Excitement and anticipation has just about edged out worry and trepidation about my return to cycle commuting after a gap of almost twenty years, and just in time: I collect my new bike tomorrow after work and will ride it home.
As if on cue, it started raining this evening.
The whole Cycle2work scheme has gone very smoothly. On Monday I filled out the paperwork, on Wednesday the voucher/letter of collection arrived in the post, today I went into Halfords and picked out a bike and all sorts of accessories, and tomorrow I collect the bike.
The way it works, I felt like it wasn’t my own money I was spending so when choosing accessories I wasn’t asking myself ‘which is the cheapest lock/helmet/pump?‘ but ‘which is the most suitable or best lock/helmet/pump?‘ so I ended up with (I hope) stuff that will last well. My voucher was for £450 and the bike I wanted was £299.99 so I had a budget of £150.01 for accessories. I picked out some mudguards, lights, a pump, a helmet, a backpack and a lock and went to tot it all up to see if I had bust the budget or still had more to go: it came to £149.94 so in the absence of anything on sale for 7p I stopped there.
Actually I still have another fifty quid to spend because Halfords are giving you accessories to that value if you buy a bike costing more than £250, so I’ll get a hi-vis waistcoat and some other bits tomorrow. With that extra offer added to the savings on income tax, VAT and NI I will end up with £500-worth of stuff costing me less than £250 – spread over 18 months.
So a real bargain, and with any luck I’ll end up fitter (and slimmer) as a result. What could possibly go wrong?
It’s a scam. Halfords are a large multi-nation company; what are you doing in support of the smaller cycle shops that struggle to survive in our neighbourhood? Less affluent folk are forced to haggle over cheap bicycles re-cycled(sic) from council tips. Make do & mend. Otherwise, we are pleased for you. We appove of a fit & healthy Working Class.
I could do with more scams like this! A new bike with a decent spec, helmet, lights, pump, and several other bits and pieces for a total cost to me of less than £250 over 18 months – and from a shop only 100 metres from work (another multinational company).
I am not in the position where I can afford to pay loads more just to support a local shop. Likewise, I am sure the owners of local bike shops do their shopping at Tesco and Sainsbury instead of propping up a local butcher, baker and grocer for the same reasons. A vicious circle perhaps?