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Thinking about getting first new bike in 10 years... moving on from 26'' Orange 5 from 2012 - frame was bought 2nd hand and used parts from previous bikes so it's definitely time to move on.
Looking to keep it to around £3k and buy through Cycle to Work scheme.
Bike will mainly be used for Glentress / 7 stanes type rides - preference would be to go 29.
Vitus Escarpe 29 CRX looks to be a great spec for the money and well reviewed? - £3500
Orange Five S 2022. Spec doesnt seem so great (nothing fancy / Basic?) but also well reviewed. Only seems to be 27.5. - £3600
Radon Slide Trail 9.0 - 29er - won "trail bike of the year" - looks a lot of bike for the money but can't see how to buy on C2W (might not be an option) - ~£3200
Polygon Siskiu T8 - 2nd place on trail bike of the year - Fox 36 / XT kit - slightly heavier - 27.5 (though there is a 29 higher spec N9 model for £2500) - not sure about GoOutdoors but guessing they just supply? - £1900 (sounds like a bargain)
Never fancied anything from Trek / Specialized / Giant. Anything worthy?
Can anyone recommend or give any advice? Any others worth considering? Any help would be appreciated, thanks.
Bird Aether 9 all day long for that budget and use. 12 speed with a solid build spec well under budget (frame stock might be a hindrance).
https://www.bird.bike/product/aether-9-shimano-12-speed/#configuration
They do C2W but pass on the 10% fee they get charged so factor that in when totting up any upgrades.
They do C2W but pass on the 10% fee
They do do C2W but don't pass on 10%, at least they didn't last Summer.
Great bikes!
Cool thanks - i'll take a look.
Bike will mainly be used for Glentress / 7 stanes type rides – preference would be to go 29.
Don't let anyone from HMRC know that...
Assuming Alpkit/Sonder are also on your C2W scheme then the Sonder Evol can be had in top spec for £3k.
Recommend what you got- aether9 in alu. Fab trail bike.
Don’t recommend what I did have- bargain bike from go outdoors- not the polygon but I had their previous offering the calibre sentry. Cracked at the dropout and no spare chainstay to be had (common fault I guess)
To be fair GO were really good and gave me a full refund at 18 months but I would be wary of backup/supply issues with it being an “in-house” brand
Bike will mainly be used for Glentress / 7 stanes type rides – preference would be to go 29.
Don’t let anyone from HMRC know that…
They’re famously 27.5 for life over at the HMRC.
I had the same issue as @docrobster, the cracked hanger mounting hole on my Sentry, however the experience would make me recommend GoOutdoors without hesitation. They went above and beyond to get me sorted and have been the same with even tiny issues on all my bikes from them. They also dealt nicely with C2W for the swap they did; I changed to the Sentry Pro which is on the far side of epic, I can’t see me wanting to swap it. Re replacement parts etc, I honestly wouldn’t see that as an issue, they appear to have good stock, plans in place for parts and they are, in my experience, great at dealing with refunds / swaps if needed. Definitely worth considering 🙂
As a side note, for our store at least, they’ve always been excellent on the bike servicing front too!
They’re famously 27.5 for life over at the HMRC.
Mate, we're still on 26".....
Thanks for input above… good to know about gooutdoors experience.
I haven’t seen any hmrc guidance on wheel size but I’m sure it won’t be an issue. 🙂
The bike will be used for cycling to the office now and again (working from home - how does that work…).
One sentry review had it at 18kg or so but still fun. I’d discounted it because of the other things on offer but will look again
Aethers look like great value, though all the choices will make it even longer to choose - will need to check C2W works and then get researching
The bike will be used for cycling to the office now and again (working from home – how does that work…).
Just double check you are going to be eligible then. You'll probably find it with a bit of a search (because the search tools on this forum are just fabulous 🙂 )but after a missive from HMRC to employers SOME employers started to withdrawn C2W as an employee benefit from those that exclusively WFH as by the letter of the missive they did not qualify. But it was a thing for a fair few who thought they'd take advantage of their new wfh/lockdown lifestyle with a cheap(er) bike.
Not sure how much it was employers just doing what they were asked (and some not) or a legitimate way of avoiding having employees on the scheme and having to shell out for the bikes initially when cash flow was a real issue for some firms early on in the pandemic.
Re Bird:-
They do do C2W but don’t pass on 10%, at least they didn’t last Summer.
Great bikes!
Either you got away with it or are not very good at reading invoices!
I paid 10% to Bird in Jan 21. From their website "Cycle To Work – we do accept some vouchers, however we charge an admin fee to cover the cost charged to us by the scheme provider." And I don't blame them in slightest.
If cyclescheme are the provider, you might want to have a look at Canyon.
The process was really simple and painless. Canyon bikes are also pretty good value.
I don’t think you will be able to get a Sentry again (Although if Polygon release the Vander T7[?] again then that’s pretty much the same), mine was 15.5 kg if memory serves, but with a different cassette and a few other bits…
@convert ooops you're right, 10% is added at Bird for c2w. I probably didn't read the invoice due to the shock of spending so much money!
Sentry was a heavy beast. Smidge under 17k for my stock base model. It’s not a trail bike though. More enduro in its ambition. Just wants to keep going in a straight line through or over whatever is in the way. Aether is nicer to pedal up stuff and more manoeuvrable.