My employer has finally caved and subscribed to the cycle to work scheme, but has nly given us 2 weeks in May/ June to make a bike selection (at the highest price time) and also spend no more than £1000.

How on earth am i going to get that new XC FS race bike, or S-Works enduro trail bike?? I’m struggling to see how i can get a superbike under the scheme. or at least just get some new forks and mahybe some wheels, but miss the rest?

Has anyone managed to just get accessories on these things, or just get some forks, with a ‘supplied’ frame etc, or even a new frame for £1000 with the rest donated? Any friendly bike shops out there that can assist? or is there nothing in it for the shop in the end?
Think it’s the ‘cyclescheme’ our employer has subscribed to, if anyone can help.

Cheers

Moon on a stick too?

It’s about getting a bike to use to cycle to work. £1000 should get you one of those.

I got a set of forks

don’t mean to be a spoil sport, but it is designed to provide a way to buy a commuter bike, and technically if you don’t ride the bike to work (wording is that it is the majority of the use) you are commiting tax evasion. Whilst I realise that many people don’t use the scheme for this, if you ask you’re lbs to do soemthing special for you you are asking them to run the risk of getting done by the taxman, or getting kicked off the scheme and losing business. Sorry if I seem a bit arsey, just sounds like your trying to take the piss a bit.

find a shop who will let you add to the voucher. you will only get the tax benefit on the 1k and not the money you add obviously.

you will need to get the shop to write down the value of the bike as £1000 rather than the real amount.

you will need to get the shop to write down the value of the bike as £1000 rather than the real amount

…and if you have already given them the cash to make up the difference cant see there being a problem – wasnt for me.

Whats this about tax evasion etc FFS have you seen our MPs expense claims!!!

The only problem with paying money on top of the £1000 is that by using the C2W scheme your employer is the one who owns the bike and the money you are paying them is for leasing the bike for the year, they still own it after that until they decide to sell it to you, which they don’t have to do…

Obviously, most companies don’t want loads of bikes kicking around so will sell it on, but there is the possibility that they might keep the bike so if you have paid on top of the £1000 you’d risk losing that…

Read this thread and then decide if you would like to risk your job to get something that isn’t a grown up persons bike for upto £1000 that you could ride to work on.

Right,
It is a “cycle to work” scheme, so i guess that means you probably should not really be spending it on a 4k superbike, however, the reason it is capped at £1k is to do with the regulations regarding consumer credit licences – there is a loophole that lets employers lease the bike (a form of HP) back to you over the year, as long as the object being leased is sub £1k. over this, the emloyer would need a ccl, which is currewntly about £600 itself (and lots of paprework). as far as getting a “deal” on a bike thru a shop, bear in mind that cyclescheme currently charge 10% commission ffrom the supplying shop to cover admin etc, so you may not be able to haggle in the same way as if you went into the store with a visa card or bundle of folding!
HTH,
Will…

sv – not too be a tad old fashioned and all, but does two wrongs make a right??? you’re hacked off at them for doing wrong, so why should you go out and do the same?! sorry but that smacks of hypocrisy to me! just cos you can get away with it doesn’t mean that you should, and that’s exactly the same point of view that is being expressed towards the current MP expense issue! only difference being that you would be breaking the law, and as it stands currently they aren’t!

Is it possible to run the scheme each year or is it just a one off?

Don’t worry about what the scheme’s meant to be, I expect a lot of bikeshops are scraping around for bussiness at the moment and would provide a receipt with anything you want on it; before anyone says this is fraud or worries about the ethics consider the MP’s expenses revelations.

>Is it possible to run the scheme each year or is it just a one off?

the scheme is ongoing. You can buy as many bikes on it as your employer will allow, although common sense would say one at a time. Nothing in the rules to stop you getting a second bike as soon as you;ve paid off the first, I ve heard tales of folks onto their fourth bike

Most bike shops are actually booming at the mo, but you’re really unlikely to get a bargain as all the Cyclescheme deals take a 10% commission on the voucher value. You’re saving 30% on the bike anyway!

before anyone says this is fraud or worries about the ethics consider the MP’s expenses revelations.

tax fraud is stealing from all of us, not stealing from MPs – just like benefit fraud only for some reason more acceptable to the middle classes!