[Closed] Fix your Bike Voucher Scheme:

Just labour.

I thought I read it included tyres, so fit a grubby pair to your best bike (if you have nothing needing more urgent attention that the voucher could help with), then use £50 to get a nice pair of new tyres.

Sod's law Halfords website (only certain chains are in this voucher scheme IIRC) isn't showing GP4000S IIs or GP5000s in stock!

Debating whether to get voucher and see if Halfords can source me a replacement crankset for the Wazoo they sold me in Feb 2016... Bound to cost significantly more than £50 to source and then get them to fit it.

So you can't use it on at a shop of your choice?

So you can’t use it on at a shop of your choice?

You can use it in any shop that has signed up to the scheme.

Reality is it's not aimed at us, 50,000 vouchers for me is best used by those who have bikes in the shed they haven't used for a few years, or folk who have bikes that haven't a clue how to turn a spanner on it.

I'll not grab one as it'll just be taking it away from someone who could actually benefit.

Aye, just because it's free, I still don't want someone else spannering my bike.

Does it cover servicing of forks/dropper posts? My reverb is jiggered

I haven't used a bike shop to fix a bike for years. I'm not going to take this away from people who might actually need it. It would be pretty shameful if people on here got these vouchers and used them....

Its all just a show to try and gain political points any way, if they were really bothered about people getting fitter they'd try and get gyms and swimming pools open quicker and then spend time and money improving them and bringing the prices down. £5.20 to go swimming in Leeds!!

I get the point about not grabbing them so that others who need them can use them. I felt the same about supermarket delivery slots during lockdown. That said, this is a pilot scheme, and more will be released if it is successful. Is there any merit in grabbing them just to show that it is popular? If they run out on the first day that would prove the need.

Totally agree about the price of doing sport BTW. I've already posted that there should be more free facilities like multi-sport courts in parks (and more bike trails).

Seems a good idea to me. Worth remembering that the scheme probably isn't aimed at us lot as we can and do fix our own bikes but those who have a bike sitting in the shed with a puncture, snapped cable or something else. This could be the little push they need to get it sorted and be back on the bike. With a bit of luck, they enjoy it and keep cycling and spending on the cycling economy.

It would be pretty shameful if people on here got these vouchers and used them

Just shows the element of take, take, take that we have in our society.

Not a big deal but anyone else think even the headline is a bit odd:

"If you are a keen cyclist and have an old bike gathering dust at home, you can apply for a £50 voucher to get it repaired."

Why mention "keen cyclist"? As championed by the hero Chris Boardman, we're trying to get away from labelling people as "cyclists", more "people who use a bike for a journey" and why say you have to be keen already as it should be helping people who don't use them back on their bikes.

Anyway, just shooting the breeze.

Guidance on https://www.gov.uk/guidance/fix-your-bike-voucher-scheme-apply-for-a-voucher says...

"The scheme is open to anyone in England who has an unused cycle in need of a repair.

However, as there are a limited number of vouchers available, please consider the needs of others before applying for a voucher."

I’m interested to know if the various suspension service centres might accept this. For those bemoaning ANY cyclist looking to use the voucher scheme I’m assuming you’ve never used a discount code or salary sacrifice scheme? Or taken advantage of the discounted vat rate on food?

In addition this isn’t as far as I know taking money away from lbs/ suspension centres that we so love to moan about the demise of?

Cyclists get the dog egg covered end of the stick so often infrastructure/ access/ rights, if applicable I’ll certainly look into this for some of the maintenance tasks I don’t personally undertake.

It would be pretty shameful if people on here got these vouchers and used them

Just shows the element of take, take, take that we have in our society.

Hope nobody with that view is (perfectly legally) minimising their tax bill, or using cash ISAs, childcare vouchers etc etc. The vouchers are aimed at people who already own bikes (or it would be a money off new bike scheme instead) and there doesn't seem to be anything to suggest it's only for people who haven't ridden their bike lately.

This is a win for bike shops* aswell as cyclists (old or new) if you're worried about taking what someone else might need more, then wait for a while before applying, if they're gone, they're gone.

*tho Im guessing the larger ones will benefit more (is the >£2M liability cover about average or would only the bigger stores have that?)

I anticipate there will be a lot of people who expect their bike fixed for £50, rather than £50 towards a bike repair/service.

Not labour only; repairer section on energy saving trust website has information on what is/isn't allowable.
The repairs must be necessary to make cycles roadworthy and fit for purpose, this may include:
- Repair or replace tyres, tubes, wheels and related components
- Adjust, repair or replace braking system components
- Adjust, repair or replace transmission system components.
- Repair or replace other essential components which prevent safe use of the cycle e.g. deteriorated grips or saddle
- Repair or replacement of components for permanently fitted lighting systems
Repairs which are NOT eligible:
- replacement or upgrade of existing safe and roadworthy components
- replacement or repair of removeable lighting accessories

Other questions above are covered on the website.

Hoping it covers droppers.

Hoping it covers droppers.

Not sure a dropper is needed to ensure a bike is road worthy, you might argue it for a fork I suppose but it would have to be pretty shonky to be not road worthy.

They might replace your full compliment of reflectors (including replacing your SPDs with crappy moulded things with reflectors) and your bell though.

[edit] Thinking about it, it would be pretty hilarious if someone took their 7k enduro sled in for repair, got whacked with a bill for work they wouldn't have bothered about it they hadn't thought they'd get £50 off, and discovered the voucher had covered the addition of a bell, spoke protector, bso reflective pedals etc.

[i]“If you are a keen cyclist and have an old bike gathering dust at home, you can apply for a £50 voucher to get it repaired.”[/i]

Surely if you are a "keen cyclist" (God I hate that phrase - am I a keen train-ist for getting on Northern Rail every morning to go to work??) then your bike would already be in good order?

The phrasing is shit - ultimately this is aimed at those people who paid £100 for the whole bike, not those people who pay £100 for one set of tyres. There were loads of these wrecks out on the roads over lockdown and when I worked in a London bike shop, we used to see it every year about 2 weeks before London-Brighton, people bringing in these dusty old bikes that had sat in the shed since last L2B needing them road-worthy again for the one big ride of the year that they did!

Having spent too much money on workshop tools and having recently fitted out my garage to be the workshop that I've always wanted, I won't be using these vouchers. As others have said elsewhere, I think that this scheme is aimed at those that lack the skill or means to repair their own bike.

am I a keen train-ist for getting on Northern Rail every morning to go to work?

Fool or masochist maybe?

For those bemoaning ANY cyclist looking to use the voucher scheme I’m assuming you’ve never used a discount code or salary sacrifice scheme? Or taken advantage of the discounted vat rate on food?

Are any of these examples limited to a certain number of applicants?

That said, this is a pilot scheme, and more will be released if it is successful. Is there any merit in grabbing them just to show that it is popular? If they run out on the first day that would prove the need.

And if they don't? Would we expect to see all those that could afford it anyway donate 50 quid to their local cycle charity?

13 hours until the portal opens to the public tonight... In theory.

I mean the obvious use here for most people is truing wheels. Even if you're a reasonable spanner, most don't have a truing stand and most people's wheels will be slightly out.

It would be pretty shameful if people on here got these vouchers and used them….

Bit of a blanket statement that. Plenty on here who don’t have a the skills to fully maintain their own bike or the money - especially when more than a few have been made redundant...

It'll be abused no matter what, from those who take their old bike out the shed, get a shop to fix it up and then they sell it, to folk using it who do their own bikes usually.

If folk on here use it i don't see the issue, unless they are abusing it, i.e. they bleed their own brakes every month, but now get the shop to do it as they have a 50 quid voucher, that to me would be one voucher being used where it didn't really need too.

But, i would say there'll be plenty here who may have good use of the voucher, from a wheel truing to a gear indexing, or whatever, i just wouldn't apply for one as i do my bikes myself, bar the full shock service.

I think that this scheme is aimed at those that lack the skill or means to repair their own bike.

Exactly - my bike that I use for commuting needs a new headset. I don’t own a head set press so need a shop to do it.

Is it only 1 £50? I have 2 bikes that need essential maintenance at the min (will be over £50 for both)

Bit of a blanket statement that. Plenty on here who don’t have a the skills to fully maintain their own bike or the money – especially when more than a few have been made redundant…

Oh well, you know if you genuinely need it or not...

I'm not swearing on my death bed, but I think it's one voucher per bike.

I’ll not grab one as it’ll just be taking it away from someone who could actually benefit.

Ditto...

Whether it's explicitly stated or not this Scheme is not intended for the likes of me (and my family) with a garage full of functional bikes, tools and the ability to wield them.

It's to help the Mums/Dads retrieving neglected Apollo's from the back of the shed facing down six weeks or more with already bored, inactive post lockdown kids. To get people and ideally families who've rediscovered bicycle use during lockdown rolling about more safely with brakes, gears and tyres that function...

If existing bike enthusiasts start using it to score cheaper parts/services that they would probably have bought anyway and/or didn't actually Need, to me that's one more kid deprived of access to a working bike to enjoy this summer.

It might be legal to use it to get some nice tyres or a shiny Mech, but it's morally reprehensible... (IMO of course)

Oh well, you know if you genuinely need it or not…

I wasn’t talking about myself...

I do hope that people don’t take this piss though...

Is it only 1 £50? I have 2 bikes that need essential maintenance at the min (will be over £50 for both)

Two vouchers per household maximum. Whether or not you can use two vouchers on one bike though is less clear.

Our workplace has just sent out an email advertising it. Also used the opportunity to push their Cycle To Work scheme as well.

Whether or not you can use two vouchers on one bike though is less clear.

It's pretty clear. You can't.

3.Redemption of vouchers
3.1. In order for vouchers to be eligible for redemption:
3.1.1. The individual claiming the voucher must be 18 or over;
3.1.2. The repairs must be Eligible Repairs; and
3.1.3. The voucher must be valid at the point of redemption.3.2.Vouchers will cover up to £50 per cycle towards the Eligible Repairs and parts that need replacement as part of the Eligible Repairs. The cycle owner will need to pay the remainder cost if the cost is greater than £50.
3.3.3 If the cost of the service is below £50, the voucher will only cover for the effective cost of the transaction (less than £50).
3.4. A maximum of 2 vouchers can be claimed per customer address, and only 1 voucher per cycle.

https://fixyourbikevoucherscheme.est.org.uk/ cannot be reached, even though it's gone 2345, when I thought it was going live (I was up anyway, not stayed up purposefully).

It was working at 23:30ish, I guess it's being flooded with requests.

Now saying no vouchers in this first batch available... Wonderful!

Just on the news - volume of traffic broke the website.
*insert facepalm gif here*

3 posts in..

I thought I read it included tyres, so fit a grubby pair to your best bike (if you have nothing needing more urgent attention that the voucher could help with), then use £50 to get a nice pair of new tyres.

I seriously despair about some people. This scheme is about people getting their broken bikes fixed, not so greedy skinflints can scam some new top quality tyres for free..

I wonder how many shops actually have the workshop capacity to take in the extra work?

+1 cookeaa and tpbiker

Political stunt or not, it's not a gift voucher for you to get someone to sort out the internal cabling on your Santa Cruz. Have some bloody principles.

Looking at the big picture, they've been taken up in no time at all, 50,000 x £50 means that bikeshops across the country will share in a £2.5 million shot in the arm, and even if 10% of people use them properly to get bikes back up and running, that's 10,000 people who might be using their bike more, so i'd say it's a win for cycling.

Through out this whole pandemic me and the misses have both worked fall time (me as a key worker in a health and safety role (home based but attending different sites throughout the day) and the misses working from home probably even harder than normal. We will both apply for the voucher for our bikes even though they definitely done full under the fixer upper category because we haven’t had any help/furlough money from the government. If it hadn’t of been as high at 80% pay for sitting at home I might of felt differently.

even though they definitely done full under the fixer upper category

Are they broken?

Might make an interesting documentary to follow some of these vouchers. See where they went, what was done, and how the bike was used afterwards.

My wife and I have worked full time through this whole thing as well, whilst also schooling 2 kids who have been at home through this whole time and won't be back at school until September. It's not only 'key workers' who have been full time employed throughout this shit. At least key workers kids could go to school.

As I can fix my own bikes and have been on full pay throughout I will not be applying for a voucher, even though I would normally use my bike every day to commute. I'm not the target audience for this scheme.

Releasing them at midnight is not a helpful part of it - the most deprived people in most need of them are the people who potentially need to visit a library or jobcentre or similar to access the internet and by the time they get there on a Wednesday morning, everything is gone.

Cos, like it's only STWers who are likely to misuse this scheme, isn't it. Everyone else in the country is as honest as the day is long.

As @cookeaa says, this scheme is not aimed at most of the users of this forum. It's aimed at helping non-"cyclists" to afford getting their bike working so they can start using it again. It's come out of the (successful) drive by British Cycling et al to promote cycling as a healthier alternative to public transport or short car journeys for those who can do it, and to promote cycling for leisure.

It's designed to make it more economical for people to get their one bike back on the road so they can start using it. It's explicitly _not_ just to buy new kit - only stuff that prevents the bike being used safely is covered.

The "but everyone else will abuse it too, so I'm going to get my dropper serviced" argument is as selfish and lame as saying "I can't see any blue badges, so I'm going to park in this disabled parking bay too."

There's a lazy media stereotype of "cyclists" as selfish, that normally goes with hysterical tropes about holding up traffic or riding on the pavement. Think how much worse it will make all of us look if it turns out that "the lycra clique" took all the money that was aimed at encouraging ordinary people to get back on their bike.

If it hadn’t of been as high at 80% pay for sitting at home I might of felt differently.

What's whether you have been furloughed or not got to do with it? If you feel that you are 'due' a freebie as you didn't get money from government to stay at home then that's a really odd attitude to have. For what it's worth I've been working full time also for past 5 months, and not for one moment have I thought I was 'missing out' on free cash.

If your bike is broken then you are entitled to use the scheme to get it fixed, regardless of whether you've been furloughed or not. Using it for any other reason is just being greedy

Unless you are on your arse financially you should not uptake this scheme.

Cos, like it’s only STWers who are likely to misuse this scheme, isn’t it. Everyone else in the country is as honest as the day is long.

and your point is....

I wouldn't be surprised if some shops don't sign up to the scheme.

People I know in the small LBS trade are all shattered from working 12 hour days / 6 plus days per week since lockdown. They've also had more than their fair share of rude / obnoxious / abusive new customers demanding instant bikes and repairs when there is precious little stock in the country and they are already swamped in what would be months of work backlog during normal times.

The voucher scheme will just be a new flood of people expecting £50 to miraculously and instantly fix a BSO wreck. When the poor shop explains the voucher will only cover labour, there is a 4 week wait for the workshop and it needs £50-£100 in parts they'll get blasted with a tirade about how that is more than the bike cost blah blah blah.

I wouldn’t be surprised if some shops don’t sign up to the scheme

Even if they want to they can't at the moment as the application portal is the same website as the one to apply for vouchers which isn't currently operational.
The shop I work at isn't signing up. We're already fully booked in the workshop until mid October and neither of us have had a day off this year.

If the site wasn't supposed to open until the silly time of 2345, why were people able to register at least as early as 2330?

I'd like to say that I can't believe that people were considering applying for these vouchers when they didn't NEED them either financially or practically. If your bike is functioning (or you are more than capable of repairing it yourself) or it needs work but you can afford to pay someone to fix it for you then you must know deep down that these are not aimed at you.
As had been said, they are aimed at getting non functioning bikes working, helping people to get back into cycling - which I thought most of us would agree was a good thing?

Yes, other people will no doubt take the piss but that doesn't mean we should all act like ****s.

People speed in 30mph zones, people drink drive, people don't give cyclists enough room when overtaking - does that mean it's ok for you to do that? Of course it doesn't.

This is not (currently) a limitless scheme, so the ISA / C2W scheme comparison is flawed (C2W is blatantly abused, I agree, and as I dont *need* it go get a cycle to use to get to work, I dont use it). People taking advantage of that aren't preventing those that need the help getting that help.

If you so desperately need £50 to spend on getting your bike fixed, then why not start a thread asking for help? If you need help learning how to maintain your bike, need to borrow tools, or even spare parts that people may have knocking about - I'm pretty sure that someone on here will be able to help you out.

And if you genuinely cannot afford to get a bike in a usable condition and haven't been able to get a voucher I'd wager that you'll have more offers of help than you will know what to do with.

and your point is….

Oh yeah, forgot about this. My point was, it's a free-for-all (not literally), so if you want to take advantage of the scheme (to get your dropper serviced) then do it. I won't be, because I fix my own bikes, but those getting all snooty because they think people on here will, should climb out of their own arses.

Anyone read their British Cycling email from yesterday that said "The next batch of the Government's 'Fix Your Bike' vouchers are now available..." but there's no hint of this on the registration site.

then you must know deep down that these are not aimed at you

They're aimed at bike shops really... it's a financial impetus to get work and money into bike shop workshops.

Has anybody here used one of these? I could do with a bottom bracket service, and I don't have the tools so I though I'd give it a try*. At the moment there are no vouchers available, but I assume that at some point there will be.

* Purity police: I work part time at minimum wage and I'm a key-worker - do I pass?

Where do you live?

Insure a kindly stwer would swap a BB for you. It's an easy enough job.

That's not a bad idea zippykona.

I wouldn't mind getting someone else to check my bike over, though. I do the maintenance myself, but I'm not great at it, and a lot of my knowledge is out of date after a 15 year gap - I'm constantly astounded by the things people have come up with while I was away.

Mostly it the tools though. I have allen keys and screwdrivers but that's about it.