So after months of pestering, my company has finally started a Cycle to Work scheme, yay!

Only thing is, it's the Halfords one, and I want a Cotic! Gah!

Has anyone used the Halfords scheme to get something 'off brand'? How was it? How do you work out what to do?

Cheers,

thebunk

They were really good – it seems quite a few bike shops (as opposed to car accessory shops) take the Halfords vouchers now and that seems to be the best way to go. Have a chat with the people on the helpline, explain what you are looking to buy and I'm sure they will sort you out.

Impressed if you can get a Cotic under £1000, though…

Rachel

speak to houns off here

a number of shops can deal with halfords, though i only know a some in london area

Impressed if you can get a Cotic under £1000, though…

Roadrat… ideal c2w bike

We just got in a Roadrat (£909) for a good customer of ours.

We aren't Cotic dealers and it is on c2w.

Ask Houns at Halfords (James Hounslow) if he can help you out. He is a good chap and super handsome to boot! (Like that eh houns??)

No good asking me as i'm not there for 2 weeks. 8)

OMG. Are you on holiday somewhere?

If you're after an MTB, you could always buy one of their Boardman bikes as a donor and buy a Cotic frame separately.

The Boardman full-sussers have 120mm Rebas and nice components I think, and you'd get a reasonable amount for the frame.

Honestly it's dead easy – call Halfords nice C2W line, and ask them if they can get you a Cotic. They'll say yes. Ask where they'll get it from (a dealer in your area) .. so that you can check sizing etc. Visit / talk to said dealer, who will probably tell you that they directly accept the Halfords voucher without the need to go back through the C2W line. Order bike / part with voucher / get pedalling.

Last year got a Trek road bike, and this year a shiny Spesh new roadbike that way – easy!

thebikechain – Member

OMG. Are you on holiday somewhere?

I will be, soon. Now read your mail 😡 😉

I'm very excited now. I was looking at getting one beginning of next year…

I was on the C2W scheme last year, and 3 days before I ordered my roadrat the Halfords/Cotic deal broke down, so the roadrat was not possible, much to my intense irritation. I ended up with a Kona Dewdrop instead. Halfords told me that Cotic were slow to deliver bikes, and Cotic's side of the story was Halfords took ages to pay for bikes ordered. I also heard that Halfords were cutting back on the 3rd party bikes to encourage more sales of their own cycles.

The Boardman plan would be the next best thing if you are after a Cotic cycle. They are good for the money anyway.

I also heard that Halfords were cutting back on the 3rd party bikes to encourage more sales of their own cycles.

seems to be case – my employer switched from cyclescheme to halfords (why who knows), but some people have got conflict advise from the halfords helpline..

seems more possible in central london, probably due to the low penetration/presence in the centre by halfords.

Nooooo! First you get my hopes up, then you take them away! Damn you Singletrack, damn you!

Er, I guess I should call Halfords and find out then…

second (or third) the doner bike idea. I just did that with a carrera banshee xxx and a NSbikes surge (went for the banshee as it has a beefier build than the equivilent boardman). Get a boardman, flog the frame (£100 back or so) and buy a cotic, you'll have a way better spec bike than an LBS could put together for similar money

I don't really need wheels, brakes, or forks – just a frame, groupset and finishing kit. So the donor bike thing is a bit wasted on me…

Just called Halfords and Leisure Lakes. Neither would do it 🙁

It was going to be a nice orange one, with 2×9/10 and spangly wotnots…

freedom bikes in brighton do cotic, and take the halfords voucher. worth trying the lbs nearer you too

this 'donor' bike thing – unless you run the company surely the bike isn't yours until you've finished paying the company for it?

Yep what wwaswas said, I know someone who almost lost his job by selling his C2W bike, it's basically theft, it still belongs to your employer.

Cyclescheme is a lease, end of.

The bike is yours after a year and you pay 'market value'. Then you can take it apart and sell the bits as you like. So yes, if you sell your leased bike and someone from work checks up you would be in trouble.

I don't know why I'm asking this, as I'm not planning on buying a donor bike and scavenging it – but – I'm guessing you're allowed to change bits of the bike throughout the year as things wear out, or you get more enthusiastic?

So in 5labs case, couldn't he say he was just upgrading the frame?

Anyway, back to me – are there any bike shops in Bristol / Bath area willing to sell me a Cotic on Cycle2Work?