BTW scheme - recommendations?

peckerhead

I'm thinking of getting a half-decent bike under the Cycle-to-work scheme and have just wasted an hour waiting around in the nearest local bike shops (in Limerick city) which are approved for the scheme by my employer. Their prices look fairly steep, too.

One of the approved online suppliers is iSport, which has this "special offer" for €740.00 inc. VAT.

Any opinions/tips for a complete noob would be welcome.

kuro_man

yuk!

If you want to cycle on the road, get a road bike.
If you want to cycle off-road get a mountain bike.
If you want to do both get 2 bikes or a mountain bike + set of slick tyres

Who else is approved?

peckerhead

The list says:

The Bike Shop O'Connell Avenue 061 – 315 900 061 – 315 932
Emerald Alpine 21 Roches Street 061 – 416983 061 – 404451
Halfords City East Retail Pk, Tipperary Rd B4W
Jim O'Brien 8 Upper William Street 086 – 8290359
Mc Mahon's Cycleworld 25 – 30 Roches Street BTW 061 415 200
Siopa Rothar Teo 4 John Street

But I just heard from a workmate that he went to another crowd in Raheen (?) and it was approved, too. I'll check in the morning.

Just to clarify — I'm not talking about any kind of "serious" cycling here (I'm a 48-year-old smoker with two dodgy knees!), just in and out to work or the odd cycle around town if it's not pissing rain. Certainly no off-road stuff. :eek:

What's wrong with all those Apollo/Carrera/Raleigh hybrids I see on the Halfords website for around the €350-€600 mark? (other than that none of the ones on special offer ever seem to be actually available in RoI stores, least of all Limerick...)

kuro_man

By all accounts, apollo bikes are not worthy consideration - they will be unreliable and won't be nice to ride. Carerra are much better.

The difference is weight and stiffness. A road bike will be lighter than a hybrid (generally), a bit stiffer so easier to propel. It is not automatically less comfortable, that depends on the tyres, frame material and geometry. A hybrid might be more upright and softer, but heavier and harder to propel. You can also get road bikes with flat-bars instead of drops.

Probably the best thing to do is go to a reputable bike shop. They will let you take a spin on different bikes and see what you like.

The scheme allows you to spend €1000 gross, costing you €540 at higher rate of tax so it makes sense to use it as effectively as possible.

peckerhead

Cheers, kuro_man. You're probably right about visiting a good shop and trying a few different models out to see what suits me. I'm only 5'9", so I'm figuring a frame size around the 20" mark?

And yes, no point in not maximising the tax break. I can also put any accompanying gear — helmet, locks, lights, etc. — on the invoice, so I won't skimp on those.