Finally - on Saturday just gone (the 10th) I got the last two pieces of my order. So now I can tell the story - at least this would be book 1 - the Acquisition.

My employers benefits scheme included the benefit from the Government’s Green Transport Plan by making it possible to acquire a bicycle with some tax incentives. What this means is that I can have a new bike that I can use for whole or partial journeys to work and pay for it over 24 months direct from my salary before tax and National Insurance deductions. When the price of diesel fuel reach the £1.30 per gallon I looked at the equivalent rail fare which was £7.60 at that time - in August 2008. So the costs began to make sense, if got a bike on the scheme that I could use to ride to local railway station and then from the destination station to the office and back then I could just save a bit of money, improve my fitness and do quite a bit for the carbon footprint.

So I looked at my current collection of bicycles 2 x full-suspension MTB 1 x Road Bike and started looking at the idea of a folder. It is pretty poor that the Green Transport Plan does not extend to making taking bikes on trains easier. I decided after some reading including the Folding Society who reviewed many folding bikes that my shortlist would come down to three bikes: 1) The Brompton 2) The Dahon Speed TR and 3) Mezzo D9. The brompton is the archetypal folder - very British and the best folded size; the Dahon was more of a riding bike - having 20” wheels unlike the others with 16” and the newest being the Mezzo.

Of course the work scheme was organised for us-and my story will show what an oxymoron that was. The company had chosen to tie up with Halfords - and their Cycle2Work team. I expected hassle, especially as Halfords do not stock any of the bikes on my shortlist. But at least they do sell Dahons. In order to get into the scheme I had to state how much I wanted to spend on the bicycle - and at the time of the deadline for entries my shortlist still had three choices. I had to get quotes from Halfords so to define the amount I needed.

I got quotes - not too bad a process - but I quickly found that they respond to email better than phone. And I was surprised by the Dahon quote which seemed high - and they said it was for the next year’s model. But I found that Dahon hadn’t even announced the model for next year. I chose my value and submitted my benefit request. At the Start of October, I got the confirmation and the paperwork that I would have to exchange when I picked up my bike from my local Halfords store. However, I still hadn’t chosen which bike.

After a lot of deliberations, even building a scorecard to define the pluses and minuses of each, I reached a conclusion to go with the Mezzo D9. Let me quickly summarise my reasons:
Brompton - the order book was very full and there would have been delay; the gearing was not that low -and where I live there are 1:7 gradients between home and the station; there was to be a new gearing model but that was at least another month away; the components seemed to all own brand and I found some YouTube video of the process of changing a tube - very messy and very complex. The Brompton was also the most expensive of the three.
Dahon - the Model could have been obtained by Halfords very easily as they sell other Dahons; the gearing was by far the best - considering it is designed as a tourer with front and rear panniers (racks supplied) - the gearing was great; it used standard components and had v-brakes - the best brakes of all three; but it was the largest, the heaviest and not really a commuter bike. The folding resulted in the largest package of the three.
Mezzo D9 - the bike folded well and had standard components, the gearing was Ok - but the rear cassette could be altered for one with a lower gear; the changing of the tubes was much simpler than the Brompton.

So I got back in touch with my local Halfrods store - who took my details and my order for a Mezzo D9 with the rack bag, the cover and carry bag - all from Mezzo. A couple of weeks passed and then when contacting them I was told that I had order it from the cycle 2 work team as it wasn’t a normal stock item. So I emailed the cycle 2 work team with my order. Had a flurry of email exchanges to confirm the prices - including me sending them back their original quote for the D9.

Time passed.......

After nearly a month, we are now well in November, I contacted the local store to find that nothing had been received. I contacted the cycle2 work - they said it had been sent and received.

Further chasing by me mainly, resulted in the original delivery being declared Missing. I asked the cycle 2 work team to make the order again, and within 3 days Halfords local store did receive it. This time I rang cycle 2 work to get a delivery day and then rang the local store to tell them to expect a delivery. It was just before Christmas - I got my bike!

Getting home, I unpacked and set the bike up - not a lot to do really - put the stem on and the pedals, put some lube on the chain and pump the tyres. However, the cover and carry bag were not included but the rack bag was. So it was back in the email to cycle 2 work and then with Christmas and New year in the way - I finally got the rest on Saturday.

In conclusion, I do wonder home many hours I spent - and I haven’t even done one trip to work yet - that will be in book 2! My expectations were not high - I’m afraid Halfords had a poor reputation and it didn’t rise - despite some excellent assistance from largely powerless individuals.