Old 06-05-19, 02:52 AM
  #11  
acidfast7
Banned
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: England / CPH
Posts: 8,543

Bikes: 2010 Cube Acid / 2013 Mango FGSS

Mentioned: 42 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1053 Post(s)
Liked 41 Times in 36 Posts
Excellent advice here (one troll ... robertorolfo).

1. The bike2work scheme is good advice as it allows salary sacrifice to purchase bike equipment. Your employer may do it. I haven't used it yet as I just bought a cheap bike with cash. If you're in London there may be a subsidised TfL pass that you barter with HR for commuting expenses.

2. Stretching the budget is excellent advice. There are nice bikes from a British brand.

https://whyte.bike/collections/fast-...uter-r7-series

3. Fenders/Locks/Lights will eat that budget very quite quickly. When I moved to the UK, I bought one decent D-lock and two bright flashing USD-charing LEDs and fenders. That worked out to £100 from Amazon. Then fenders just broke after 500+ RT commutes. The lock and lights are still good.

About the budget...

When I moved to Frankfurt, I left my city bikes in Stockholm as I moved by train (yes, by rail, with the X2000 and ICE). I splurged and bought a CUBE hardtail MTB/helmet/lights/lock for around €900 or so.

I loved that bike and commuted every single day for 3 years on it. (Except when the bikepaths had ice which wasn't that often).

Thus, I would stretch the budget to £500 with all accessories including a backpack and a rainjacket etc... as you'll have equipment that you love every time that you use it as 11-miles one-way is a long trip for compromises.

Have fun and enjoy it!
acidfast7 is offline