JOIN THE REVOLUTION
With new schemes launching around the UK (and Chris Froome winning the Tour de France) riding a bike has never been so popular. So save money and...
THE recent success of Chris Froome in the Tour de France – following on from Bradley Wiggins in 2012 – has prompted many Britons to think about getting back on a bike.
Research from Mintel reveals the number of people interested in taking up cycling has almost doubled in the last two years, up from 10 per cent in 2014 to 19 per cent last year.
Last weekend, thousands of people – young and old – took part in the annual Prudential RideLondon event, many completing a 100-mile race through London and the hills of Surrey.
Apart from the Froome and Wiggins factors, there are many reasons for the two-wheel revolution, including savings on fuel, improved cycle lanes in our cities and the chance to keep fit while reducing your carbon footprint.
But while this may all sound appealing, cycling does not come cheap with the average cyclist spending £340 on their hobby every year. The good news is that there are ways to keep costs down. n
SIGN UP TO A CYCLE TO WORK SCHEME
AN EASY way to make savings on the cost of a new bike is by taking advantage of a cycle to work scheme such as Cyclescheme.
This Government-backed initiative allows you to pay for a bicycle and accessories through salary sacrifice. You pay for the bike from your gross salary, meaning you do not pay tax or National Insurance on the purchase.
Your employer must be signed up to the scheme. If it is, then you can spend up to £1,000 on a bike and accessories at shops signed up to the initiative. You then pay a monthly ‘salary sacrifice’ to effectively hire the bike and kit over a 12month period. At the end of the ‘hire period’ you have the option to purchase the bike.
According to Cyclescheme, employee savings range between 25 per cent and 39 per cent. A basic rate taxpayer should save up to 32 per cent off the usual cost of a bike and accessories.
Natasha Prayag, from Streatham Hill, SouthWest London, made the cost of purchasing a bike affordable by using Cyclescheme.
The 28-year-old bought a Specialized – a popular type of road bike – while working for her previous employer, a media company, back in 2011. Natasha, who now works on content for a financial website, spent £900 in total with her gross pay being docked a monthly sum of around £60. She says: ‘If I had not used Cyclescheme, a bike would have been out of my budget. The only option would have been to put it on my credit card.’
Natasha regularly cycles to work in Central London and takes her bike out at the weekend to places such as Richmond Park. She adds: ‘I have taken part in a few organised rides and charity events in recent years such as the London to Brighton bike ride. I did this to raise funds for the British Heart Foundation.’
National Cycle to Work Day will take place on September 13. Visit Cycletoworkday.org for further details.
CUT PURCHASE COSTS
IF YOU want to buy a bike, there are plenty of decent models that do not cost the earth.
For a road bike priced at under £1,000, top picks include the Kinesis Racelight T2, Whyte Devon Women’s, Cannondale Synapse 105 5 Disc, Pinnacle Dolomite Six, and Liv Invite 1.
If you are looking for a bike you can use for a daily commute, as well as for pootling around the lanes at the weekend, a hybrid is a great budget option.
Top picks under £300 include the Falcon Rapid, Apollo Belmont & Apollo Elyse, Carrera Subway 1, B’Twin Hoprider 300 and Raleigh Circa 2.
Retailer Halfords is currently offering a discount on bikes including a £44 saving on the Apollo Elyse (now £176). The store is providing interest-free credit on bikes priced above £399.
You can also pick up a keenly priced second-hand model on a website such as Gumtree and Preloved.
ESSENTIAL KIT
IF YOU are buying a bike, you will need a lock, helmet and clothing.
Before making any purchase, do not forget to check online for any relevant vouchers, discounts or cashback deals.
For example, website Vouchercodes is offering 5 per cent off orders at Probikekit.co.uk, and 10
per cent off clothing and accessories at Evans Cycles. Deals on rival website Topcashback include 6 per cent cashback on purchases at Probikekit, 4.2 per cent at Evans Cycles, and 3.15 per cent on purchases at Halfords.
On website HotUKDeals, members of the deal-sharing community have recently found offers including DHB Aeron Bib shorts from Wiggle for £52.49 (down from £69.99) and Altura Cycling Mitts from Tredz for £9.99 (down from £27.99).
Also check in-store deals. Halfords is currently holding a summer sale, including £20 off a Giro Foray helmet (down from £45 to £25) and a near £37 reduction on a Garmin Edge 520 cycle computer (down from £279.99 to £242.98).
CHECK OUT BIKE INSURANCE
ONCE you have bought a bike, it is important to have the right insurance as around 400,000 cycles are stolen every year – equivalent to one every 80 seconds.
Cyclists with an expensive set of wheels – or two or more bikes – should consider a standalone policy. Specialist insurers include Cycleguard and Cyclesure.
Otherwise, you can buy cover as an add-on to your existing home contents policy. Kevin Pratt, of comparison website Moneysupermarket, says: ‘If you buy cover as a bolt-on to your contents policy, you will probably be required to lock the bike to a fixed object in the garden, or to keep it indoors – in a locked shed or garage. You will also need to lock it when you are out and about. A minimum standard of lock may also be specified.’
Insuring your bike on your contents insurance may only provide you with theft cover, whereas a specialist policy will give you liability cover as well – extremely useful if you are involved in an accident.
Pratt adds: ‘Liability cover pays for any claims made against you if you cause injury or damage in an accident that is your fault. You can also add personal accident cover in case you are injured in a fall and you should be able to claim for accidental damage to the bike as well.’
Cover is not expensive. You should expect to pay a minimum of between 10 per cent and 15 per cent of the bike’s value.
If you are taking your bike overseas, you will need a specialist policy with liability cover. Pratt adds: ‘You will need to check the policy provides overseas cover and you might have to pay extra for it.’
If you are liable for damage or injury at home or abroad but have no insurance, you will have to pay any claim against you from savings or assets. This could prove costly.
CONSIDER BIKE RENTAL SCHEMES
A GOOD way to save on the cost of cycling is to borrow a bike.
The much-loved ‘Boris bikes’ – known officially as Santander Cycles – are available to rent at docking stations across London.
But a host of new companies from the Far East are coming to cities across the UK to rival this scheme.
Singapore-based Obike does not use docking stations. Customers simply leave its bikes where they wish. It has been trialling its payas-you-go cycles across London. The bikes are rented via a smartphone app with each half-hour ride costing £0.50. Yobike, a Chinese firm, launched a similar scheme in Bristol in May, while Mobike, another Chinese firm, launched in Manchester and Salford in June.
The first UK trial of Ofo, another non-docking bike-sharing scheme from China, is taking place in Cambridge. Once again, users pay per ride through an app, with journeys costing £0.50. And in Glasgow, Nextbike already operates with ‘pay as you ride’ available for £1 for 30 minutes, or £10 for the day.
Such schemes have not been without problems, with bikes being vandalised, kept in people’s gardens and thrown on to rail tracks.
GO ELECTRIC
IF THE idea of pedalling to work on an ordinary push-bike seems a bit too much like hard work, you might be smitten by an electric bike. So-called e-bikes have been growing in popularity – and as many as one in 25 of all new bikes are now electric.
But there are concerns that proposed European Union rules could make third-party insurance compulsory for owners of such bikes.
With accident insurance potentially costing more than £100 a year, campaigners are concerned that cyclists will be burdened with excessive costs.
Simon Irons, of Halfords, says: ‘Anything that makes cycling less accessible is a real concern.’
Nationwide Building Society has also sparked a row by stating that cyclists will only be covered for bike injuries abroad if they are wearing a helmet at the time of the accident.
This new rule applies to its worldwide family travel policy, which comes free with its FlexPlus current account. The change will apply to anyone with a trip booked on or after September 21. Pressure group CyclingUK says the society’s move is ‘not an evidence-based change’ and that ‘the health benefits of getting on a bike are far greater than the safety a helmet provides’. Nationwide said the change was intended to ‘help protect its customers’ welfare’.