Appreciate this may have been done to death….

However its my first bite of the c2w scheme at work which is Halfords only. Speaking to them today I understand there are options outside Boardman (which I personally don't like the look of and UK supply seems non-existent anyway) so what do people recommend?
Understand PlanetX/ Ribble/ Focus are excluded – so thinking either
– Dolan Mythos
– Cannondale CAAD9 Tiagra
– Felt something-or-other
Cannondale would be my preference though not sure what Tiagra is like – compared to my 10yr-old Campag-Cougar steel framed machine, will I be suitably impressed with whatever?

I got a SS road bike for commuting (Spesh Langster). Were I in your position I would look at the Boardman equivalent; similar price, similar weight, different sort of riding to your usual bike. I bought it because it's hard work on uphills which is supposed to make you fitter. Also minimum maintenance, especially if you plan to ride it all year round.

Having recently just done this with work, can i say how impressed i am with my new £700 Boardman Comp, and also with the staff at Halfords in Wellingborough, helpful, knowledgeable, and i damn social to boot, and that was after going to another Halfords local to me, where i was told (whilst i stood there with voucher in hand) that if i wanted to try one for size id have to bring my own pedals!! Funny that at the Wellingborough store the built bike had pedals with it for people to try for size!! Anyway i digress, had the bike for about 3 weeks now and have done just under 300 miles on it, i've got to say i cant fault it, for me its comfortable works well, and also looks very good, i've a 100mile sportive next Sunday so we'll see what happens then.

boardmans seem to be very popular, on london to brighton saw loads ! Is the comp the gun-metal grey one ? Looks very nice…Struggled to keep pace with somebody on the hybrid version, they were fast!

I have a C'Dale Synapse and cannot fault it. The caad9 is just as good if not better.

Think Condor and Halfords have an agreement where they will take halfords vouchers

They also stock Specialized and other makes