Has anyone successfully used the 2011 Cycle2Work scheme (Halfords) to get a bike over 1000? I avoided the scheme last year, but took the plunge this time only to realise (my bad for not digging enough) that the 1000 limit appears to no longer allow topup – at least with Halfords. I’m keen to go for the well received Boardman 2011 Pro FS, but its 1500 notes and I don’t want to waste the 1K voucher on a lesser bike I don’t really want.

Has anyone sucessfully negotiated this difficulty, or could recommend a cycle store that accepts Halfords vouchers and allows topups?

Cheers!

Singletrack mag said go for the £1k model, the dearer one wasn’t worth £500 extra.

hmg have clamped down heavily on stores over the topups. The cyclescheme is effectively a hp agreement. If you ‘own’ 33% of your bike because of a topup, it makes the ownership of the bike on a hp scheme very complicated if things go wrong. (you leave your employer, your firm goes bust etc, etc).
And taxpayers are subsidising your new plaything. As a taxpayer who can’t get a bike on the cyclescheme I say hard cheddar to you all! Buy a crappy old hybrid for 80 quid like I did and cycle to work every day.
Oh yes, you can’t get cycle computers or tri-bars on the scheme either, har har!

As a taxpayer who can’t get a bike on the cyclescheme I say hard cheddar to you all! Buy a crappy old hybrid for 80 quid like I did and cycle to work every day.

As a taxpayer who has bought two beautiful bikes on the scheme, I say thanks for your cash 😀 I chuckle a little to myself sometimes also. And one of them was on top up too. IN YOUR FACE, HATERZ 😉

So there is no shops – that accept the Halfords vouchers – that still allow topup? oddly Evans Cycles do seem to indicate in their FAQ that it’s acceptable here, but they don’t accept Halfords vouchers…