Good US Bike shops, online??

Since 2001, over 90,000 cyclist's have joined Cycling Forums to discuss topics from general cycling to equipment, training, racing and travel or vacation destinations (especially in europe during the tour de france). We also feature an great deals in our online store, 100's of articles, classifieds and product reviews.

With the Aussie dollar going crazy at the moment, I was wondering if anyone had had positive experiences with any US ecommerce bike sites.

I have been thoroughly impressed with ProbikeKit in the UK but they have a fairly limited range.

BikeNasbar.com has great prices but they don't do cheap postage.

Just wondering if anyone has come across any AUS friendly US shops??

With the Aussie dollar going crazy at the moment, I was wondering if anyone had had positive experiences with any US ecommerce bike sites.

I have been thoroughly impressed with ProbikeKit in the UK but they have a fairly limited range.

BikeNasbar.com has great prices but they don't do cheap postage.

Just wondering if anyone has come across any AUS friendly US shops??I dunno about Oz, but I found that Nashbar wouldn't ship to NZ after their website accepted my order with an NZ delivery address, and were completely hopeless at customer service.

www.biketiresdirect.com were pretty good, and the goods arrived before their estimated delivery date.

I dunno about Oz, but I found that Nashbar wouldn't ship to NZ after their website accepted my order with an NZ delivery address, and were completely hopeless at customer service.

+1. I emailed and phoned them. The salespeople had no knowledge of what they were selling, no idea on service and no idea in general.

+1. I emailed and phoned them. The salespeople had no knowledge of what they were selling, no idea on service and no idea in general.Agreed, they suck boulders. Placed an order then received an email about 5 days later saying they wouldn't accept my credit card - spun some BS about the bank not doing international verification - WTF. Offered to pay directly via Paypal but they refused and said they'd only accept a money order - what century are these people living in??

Forget Nashbar. Probikekit are fantastic, I've ordered from them several times and it's always been smooth and fast. I just wish they had more stuff - there's a particular Shimano Tri shoe I want but they don't have them:(

//k

With the Aussie dollar going crazy at the moment, I was wondering if anyone had had positive experiences with any US ecommerce bike sites.

I have been thoroughly impressed with ProbikeKit in the UK but they have a fairly limited range.

BikeNasbar.com has great prices but they don't do cheap postage.

Just wondering if anyone has come across any AUS friendly US shops??

Hi

Firstly I agree with everything that has been said about BikeNashbar being kind I will say it was an unsatisfactory experience. Performance Bike was marginally better and the stuff I did get was good but they upped the freight cost substantially after I placed the order.

Harris Cyclery (http://www.harriscyclery.com) (associated with Sheldon Brown) was the opposite end of the spectrum. Staff were helpful and knew what they were talking about. Freight costs were less than quoted and after sales support was brilliant. They also stock a lot of unusual and/or hard to get parts (they seem to seek parts on request as well)

Having ordered from them several times, I have always been really happy with the service from http://3ringcycles.com/ who also trade on ebay as geargurl.

They will price match other online stores and charge very reasonable shipping, so go there after you do your shopping around (eg using the search engines http://www.qbike.com/ , http://www.bestwebbuys.com/bikes/index.html or http://www.google.com/products ).

I've used jensonusa with no hassles, but I was picking up the gear on holiday in the US, having had it delivered to a friend.

Hi

Firstly I agree with everything that has been said about BikeNashbar being kind I will say it was an unsatisfactory experience. Performance Bike was marginally better and the stuff I did get was good but they upped the freight cost substantially after I placed the order.

Harris Cyclery (http://www.harriscyclery.com) (associated with Sheldon Brown) was the opposite end of the spectrum. Staff were helpful and knew what they were talking about. Freight costs were less than quoted and after sales support was brilliant. They also stock a lot of unusual and/or hard to get parts (they seem to seek parts on request as well)I am having a hell of a time with performance bike.

To put it kindly, their left hand doesn't know what their right hand is doing.

I placed an order.

1) They said my Credit Card billing address didn't check out. This for both cards I tried. This is dspite me having the credit card bills in front of me. I offered to fax them the bills and a print of the actual card. No response.

2) I rang them, said a US friend of mine had offered to use his US credit card to pay for them. They said, yes, good idea. So, we tried that, but that too was finally rejected.

3) I offered to send an international money order in US dollars (as suggested on their website). Guess what, I was then informed they wont accept that, nor will they accept a wire transfer, paypal etc.

4) I finally asked (thurs) how the heck should I pay for this as they have rejected my somewhat extra-ordinary attempts to throw my money at them. They still have not got back to me.

Their prices might be okay, but their service is - well - incompetent.

Scotty

Just wondering if anyone has come across any AUS friendly US shops??
www.3ringcycles.com (http://www.3ringcycles.com) - these guys are a small wife/husband operation (yes, that way around), but they sell a whole truckload of stuff at excellent prices and with very fair shipping costs.

I've bought five or six shipments of stuff from them in the past two years, and they are very knowledgable, and they will also price match practically anything if you ask nicely (even though we are in AU - you just need to price match with a US distributor).

They also run an eBay shop - GearGurl Cycles, if you want even better prices on stuff.

A highly recommended store in my view.

n

Having ordered from them several times, I have always been really happy with the service from http://3ringcycles.com/ who also trade on ebay as geargurl.

Missed this ^.

+1

Missed this ^.

+1Maybe it was you who tipped me off about them in the first place (a couple of years ago)?

G'day

Another reasonable outdoor retailer (some bike accesories) is REI (http://rei.com). They also offer a no questions asked refund service.

Regards
Andrew

G'day

Another reasonable outdoor retailer (some bike accesories) is REI (http://rei.com). They also offer a no questions asked refund service.

Regards
Andrew
Yes - I've a mate in California whose wife "returned" a 10 year old camping stove to REI and got a refund. She just can't grasp my sense of ethical outrage - apparently that's the normal way of life in the US.

Its not a "store" as such but I have had a good run buying items on eBay from USA sellers. Honestly I haven't had a bad one yet, the prices are good (either auctions or buy it now) and the postage times are realy quite quick. Most stuff turns up in about a week which is the same or even better than from Australian eBay sellers.

Check feedback and ask for a postage price. I've recieved some postage quotes that were on the high side but most are quite reasonable. Often I've thought that there was no way I would win an auction given the higher postage I was going to have to pay but I ended up winning the auction with a much lower bid than I thought the item would go for.

Regards, Anthony

Yes - I've a mate in California whose wife "returned" a 10 year old camping stove to REI and got a refund. She just can't grasp my sense of ethical outrage - apparently that's the normal way of life in the US.I have heard of folks getting gear for the weekend and returning it the following week but not 10 years later! I am with you on that one.

Andrew

I am having a hell of a time with performance bike.

To put it kindly, their left hand doesn't know what their right hand is doing.

I placed an order.

1) They said my Credit Card billing address didn't check out. This for both cards I tried. This is dspite me having the credit card bills in front of me. I offered to fax them the bills and a print of the actual card. No response.

2) I rang them, said a US friend of mine had offered to use his US credit card to pay for them. They said, yes, good idea. So, we tried that, but that too was finally rejected.

3) I offered to send an international money order in US dollars (as suggested on their website). Guess what, I was then informed they wont accept that, nor will they accept a wire transfer, paypal etc.

4) I finally asked (thurs) how the heck should I pay for this as they have rejected my somewhat extra-ordinary attempts to throw my money at them. They still have not got back to me.

Their prices might be okay, but their service is - well - incompetent.

Scotty
I have bought from them using Amex. In the comments field on the order, I give them the Australian Amex merchant enquiries phone number so they can ring and check. (I am in the office at present and don't have it with me but I can get it for you if you need it).

They will not send to an international address unless they can confirm that the delivery address is the same as the card billing address. Hence the call to the bank or credit card company.

When I first started having problems with them , I spoke to Amex in Australia and confirmed that Amex would be happy to confirm my details for Performance.

The monkeys that work for Performance are not real bright so you have to make it clear that it is the Australian Amex phone number and give them the US dial code for Australia. Otherwise, they ring the 'Merkin office of Amex or just keep ringing the wrong number and getting nothing.

You might try a similar approach with your card of choice - give Performance the card issuer's merchant enquiries number with the US dial code for Australia etc. If you had not done that previously, the monkeys may have been ringing any number in 'Merka or 'Straya.

SteveA

I have used price point and found them to be very good to deal with, shipping was resonable and delivery within 7 days. I have also just received a set of wheels and full kit from PBK, they where actually cheaper than the US and deliverd in 10 days.



With the Aussie dollar going crazy at the moment, I was wondering if anyone had had positive experiences with any US ecommerce bike sites.

I have been thoroughly impressed with ProbikeKit in the UK but they have a fairly limited range.

BikeNasbar.com has great prices but they don't do cheap postage.

Just wondering if anyone has come across any AUS friendly US shops??

I've never found the US sites to compete with PBK, Total Cycling or Parker International.

I have used comobike.com (Italy) a few times and they have been very good and cheap (campy gruppo, wheels, saddle, computer).

Probikekit (UK) and eBay (US and Aus) have all been good also.

Jezza

I've never found the US sites to compete with PBK, Total Cycling or Parker International.I agree that on price the UK/EU stores are better, but for tracking down hard to get items, the US stores definitely get the nod.

n