Your HR department will have a specific URL that will take you to an online form to fill in. once you’ve done this your HR manager gets an email to authorise your application, you then sign an agreement to reduce your gross salary by however much you’vew asked for, and once your compnay have paid cyclescheme you’ll get a voucher to spend at the shop.

varies as to how long this process take depending on how your compnay has set the scheme up, and how quick they are to pay cyclescheme.

hope that helps.

in short, Ask your HR manager, they’ll have the URL you need.

Jim

I like superstar sintered ones. They are ace. and cheap. whats not to like?

My two penneth.

p.s. Service and speed of delivery from superstar has always been top notch. Nice little business, I wish Neil all the best. I’ sometimes wonder if he actually posts these ‘which brake pads’ threads as it keeps superstar in the front of peoples minds. if it is, then you’ve succeeded!

Just got back. We did the 4 hour pairs enduro.

Manchester Trev – the rumours are not true.

The course certainly wasn’t terrible – exactly what bike radar described in their website – woodland singltrack linked together with field sections. single track sections were fine, very pedally, with some interesting obstacles – I’ve never seen north shore bits in an enduro before and they are great fun. The course was, however, pretty tough, no sections to coast in, very much a full on short course xc type of thing. We had a great time and that seemed to be the consensus among the racers.

With regards to the general disatisfaction – I’d echo what brant said. yes some teething problems, not enough toilets right on your doorstep (who wants toilets on your doorstep?) but life goes on. I thought there was plenty of intersting trade stuff, and A LOT of nice bikes to take out to play on. the 4X sounded like a brilliant format – the only hting I would say was that, as a mountain biker, you couldn’t enter the enduro and watch the 4x, whereas the roadies obviously could – it would have been great if some of the rounds happened at say 5 or 6 in the evening so we could at least watch a few rounds. food – good, nice vibe.

All in all, an excellent first year – I’ll be back next time, though, as with any of these events, weather is a major element.

dodgems reminded me of phoenix nights.

well done bike radar!

http://www.twitter.com/apushbikerider

annoyingly I use it a lot nowadays, after being a naysayer to my mate clive. I hate it when he’s right. which is more often than not, annoyingly.

Nice one pauly – great to meet you too, I’ll keep an eye out for those pics! Mine aren’t the greatest but i really didn’t have my photo head on while we were racing!

I just rode the stumpy elite at set 2 rise, and it was excellent – it doens’t have the brain shock, so is quite conventional, but it’s a fantastic ride. fast, sooo controlled, I loved it – I’ve got to give it back to work this week, but really don’t want to!

flickr pics[/url]

best mtb evemnt ever! I wouldn’t mind more people on the course – it’s always good to chat, as long as the gentlemanly behaviour of moving over for the faster guys remains.

I keep on having happy flashbacks of the last bits of single track – I think the cleverest thing about the course design was to have that awesome, long, fun singletrack section at the end – I came off every single lap looking forward to my next one, which also gives the next guy a bit of a boost when their team mate comes off a lap with a big grin! (as opposed to mayhem when people come off wide eyed with a thousand mile stare, though this might have something to do with the traditional mud bath!)

bloody brilliant, roll on next year – next qweeks bike radar has got a lot to live up to!

reba seconded. **** brilliant fork, whether you think value, performance, reliability durability. kicks arse on every front.

Love em.

linky

I run the cycle to work scheme for CycleSurgery – Really it depends how the company want to run a scheme – if they want to do it themselves it can be a bit of a pain. if you go through a facilitator (such as us ;-)) then we take care of all the admin type stuff. Basically, the things an employer has to do when using our scheme is:

1 approve application of employee wanting to join the scheme (2 minutes)
2 pay the invoice from the bike company (give to account dept)
3 adjust employees pay as per the amount they have reuqested
4 give voucher to employee when we send it to them
5 take fair market value payment off employee at end of term

bearing in mind that they also make a 12.8% saving on any salary sacrificed, it’s really not a bad deal for any company joining the scheme.

mail me : james dot robertson at cyclesurgery dot com

I’ll be happy to speak to your HR manager to explain if you like.

Shawshank. Boring!

the scheme does state that it is for complete bikes i.e. a complete, ready to go bike must be supplied. This is mainly because the scheme is intended mainly to attract people who wouldn’t normally ride, and therefore bikes need to be supplied in a safe state having been assembled by a bike shop, or for mail order, supplied with instructions for final assembly (pedals, handlebars, tyres etc).

g1 seconded – had one about a month, great phone, lots of free apps. battery life not great, especially if you go mad for the internet/GPS on the move. as a regular phone you’ll probably get 36 hours if you’re dead frugal.

I like the keyboard on mine- makes text/typing much quicker.

wot geoff said

not according to the government guidelines. a complete bike must form part of the scheme. OFT and HMRC are starting to take this more seriously, so be careful.

my mate worked for evans for a bit and I they did a good job on his forks/shock. I think they generally post off to their workshop in gatwick, where I believe they have all the bits and pieces they need to do the job.

May take a bit of time, but I have heard no bad reports, and mojo/TFT are wincingly expensive..

is heat treatment good or bad? characteristics the same? is one lighter?

the tail whips on flat did it for me. I struggle to get my bike off the ground at all!

not a chance – websites are able to make mistakes unfortunately for you, right up to the point of payment. I’ts not ideal though I have to agree. I’d get in touch though and let them know it’s still onsale at the old price, it’s always worth a punt. Sometimes bike shops do my head in….

Gulliano said – typical figure is 5%. but no gurantees unfortunately.

agree with druid. At the end of the day it’s fraud, and it would be a real shame if the scheme got withdrawn due to abuse. I would also be out of a job. Surely better to lobby the force to get their act together and allow the scheme to be run.

I died in a dream once – me and the missus were in a pub, when they annnounced a bare knuckle fighting competition. Mrs JB went to the bar under the pretence of getting a round in, but entered me in the fighting. I drew the school bully, chris bradbury in the first round – I beat him, and was pretty pleased with my self.

Next round i drew Ricky Hatton, 3 punches and I died on the canvas.

Still havn’t forgiven her.

hotel du vin is nice and got offers on at the moment. small chain – modern, nice staff, on the seafront.

lansdowne OK, but pricey.

seattle – rooms quite boxy but all individually decorated. in the marina so a 30 minute walk into town.

lots of boutiquey style hotels in town – for max quirkiness try the pelirocco:

http://www.hotelpelirocco.co.uk/flash.html

ifyou’re up for a dirty wekeend this could be the winner!

i actually can’t believe you expected a serious answer!

the moisture from your eye is supposed to soothe chilli burn. massage your hand with your eyeball.

203s on the back are more than you’ll ever need, but they look cools as ****. for this reason, I’d go for 203 both ends, and then let my mates take the piss out of me.

Fuel frame ebay linky

here you go – £650-700ish

I got £230 for my ex6 frame (2007), having said that, being a completely different, older frame, it probably doesn’t help you that much.

I would expect to get £500 for the frame minimum. but maybe that’s wishful thinking….

some mates took them snowboarding – bargain.

ah well – ap it’s only my opinion, we’ve all got em. I guess tons got to make his own mind up! me? I’ll got flat bars for town riding, drops for roads though frankly I’d rather be up in the hills away from the nasty cars!

ap – flat bars = a more upright riding position, making you more visible to traffic, and enabling you to see more clearly. flat bars make a bike more manouverable, meaning you can negotiate traffic quicker.

even if you are on the hoods, a ‘proper’ road bike will still stretch you out more than a flat bar road bike, making looking about more difficult. ergo, less safe.

so yes you’re right, in a straight line, a road bike is of course quicker for all sorts of reasons; gearing, aerodynamics, efficent riding position.

But in the real world, when actually how fast you can potentially go takes second fiddle to how practical the bike is for purpose, a flat bar road bike is faster, safer and more comfortable. a bit like whats quicker thorugh london? a zonda or a smart car? there’s probably not much in it, but I know which is most practical, and probably the first on e to find a parking spot…

and if it’s red, there’s no contest 😉

No worries ton – I spend a bit of time up in london riding about getting companies to sign up to the cycle to work scheme, and these are the bikes I go for every time…. This style of bike is ace in the city, and we also find they get a lot of people who want a fast road bike, but can’t make the drops for whatever reason.

Kiting – works very well. Biking when windy is rubbish, kiting in no wind isn’t possible.

🙂

flat barred road bikes make a lot of sense in a lot of situations – In heavy traffic they really are quicker than a regular road bike with drops. They certainly don’t lack performance – we sell a lot of Marin Highway 1 – full carbon frame and nice groupset.

TBH, how much time do you spend using the drops vs the hoods anyway?
highway one:

yes – went from a 100mm stem down to a 60 a couple of weeks ago. climbing is a tiny bit trickier when it gets super steep, meaning you have to get out of the saddle a little sooner. but more than made up for confidence downhll, and faster more direct steering on singletrack. do it!

mate of mine got an altitude 30 and he loves it. Next time we ride together i might hop onto it off my inbred to see i I notice 853 loveliness, though I rather suspect I won’t*

*cos I’m not that good at riding bikes.

rebas seconded here – low miantenance, plush, stiff.

birlliant forks imho

met veleno for everything. but then I don’t ride like a nutter. cos I get scared innit.

TJ – maybe lancewill fall off his bike without a helmet on and take some more drugs in his recuperation…

Maybe the frenchies will have him for contributory negligence!

Innocent til proven guilty.

p.s. to infer that anyone uses cancer as a way to get fitter/more competitive, really is an incredibly stupid thing to say. in addition, he was pretty handy before the cancer as I seem to remember.

get a second opinion anyway, and if you get offered an operation to fix it, then take it straightaway. Advantages of getting it pinned are that you won’t get a lump which is uncomfortable on clothing, especially if it is a sharp point, rucksack straps won’t annoy you, and it is more likely to heal quickly.

I had a proper NHS nightmare with mine, took bang ona year to fix, entirely due to dithering and getting lost in the system.

The operation is pretty painful (I had a hook plate which is a little more involved, hooking under your shoulder blade, but you shouldn’t have this type if you have a break that is roughly in the middle) for about two weeks, and then it gets gradually better.

However encouraging it may be, don’t believe internet testimonials saying they heal by themselves in 3-6 weeks. depends on the individual, but if you get an op quickly, you’re still looking at a minimum of 12 weeks before you’re fully fixed.

Basically, make a nuisance of yourself, get a second opinion, and don’t assume that consultants are always right, cos they’re not, as I found out to my cost.

hope that helps.