Well, the savings on this particular scheme (to me) are “just” the income tax and the employees NI contributions, so as basic rate taxpayer it’s roughly a 30% saving. If the “fair market value” of an 18 month old bike is less than 30%, then great, it’s worth doing. If “fair market value” of the bike is 30% after 18 months, then I’ve not really saved anything, and a bike shop offering 0% credit would work out about the same (slightly higher monthly payments but no “balloon payment” on the end). If the “fair market value” is over 30%, then actually ends up more expensive.

As mentioned in the original post, from an employees POV, it doesn’t seem to be the most generous of schemes. Not sure who’s pocketing the VAT and any savings on employers NI contributions…

G

I think that’s slightly unfair, Mrs midlifecrisis should shouder some of the blame

Well, that’s another matter entirely. I’m sure there’s good money to be made as a personal injury lawyer.

depends if you’re the insurance company or not

To be fair to the insurance companies (and believe me, I never thought I’d find myself saying that!), they’re not in business out of the goodness of their hearts. They’re a business and as such there’s not much point for them if they don’t make a profit. Ultimately, they’re gambling on whether their policyholder has to make a claim and the cost of settling that claim. If the average cost of claims goes up, then they need to cover that cost. My point was that putting in inflated claims (as alexxx appears to be suggesting) doesn’t just push up the premiums of the numpty who hit the OP, it pushes everyone’s premiums up.

G

I’ve had some from an ebay shop International Bike Disc Brake Pads (sellers name is “bikefridge”. The plain non-wavey round ones have quite a large braking surface, so better suited to brakes with larger pads – I’m using them with old Hope Minis (180 front, 160 rear) and they’re fine. I’ve got some old Hope M4’s on another bike and they’re not so good on that as the pads are smaller so they only make contact with a comparatively small area of the brake disc (though with two pads, they’re in contact with a longer section of the disc, if that makes any sense).

G

Firstly, glad to hear that you’ve been given the all clear and are well enough to be posting.

Secondly, I’d like to thank the likes of alexxx for making insurance premiums as high as they are. You should never come out of an insurance claim better off than you went in.

G

Re: the brakes, if you pop the pads out, you should be able to (slowly) push the pistons back into the caliper.

As far as telling when your bars are straight, dunno if there’s an official or “correct” method but I’ve always just lined them up by eye. Stand in front of the bike with the front wheels between your knees, then twist the bars until they’re at right angles to the wheel. It’s easiest if you’ve not got the headset torqued up (but not so slack that everything’s just slopping about all over the shop).

G