Cycle to work scheme.

[iooi]

[GF-91]

Applied now....
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One dream, one soul, one prize, one goal.

[sebastianw]

[GF-91]

DECLINED LOL
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One dream, one soul, one prize, one goal.

[AndyB1989]

[AndyB1989]

[AndyB1989]

also if Saxo Bank’s JJ Haedo hit 117 kph – that’s 72.7 mph! on a downhill section of the tour de france towards the end of a long days riding . i dont see how hard to beleive an experienced cyclist on a downhill secton of his daily commute could hit over 50

[Paulington]

Cycling to work can help you save money but if it's a short journey and you have a car/motorcycle I can't see it saving that much really.

It's worth paying out the money to get a decent bike as it will last longer and just feel nicer. If your commute to work is mostly roads and no offroad part then you're best off buying a road cycle as it's the quickest and easiest way to do so.

If however there is an offroad section, get a mountain bike.

All the cycling I do is on tarmac'd roads so I have a road bike, paid £400 for this when it's worth over £1500 with all the accessories, real bargains to be had if you have a look around:

https://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/13293_390859336370_544131370_4574848_2987031_n.jpg.

As for those speeds, my cyclometer shows my max speed at 48mph which was downhill near my house. But downhill speeds aren't important for a toss. My max speed on the flat is 28mph but I do prefer leisurely cycling. I know most TdF riders seem to have an average speed of around 25mph.

I'd like to point out that comparing an upright cycle, fully faired or not to a recumbent cycle in terms of maximum outright speed is like apples and oranges.

Heck, think about it in terms of physics.

To cycle at 25mph on the flat for a 85-90kg rider + bike assuming zero wind speed you need to be delivering ~300W of power to the pedals. To double the speed, you need to quadruple the power requirement which gives you around 1200W and that is near the maximum power production of a TdF rider which is 1600-1800W but they can only sustain this for seconds. In reality it'd be a lot more than this due to aerodynamic drag. This is all for UPRIGHT NON-FAIRED BICYCLES.

Top TdF sprinters can hit the upper 40mph range in the last few hundred metres of a race but as said, can only sustain that for tens of seconds at best. Achieving 50mph downhill on a standard bike for an amateur rider isn't out of the realm of possibility given a BIG hill and a properly geared bike as most bikes aren't geared for that type of speed.

Cheers!
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"Four wheels move the body, two wheels move the soul."
Current Vehicles: '89 Kawasaki KDX200, '99 Yamaha XV535, '00 Honda ST1100 Pan-European, '08 Suzuki GSX-R1000, '08 Mitsubishi Lancer GS4 2.0 TDCi, '15 BMW 1 Series 116d Sport Turbo.
CBT: 27/08/08. Theory: 04/09/09. Module 1: 16/09/09. Module 2: 01/10/09.

[hellkat]

Fuck.
My bloke just managed to find himself another (second hand) bike, so he says he is going to fix the old one and give it to me (!!!) in an effort to encourage me to get fitter.



There *is* a cycle track which has recently been installed down the road from me, so its entirely possible that I *might* eventually spend some time doing roundy-roundies on there in the interests of domestic harmony.

Having said that, the bugger had an "off" this morning, some idiot pulling out on him on his way to work, which is only inclined to make me less-than-interested in cycling all the way to work, even if I could.
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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[JonB]

The government have closed a few loopholes recently which make the scheme less appealing. The big thing to look for is what your company charge at the end of the rental period. I wanted a bike that was £1000 as a winter hack, was looking good initially as I would have paid £600 for it during the year, but on bikes over £500 I would have to pay 25% of the original value to make it mine which would have been £250 at the end of the year, making the total cost £850.

Sounds like a saving, which it is but the discount the cycle shops were running at the end of the year are always better, bike I wanted ended up at £700 new.

As for speed, my fastest speed was 57.3MPH GPS recorded on Dartmoor last year downhill.
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Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it?s worth.

[Alpha-9]

I don't like those anally intrusive bikes, and the people look like tits on them, in their silly spandex, with a bike seat up their arse.
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Fzr-600 1999

[Minty]

[Shifty 164]

Was very interested in getting a bike this year until I spent all my money on beer. THE END (true story though)


But seriously, I've asked the girlfriend who works as a nurse to check it out for me. How much do they take off her salary per month for, say a £1000 bike? how does it exactly work, never mind how fast I'm going to ride it downhill
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Don't be sexist, bitches hate that!

[Alpha-9]

[truslack]

Thousand quid bike, I lose about £80 off my wage each month, but NI goes down aswell so realistically about £55 off my take home for 12 months.
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Current: Suzuki RG 125 Gamma, Honda H100, Triumph Tiger 800XC, Suzuki SV650 (minitwin)

[Alpha-9]

[hellkat]

I'm closer to being talked into one, have got until 19 October to put an order in before the window closes for this year at my work.

So (despite gales of laughter from the audience at home) I am considering a one of them old fashioned with basket type ones. Maybe it will improve my fitness levels (the big fella keeps banging on about Core Strength, and to be fair, he is fitter and stronger when he is regularly cycling to the office and back on his non-courier days).

I just don't see the point in me having one that looks all sporty when I am just gonna look like a blancmange sitting on top of it for quite some time to come. So I thought I would have a more ladylike bike, hence

https://www.onyourbike.com/images/products/s_prod_9755.jpg

... which obviously will be complete with french stick and a bunch of fuckin daisies.

I'm *so* not gonna ride that mofo to work, its 11 fuckin miles each way. Maybe just to go to the tube station and back for now, cos there is no way I will make it up over the Canning Town Flyover

But it depends how much is gonna come out of my wages. Spending £80 a month for 12 months on something I rarely use and/or aren't all that fussed about is kinda like me going "Oh! I think I will buy a ninja warrior and get him to kick me in the head once a month for 12 months whilst I pay him £80 for the privilege".
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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[MinhDinh]

Can someone summarise how it works? I was told you get money taken from tax so it's basically free, but then I may have been told wrong.
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Hit the G spot.

[mickie]

I've just got my 3rd bike with this scheme.
Basically you request details from your employer of which scheme they are in, there are various administrators of the scheme ie bike it, c2w and a few others. your employer should give you details and a web link so you can register.
Most companies have agreements with various bike suppliers like evans or halfords, or you can approach an independant bike shop of your choice. If they are not registered on the scheme they can sign up.
You choose your bike and accessories (most employers insist on a helmet) up to the value of £1000.
you order your bike through the scheme with your chosen supplier. Your employer pay for the bike and then you can collect it.
Payments can be spread over either 12 or 18 months dependant on cost of bike. This is taken out of your gross pay before deductions. My payments for £1000 of kit is about £54 a month for 18 months. This means that if you spent £1000 you would effectively only pay about £700 for your bike. At the end of your payment period your employer can sell you the bike for a nominal amount, it's been 10% in both of the ones I've paid off.
There are a few conditions
you must use your bike predominantly for the journey to work, this means in reality that it could stay in the shed for 364 days of the year but the one day you use it it must be to go to work on.
Your take home pay cannot be less than minimum wage after the payment has been taken into account.
If you leave your employer before you have finished paying off the bike you are liable for the balance in a lump sum.

One word of warning, the second bike I got was from an online shop, and turned out to be made from silver foil and sticky backed plastic! It's best to get a local bike shop so any issues and servicing can be sorted out easily.
I've just aquired an electric bike as my journey home from work involves a 5 miles uphill slog. Took it to work yesterday and its great, you can still peddle and get some exercise but don't arrive home all sweaty