From the cyclescheme.co.uk website.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has issued a group consumer credit licence to cover Employers implementing Cycle to Work Schemes that are limited at £1000 inc. VAT per Certificate.

Employers who have their own Consumer Credit Licence Category B (consumer hire) can allow employees to request Certificates of a higher value. Alternatively, employers wishing to increase the Cycle to Work Certificate value can apply for their own individual Consumer Credit Licence from the Office of Fair Trading. For further details please contact our Helpdesk on info@cyclescheme.co.uk.

Technically no you cannot top up the voucher & it is supposed to be at the RRP

Some shops will allow a top up, but if you lose your job then you lose the top up if still within the contract period and the company may well want the bike back, they may also wonder why you have a different bike to the one on the voucher

Some shops allow reduced price bikes, but some do not as some schemes admin charges can be quite high

I also have heard that some shops add 10% onto the price if it’s cyclescheme bike

I also received some free decals and a head tube badge for my 1998/9 10th Anniversary Orange Clockwork when I contacted them asking if they had any. Bit of a long shot after 13 years or so, but they did have some :D

I’d previously received free swingarm decals for my ’06 Orange 5 too after my heels rubbed the original ones off

Great service from Orange 8)

test ride several bikes and make your own mind up, don’t just look at one brand either

Take it out and get it battered

should taste lovely with some chips

Syntace P6 (10 year warranty) http://www.syntace.com/index.cfm?pid=3&pk=1615

or Thomson

Pretty happy most of the time, occasional blips as you’d expect when life kicks you in the balls, but I just go ride my bike to clear my head

My happy-o-meter is rapidly rising (oo-er) as I’ve just met someone rather special, she doesn’t ride bikes off road (does own a commuting bike) but that might be a good thing as I can still get my own time doing my own thing

Cube Sting HPC.

It’s the best 120mm lightweight (25.4lb build) FS I’ve ridden, you can get the frame only but I don’t know it’s weight

Special tool?!?

There is no special tool that I’m aware of to remove a Ryde XMB freehub to replace one under warranty (Hotlines sent us a couple of new freehubs).

Now we just send the wheel back to Hotlines and they deal with it, we have a spare wheelset to lend out to our customers whilst the warranty work is being carried out

If the freehub is sticking and not freewheeling properly then that is the major issue with the XMB freehub, it generally starts as a fair bit of play then just locks up from what our customers tell us

I believe the issue has been resolved for the 2012 version

hmmm

drinking

dancing

grand prix watching with the worst hangover I’ve had in a long time

drinking

frolicking

oh and a hint of bike riding (to the pub)

Sometimes I bimble round the house

I’ve never pootled round the house though

Am I missing out?

If he wants to spend his money on an Orange 5 then it’s his money.

I like the Orange 5, I have owned 2 of them but one was nicked and I sold the other one to pay for a different bike as I was not reaching the full potential of the 5

I work in a bike shop

We’ve sold as many bikes in the last 9 months as we did in the previous year

High end and low end bikes are selling well, the mid range stuff is a bit sluggish & road bikes have been slow for us. MTB’s & hybrids have been flying out of the door this year

The way things are going it’s looking quite good, but I do fear the VAT on the C2W scheme will dent our sales a bit :(

Steve: http://www.ukbikeskills.co.uk

The Sting has a -20mm BB height, my last bike the AMS 100 had a -12mm BB height, so only 8mm lower

The slacker angles (Sting Vs AMS) also play a part in the feeling of confidence on a bike, as do several other factors

Just gotta watch those pedals with a low BB ;)

Yup, I had a 2010 Cube AMS Pro 100 R1 (it’s for sale at the mo)

Nice bikes, but a bit too racey for me

I’m working in a LBS

Been in the trade for quite a few years now & still love it

Wallet’s a bit thin due to the wages and buying new shiny things

But I get to play with bikes all day

For any warranty you need to speak to the retailer you bought the product from as the warranty lies with them, not Hotlines

Pace, Merlin & Ibis, a very nice collection :)

I carefully consider what I’m going to post, rarely do I delete what I’ve started to write

It’s a case of engaging the brain before the fingers in my case

It’s only the low/mid range 2012 Cube bikes that are coming out very soon the Aim, Analog, Attention, Acid & some of the LTD range. The higher end stuff won’t be out for some time.

We had a couple of 2012 Acid’s, Aims and Attentions, all sold within 48 hours!

If the Stereo rides as well as my Sting does it will be a superb bike

They are such good value for the money even at full RRP

Cube Sting?

120mm travel, Carbon frame…

Mine is upgraded with a few nice bits, Formula R1 brakes, DT carbon wheelset, XT shifters & Syntace seatpost. weighs in at 25.5lb on my digital scales

Currently…

KHS
[/url]
KHS Montana Pro Cropped[/url] by Andy Bax[/url], on Flickr

Orange

Marin
[/url]
P1020811[/url] by Andy Bax[/url], on Flickr

The Beer Scooter/Commuter

Cube Sting
[/url]
P1020944[/url] by Andy Bax[/url], on Flickr

Cube AMS Pro 100 R1 (for sale)

1993 KHS Montana Pro

1995 Marin Team Titanium

1998/9 Orange Clockwork

Some fork manufactures say not to use the type of carrier that bolts onto the fork drop outs

Personally I don’t think you can go wrong with the Thule Proride 591 carrier. Had mine for years, so easy to use and it helps keep the inside of car clean.

The front wheel can sometimes flutter in the breeze, but I have never seen one come out of the tyre tray if the wheel is correctly tied down with the strap

I just took a look and I think it’s been hacked, all the posts seem to be made by retarded children. I have informed the site administrators.

Enough about STW, what about Bikeradar?

Never had any problems with Sram…

…or Shimano

I just prefer the positive action of Sram…

…but saying that my new bike is Shimano & it’s ok, it works well enough for now… I guess time will tell how good it really is

MaXx D Mk4

Across the front of the case measures 50mm

The case body widens slightly to approx 55mm at it’s widest point

Case length is 113mm

Case width at the tail end is 45mm

Howzat?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2028303/Red-Arrows-pilot-killed-crash-near-Bournemouth-Airport-festival-display.html

I have a MaXx D Mk4, it’s rock solid on the bars, even after 2 crashes at Mountain mayhem it did not budge a mm

I’ve only compared it against my DX Magicshine 900 lumen light, it’s so much better, no hot spot and a much better beam spread

Yup, it was great fun, thanks once again :)

Here’s my Jedi blog, just in case anyone is interested http://ukbikeskills.blogspot.com/2011/08/andy-bike-doctors-session.html

Happy BirthCakeday APF

Epic day.

Drank beer

Woke up in a field

Rode my bike

Talked to some bloke called Jedi

He taught me a few things

I rode my bike some more

I finished off by drinking some more beer at home

rain was mostly ok on the drive down, a few heavy showers but think I timed it about right as there’s no rain here now :)

hope your shoulder is sorted soon.

I’m currently sat in my tent supping a beer @ Jedi’s trails whilst browsing t’web.

Looking forward to tomorrow’s riding, I hope the coffee pot’s gonna be full, reckon I’ll need a kickstart in the morning!

I’m going down to see Tony on Friday, but I’ll be getting there on the Thursday so I may bump into you philconsequence

I’m going with the mindset of I’m just gonna ride my bike and learn how to do it better. I’m not trying to think about it at all

I have like most riders had off’s that knock your confidence, but I’m not letting that concern me.

Don’t over-think your situation

I have a few bottles in the fridge, Original, Blonde and Rum

Really looking froward to the Rum version, it should have quite a kick in the flavour department…

Yes I do know that whichever is greater is what is charged, I do send a lot of items from work via couriers

Are you sure you haven’t been over charged? I mean if there’s no mention of volumetric weight on your price list are you sure your being charged correctly? A lot of couriers guesstimate the volumetric weight you know.

I’d spend more time checking your invoices & volumetric weights and not worrying about 29p on a stamp

oh and for the pedantic, here’s the DHL Global Dimensional/volumetric weight calculator, rather than the US one

http://www.dhl.com/en/tools/volumetric_weight_express.html

http://www.dhl-usa.com/IntlSvcs/dimweight/dimweight.asp?nav=Inttools/DimWeiCal