Hurrah. The Cycle to Work scheme, which only two weeks ago appeared fatally punctured by a tax ruling from HM Revenue & Customs, is back on the road. The scheme has enabled more than 400,000 people to obtain a tax-deductible bike for pedalling to work.

It allowed cyclists to buy a new bike from gross income, through their employers under a type of hire purchase agreement, with payments usually spread over 12 or 18 months. It meant discounts of as much as 50%, with a nominal fee, usually 5% of the purchase price (but often nothing) to buy it off your employer at the end of the period.

But in mid-August HMRC issued a clarification on what it thought the nominal amount should be: and it was nowhere near 5%. Its new valuation table said a bike had a disposal value of between 18% and 25% of its purchase price after one year.

This delighted critics of the scheme, who say there’s no reason for the taxpayer to subsidise bike purchase, and that it simply encouraged the well-off to splash out on expensive bikes that were hardly, if ever, used for commuting. Naturally they ignore the far bigger subsidy given to car drivers through the government’s scrappage scheme.

For people in the bike scheme it appeared HMRC was changing the rules halfway through the game.

Say you bought a scheme bike for £500. Repayments would be £293.61 over 12 months, assuming you are a basic-rate taxpayer. Before the HMRC clarification, you would have paid a few quid more to transfer it from your employer’s hands into your own at the end of the period. So it would have cost about £300 for a £500 bike. Bingo.

Now HMRC says the employee must pay £125 as “fair market value” for the bike at the end of the year. So in all you pay £418.61 for the £500 bike. Still good value? Not when you consider you could have got a discount on the £500 purchase price if you were not a voucher-wielding Cycle to Work buyer.

The companies that promote the scheme, such as Halfords and Evans Cycles, have been trying to make sense of the ruling. Lawyers have spent the past two weeks poring over the detail of the HMRC wording. And there is a get-out, according to Evans. You pay monthly, as planned, but at the end of the period you don’t buy the bike off your company. You continue to hire it: for free.

I asked HMRC for confirmation. It said: “The statutory exemption for cycles loaned to employees is not subject to any time limit and will continue to apply as long as the conditions about use and availability are satisfied … HMRC sees no difficulty in the employee being offered the opportunity to buy the bike at a later date than had originally been expected, and using the market value percentage that applies at that later date.” After three years, a £500 bike’s fair market value is 12% of the original price, falling to 2% after five years, says HMRC.

But critics have a point about scheme abuse. It’s perverse that higher-rate taxpayers receive bigger subsidies, and the £1,000 limit should perhaps be cut to £500 – at the risk of enraging cyclists trying to find a way to afford an expensive fold-up Brompton.

via Taxman puts Cycle to Work back on the road | Money | The Guardian.

We have just taken delivery of the following:

• WeThePeople Justice 2011 – Black
• WeThePeople Reason 2011 – Black
• WeThePeople Crysis 2011 – Black
• WeThePeople Crysis 2011 – Purple
• WeThePeople Trust 2011 – Black
• WeThePeople Versus 2011 – Black
• WeThePeople Versus 2011 – Grey

Stock is limited so order now to avoid disapointment!

WeThePeople Versus 2011

For the Summer 2010, team FLC decided to try something different, Marc ( and Mrs McHale!) headed over to the US to hit the mountains of California, and Ben thought he’d try his luck with the worlds toughest downhill race – ‘The Megavalanche’ in Alpe D’Huez, France.

For those of you who dont know – Megavalanche is a mountainbike downhill marathon style event that mixes gravity-assisted excitement with enduro levels of fitness, guaranteed to test both nerve and physique. The most famous round is run from the French Alps town of Alpe D’Huez, starting on the glaciated summit of the Pic Blanc (3,300m) and descending to the lush meadows of the valley bottom at Allemont (720m), after some 2000 metres down and 30 km along.

To be in a position to attempt this race, a certain level of fitness is required not just the ability to ride fast downhill but the stamina to cope with 30 minute downhill for qualifying and up to 1hr 50min for the actual race. Which going from a UK average of 2-3 minutes for a downhill this is an big ask, especially when mixed with a few uphill sections as well!

Before heading out to France, all the kit was checked, replaced if need be and then checked again. Anything going wrong up in the mountains was either going to be expensive, fatal or both.

Firstly, downhill bikes are not recommended for the main race, although a lot of riders do, if you have the fitness then go for it, but a few of the riders used two bikes, a downhill rig for qualifying, and an all mountain bike for the main race ( if they got through qualifying of course!). The top riders went for a all mountain bike and some even a modified cross country bike. But for a first time out a decent amount of suspension is recommended.

To qualify, the top 38 riders from each wave of 200 got through, this was tough, a lack of fitness meant the final position for Ben was 48th which put him through to the second race on the Saturday, very disappointed but put it all down to experience, next year a focus on the fitness is a must.

For this trip, as a lot of money had already been spent on the downhill bike it was decided to make a few modifications and go with one bike. Also buying spare tyres and kit in the UK as shops in the mountains are very expensive.

Most important mod: Hydraulic Seatpost, one with thumb operated height adjustment on the handlebar.

This can be purchased via FLCUK website via this link click here:

Next was the gearing, smaller chainring on the front, for this an ethirteen 32 tooth chainring was used. This is now used for downhill as well.

This can be purchased by clicking here

Rear cassette, this was modified to give an extra boost on the climbs.

this can be purchased by clicking here

this was about the limit, as otherwise the chain would need to be swapped for a longer one. This way it would be easy to just swap the wheels with a different size cassette on.

Also a superb bit of kit was the dakine back pack with the 3ltr hydration pack. This was awesome! Very comfortable to wear and had organiser pockets for all the tools, snack bars and even has the option of carrying your full face helmet.

can be purchased by clicking here

for those heading out there next year, Team FLC will be putting a trip together, call in at the shop or give us a call to find out what the plan is. Or just call in for some advice.

Sorry for the delay folks, quite an eventful weekend this one seeing Dan Burchall carried off in an ambulance and out of action due to a broken collar bone. Quite an ambitious jump which, had Dan have made it, would have been pretty spectacular.

The accident was on the Sunday morning which left Ben Hargreaves and Marc McHale ( Team manager ) to fly the flag. At UKBP you get two runs, best run out of the two counts to the final position. After the first run, Ben was in 3rd place (in masters) half a second off second place, with Marc hot on his heals a few seconds off the pace.

Nearly at the end of the second run, Ben was still in third place with Marc needing to pull some magic out of the bag to secure a podium, unfortunately for Ben this happened, Marc found 8 seconds and pushed Ben off the podium by 2 seconds!! How annoying.

Wishing a speedy recovery to Dan, and see you at the next round (4) August 29th 2010.

20% Royal Race gear, while stocks last. Race tops, shorts and trousers. See in store or call for details. 01202 424945

Giant Anthem X2 is a winner

Giant’s Anthem X 2 lines up against some tough competition in August’s MBR Magazine 2K Racers test with bikes from Specialized, Trek and Cube hoping to beat the Anthem X to the top spot.

Since MBR first tested Giant’s Anthem X back in December 2008 (2009 Giant Anthem X 0, 10/10!) taking it for an epic day out at the Roc d’Azur, the Anthem X Advanced SL has arrived on the scene and testers were keen to see if it had affected the AluxX aluminium sibling. But with all that expertise and innovation in aluminium engineering Giant’s 2010 Anthem X does not disappoint!

The spec list is quite simply described as ‘nothing short of incredible’ and Giant’s new Connect SL componentry get’s a BIG seal of approval; “The bar, stem and seatpost are all Giant branded parts…the 670mm bar was the best shape of any on test and the stem felt great for our 5ft 10in testers”

The proof is in the riding for any bike and with the quickest lap times of all four test bikes the Anthem X 2 was always in with a chance of winning this category, but that’s not all. As well as being incredibly quick, Anthem X features Maestro suspension technology ‘tuned for pedalling efficiency’, ‘fast climbing and faster descending’ and confidence inspiring stability which ‘allows you to make mistakes without any great punishment’

‘Stiff, good value, and joint lightest on test, the Anthem X 2 is a highly alluring package, whether you’re racing every weekend or simply want a fast, light bike for trail riding.’

‘A bike that allows you to ride to your limit is the Holy Grail for XC bikes and the Giant let us do just that.’

With a 10/10 Giant’s Anthem X 2 is MBR Magazine’s ‘privateer race bike of choice’.

Giant Anthem X2 – In Stock

Giant Anthem X4 – In Stock

If you are remotely interested in bikes, then this is a must. The history of the bicycle takes you from the first “running bike” through the penny farthing, to the cycle industry changing “Klunkers” in Marin country and then the modern mountain and road bikes you see today. Definitely worth a watch.

History of the Bicycle

WeThePeople 2011 full range of BMX bikes available to pre-order. Delivery due around end of August/beginning of September.

Call or place your order online.

WeThePeople 2011 Range

Saturday, June 26, 2010, 10.00am to 4.00pm

Cost: free
Age(s): all ages

Forest Leisure Cycles will be here throughout the day. Bring in your bike and they will check it over and carry out any repairs or maintenance that’s needed. You pay for the parts but not the labour!

Moors Valley Country Park Website

Ben and Dan put in a head-cam run on practice day for round 3 Of the UK Bike park summer series 2010.