Bike to work scheme, but has to be from Halfords

[John GC]

Hi
I wish to buy a hybrid bike under the Bike-to-Work scheme. My employer runs a scheme, but we can only buy the bike at Halfords. I visited my local branch at the weekend and can’t seem to find anything that looks very suitable for commuting. They had a lot of mountain bikes with tractor tyres and some racing bikes neither of which are that suitable for my commute.

My commute is around five miles each way (some hilly bits, but nothing too severe). I would like to fit mudguards, pannier rank, panniers etc. I have a twenty year old Dawes Horizon at present which I plan to keep for weekend bike rides etc. My budget is around £500 (pre-tax break price).

Has anyone any thoughts on a good buy?

[frank9755]

Halfords will get other bikes in.
Best to call their head office number rather than talk to the person in the store.
I got a Ridgeback Voyage from them, via CtoW, so it can be done!

[Si]

Some places, I think that OnYerBike was one, were willing to take Halfords vouchers at one time. Dunno if they still are but they have a good range if there is a branch near you.

[mark a.]

You can:

(a) Get Halfords to get you some brands that you can't get in-store (I've seen a list somewhere but can't remember where, but speaking to customer services will help) and

(b) Use your voucher with some other stores - have a look at some of your other local bike shops and see if they'll take them

[dgibby]

My work did the scheme through Halfords but I managed to get a Cannondale bike and when I said "I'll build it myself" as didn't want a spotty saturday worker doing it - they informed me that they would be using Leisure Lakes which is another (decent) shop nearby to do it all. Worth a call to understand the process for your needs.

[arcticfox2096]

I got my bike through Halfords using this scheme. If you go to Halfords website, have a look and if you see one you fancy, there is a stock checker that will show you if the bike is in stock in nearby stores.

When I did it, it showed me the 5 or 6 local shops so at least you can see the bike in person.

[rbrian]

This looks to be an ideal commuter bike.

[rootes]

This looks to be an ideal commuter bike.

all the subway models are great value and well put together (as apackage rather then assembly! lol)

[mark a.]

I bought my Subway 8 as my ideal commuter bike as it requires pretty much no maintenance. Internal gears and brakes means that there's nothing to do apart from wipe and oil the chain once in a blue moon. It's also cheap enough that I don't get precious about it - handy when you find another paint chip on the frame from it being knocked in the bike racks or on the train.

Mine was going to be a good-value stop-gap until I found my ideal dream machine to commute on, but (un)fortunately the Subway does everything I need it to do well enough that I haven't been able to justify changing it.

[Swizz69]

Didn't know they still did the Subway 8 - at that price they are v.good value with the hub gear & roller brakes.

[John GC]

Many thanks for all your replies
That Subway looks like the sort of thing I'm looking for. I didn't realise that you can get bikes with hub gears for under £400. I'll see if any of my local stores have any in stock and take a look.

[quiksilver]

Speak to their biike to work dept, I did. They can source many more bikes than they have in their shops.

[quiksilver]

Speak to their biike to work dept, I did. They can source many more bikes than they have in their shops.

[papacojones]

I have a V brake subway for hacking around and I think its brilliant. (I grew up in a bike shop and have been around bikes all my life). It beats me how they can market it for the money.( slave labour maybe??)


http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165534.

I looked at the other subway options and decided the base model was best value.SRAM gears work well. Might do with a higher ratio but you sure won't need a lower one.

Disc models have mechanical discs- I would take well adjusted half decent vee brakes any day. (You can get top class vees for a few quid off fleabay and upgrade.Originals work very well if set up right.)).

I liked the look of the nexus hub gears (I dream of Rohloff) but further invesigation turned up some horror stories on the reliability front. Can't remember where I read these but I could find em if you want a reference. These problems may have been ironed out but I decided to keep clear. Rear end is also noticably heavy imo.edit. Maintenence free aspect of hub gear was not an issue for me as I enjoy tinkering. I reckon wheel removal could be a slight pain with Nexus hub though.

All in all Subways are great all rounders and cracking good value.I put 28mm Gator skins on mine and its a flyer. If it said Trek or Giant on the frame it would cost twice as much imo.

Halfords will order any bike that on their website but beware their staff. Some are good -some are dangerously incompetent in my experience.

I think I read somewhere that Isla Rowntree designed the original subway. That woman knows her onions imo.

[papacojones]

Further to previous post should probably add that Halfords do not have monopoly on idiot staff.e.g My local LBS OWNER did not know that vee brakes and cantis use different levers. A potentially fatal (for someone else) gap in his knowledge. Caveat emptor.