the 15% Axa Blagg it brings it down to 1274.15 which is manageable, need to check to see if any rellies have axa discs in their cars! Unfortunately myself and the wife moved to cheaper insurers from Axa 6mths back

so use your old policy number, or chance a digit or two. they will not check, that would be against the data protection act.

Inquitus

I found this scheme run by One 4 All, seems to me by far the best for both employee and employer.

http://www.bikes4work.ie/

Employer only has one point of contact and needs to approve one supplier, Employee gets a choice of some of the better bike shops in Dublin in addition to the Halfords and Eurocycles of this world. Gonna try and sell it to my HR Dept, would advise anyone else wanting to avail of the scheme to push this one to their employers.

Inquitus

I now have access to bikes from all the stores listed here, it's quite a daunting list, and any advice on where I might score the best Road Bike bargain in the 1200-1400 range will be greatly welcomed.

Morgan

Inquitus wrote: »

I found this scheme run by One 4 All, seems to me by far the best for both employee and employer.

http://www.bikes4work.ie/

Employer only has one point of contact and needs to approve one supplier, Employee gets a choice of some of the better bike shops in Dublin in addition to the Halfords and Eurocycles of this world. Gonna try and sell it to my HR Dept, would advise anyone else wanting to avail of the scheme to push this one to their employers.

I don't think it's that great. One4All get 10% of the voucher cover value (€100 on a €1000 bike). That's €100 the bike shop is missing out on, so it pretty much eliminates any chance of getting a discount/deal from the shop.

Inquitus

Morgan wrote: »

I don't think it's that great. One4All get 10% of the voucher cover value (€100 on a €1000 bike). That's €100 the bike shop is missing out on, so it pretty much eliminates any chance of getting a discount/deal from the shop.

Its a vast improvement on only eurocycles for me, who are terrible, and surely there's lots of 2010 bikes out there about to be superceded, some bargains must abound.

ktz84

Morgan wrote: »

I don't think it's that great. One4All get 10% of the voucher cover value (€100 on a €1000 bike). That's €100 the bike shop is missing out on, so it pretty much eliminates any chance of getting a discount/deal from the shop.

Would agree. Administration companies have strangled any good deals in shops in Britain and the North under C2W. I was lucky in that my employer, amongst the few, that actually setup and administered their own scheme. They do very little work at all but their (administrators) impact is huge on what deals you can negotiate and not for the good. Run a mile.

Inquitus

Morgan wrote: »

I don't think it's that great. One4All get 10% of the voucher cover value (€100 on a €1000 bike). That's €100 the bike shop is missing out on, so it pretty much eliminates any chance of getting a discount/deal from the shop.

ktz84 wrote: »

Would agree. Administration companies have strangled any good deals in shops in Britain and the North under C2W. I was lucky in that my employer, amongst the few, that actually setup and administered their own scheme. They do very little work at all but their (administrators) impact is huge on what deals you can negotiate and not for the good. Run a mile.

Valid points lads, but my employer is unwilling to deal with more than 2 suppliers, which is a move in the right direction after it was just one, Eurocycles. Its not the best scheme given the 10% one4all take out of it, but its the best I am going to get.

Any advice on where I can snag a bargain? the 10% not withstanding, please.