Anyone else using bikeinn?

Never heard of them, they carry quite a few brands of which I've never heard of here in America; their prices weren't any better or worse at the few examples I researched, I found most of their items priced about middle of the road which means I could find the exact same item for less after a small bit of searching.

I know you might disagree with me but I get most of my stuff from either Performance, Nashbar (those two are actually the same company), and Modern Bike, both places, especially the first two, so far have given me the best prices with uncompromising customer service over the last 15 or more years I've used them. I do shop for the lowest prices I can find, including lowest shipping fees if any, so on occasion I will find something cheaper then either Performance or Nashbar, BUT if I contact them they'll price match and since their customer service has always been good for me I'll place the price match through them. Also of course if I'm buying a brand they may not carry then the search is on, like last year a bought the Birzman Maha Apogee IV floor pump after reading lots of reviews in the floor pumps (this one was the best for the money) and got it from Modern Bike because those other two didn't sell it. And then I got to test the customer service at Modern Bike when the pump head failed, it kept blowing out the O ring seal every time I used it, so they sent me new pump fast, so I like their customer service a lot at Modern Bike.

I know I've read some people who didn't like Performance or Nashbar but most of those complaints had to do with screw ups on credit cards where for some reason they use to allow third parties into their secure web, not sure what that was all about but my understanding is they stopped all of that, but I never had any issues with the company. You can beat any fraud attempts by all but the most militant hacker by placing your order using the Google extension BLUR which puts your credit card number on a one time "fake" email that you use to register the purchase with whatever company, then hackers can't later get in and find it. When the company you buy through communicates with you your standard e-mail service receives it but it says it came through the BLUR system. But those fraud issues with Perf and Nash was back in the 2008 to 9 and there hasn't been any reported incidences of that since then.

Everyone has their favorite and non favorite place to do business with, just have to follow what your experiences are and go with that. Most online retailers are going to go out of their way to please you because they're getting a small portion of the money pie vs store front retailers, but over the last 20 years I've gotten worse customer service from any LBS then online; I would think with LBS's screaming about online businesses stealing their thunder (which in reality the numbers don't show that), that LBS's would be knocking themselves out to get your business and keep it...they're not!

A funny side note about service at an LBS I have here in Fort Wayne. When I moved here in 2003 I went in there to look at some stuff with my 84 Trek 660 with Superbe components, the main mechanic/sales person looked at my bike and said this: "when are you going to get rid of that thing and get a new bike?" I didn't reply just laughed a bit. I went in there again later and got a similar comment again, so I wrote an E-mail to the owner which didn't do any good. But about 4 years ago I finally had enough of this mechanic/salesperson's mouth, I went in there to buy a glueless patch kit in the spring with lots of customers around buying their new bikes and get ready for riding time when saw he me come into the shop with my older bike and said quite loudly: "let me guess, somethings broken and you want me to fix it?" Not sure why he said this since I've never taken my bike there to get fixed, but he was on that I got a piece of junk thought he's always had; so I replied just as loudly as he did: "NO, this bike doesn't break like the pieces of [censored] you sell here made in China!" He got real quiet and mumbled "how can I help you?" Customers and the store owner heard the whole thing, after that they've treated me real nice, and that mechanic guy does very little retail customer relations work anymore. That shop never realized for a long time that I had more than 1 bike, they now only know about 4 of the 9 or so that I have, but a couple of the older bikes I've taken in are in pristine condition and the newer floor man loves them and he'll talk to me quite a bit about them.

Can you match this?

https://www.bikeinn.com/bike/selle-italia-flite/40347/p

CAMPYBOB said:

Can you match this?

https://www.bikeinn.com/bike/selle-italia-flite/40347/p

There are some items like your seat, as well as Campy stuff, and most of the time Conti tires, among other Euro brands that are found less expensive in Europe and the UK, while here in America those products have price fixing controls that dictate how much they can charge. Just this week Bike Tires Direct had Conti Grand Prix 4000 S on sale for half price which I haven't ever seen Conti reduce their tires that much, and it was less than the UK online retailers which is rare, but all the other American sources were a bit higher.

Again some of the brands they sell have no marketing here in America and thus no interest by anyone here since no one can find out whether their any good.

But lets take a look a Shimano's top of the line Dura Ace Di2 rear derailleur, this is your source's price: https://www.bikeinn.com/bike/shimano-dura-ace-di2-rd-9070/135996843/p
And this is an American source price: https://www.probikekit.com/bicycle-derailleurs/shimano-dura-ace-di2-rd-9070-bicycle-rear-derailleur-11-speed/10769372.html

So what does this all mean you scream? It just means it pays to shop.

That's what I thought. You couldn't beat that price. You probably couldn't even come close. BikeInn has a LOT of great deals. Not everything, but a [censored] ton.

I'm a BikeInn neophyte, but looking over prices across their many 'stores' they have some absolutely great deals to go ga-ga over. Like I said in the OP the only weirdness so far is shipping taking a week over my typical European sources. Spanish company dealing stuff out of the Netherlands and probably sourcing warehouses all over the continent.

The English sites are also a bit...different. One ships out of Sweden. Two deal out of Ireland for the obvious tax and labor rate savings. I've only dealt with one German site and that was a weird experience and took some extra time also.

The Dura-Ace 9070 line is still kind of hard to get and cranksets are just now getting to the biggest distributors and resellers. Crankarm length and gear tooth combinations are still hit & miss. Maybe by mid-Summer the supply chain will catch up. Not even all of Team Sky are on 9070. 9000 series cranks are still on most of their bikes at Strade Bianche yesterday.

Ribble has the rear D a few bucks cheaper still: http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/shimano-dura-ace-di2-9070-11spd-rear-gear/?currency=USD&gclid=CMjIgOzJwNICFVK4wAodvfwMaw#pid=20353

9070 stuff is still hot [censored] and by the end of summer it will be on sale all over the place. This is the first Dura-Ace stuff in decades I can actually stand to look at. For the last two years 105 Black components looked better than D-A to me. The 2-tone stuff looks tacky and reminds me of SRAM Force components. Which are equally fugly.

I booked marked the site so if I need something I'll check them out vs the others, so thanks for the link.

The only issue I've heard on forums is that the UK online stores can be quite a bit slower, and several had issues with Ribble and Wibble (or whatever they are!) when it came to customer service, but if you say your place doesn't have those sort of problems then I'll definitely keep them in mind. This price thing blows with the wind, for several years I could find tires cheaper at Performance and Nashbar than anywhere else during closeout sales, even Bike Tires Direct was too high all the time, this last week or two I guess Bike Tires Direct got [censored] and dropped prices like crazy but only on few tires, but for road tires to come up cheap this time of the year at 50% off from BTD, or any other store for that matter, is unusual.

Thanks Again CampyBob

I am also impressed about this site. And I would like to save this website for further use. Thanks for sharing.

Wiggle. I've ordered many times from them and smooth sailing. 3 weeks, tops to delivery and usually more like two weeks.

I'm a 'Buy 'Murican!' kind of guy, but the Euro price tags are usually 50% to 75% lower than American online and just ludicrous when compared to the LBS's.

Try finding a carbon frame with a 6-year warranty and a full Ultegra group, [censored] RS330 wheels, Conti tires, Selle Italia saddle, Ritchey cockpit bike delivered to your door for under $1,400 like Ribble did for me. Gonna be a tough ask,as the Engrish would say.

I LOVE Nashbar. Arni Nashbar and I go back 40 years together. I used to know every one of his staff members. The LG Pro Feel 2 shorts I ordered last week from them arrived in 3 days. I buy from them for several of my daily driver needs. Same with Performance. I stop in their Mayfield Heights store about once a month when near there on business. Gels, tubes, CO2 cartridges, tires (they do price match brick & mortar outfits, thankfully), etc.

Wiggle, Ribble, Chain Reaction, BikeFit, Merlin, Halfords, ProBikeKit, Planet Cyclery, Planet X and On-One, Competitive Cyclist, Western Bikeworks/Bike Tires Direct, Colorado Cyclist, Excel Sports, Nashbar, Performance, Evans Cycles, Jenson USA...and a hundred more I have bookmarked...are all good sources. BikeInn...I've been on their site for a few hours and they do have some killer pricing. Their package tracking is pretty good, but don't expect to see rapid movement. LOL!

Agree with you that BTD can be 'high'. I wait for their super sales. They had my Fortezza Tri-Comps long after they went out of production and the blowout pricing was awesome.

Like I said in the other thread...want training sew-ups? See the Yellow Jersey and blow a C-Note. That should keep a guy rolling all Summer!

Performance and Nashbar (same company) really up'd their game with their brand of clothing this last year or two. At the end of last season they had a blow out on MTB shorts so I thought I would try the Nashbar (Flume model) brand just to see, they got high ratings but if they looked cheaply built I would just send it back...dang, those shorts surprised me! They were better looking, better built, the fabric was more robust, yet decent in weight then my older Fox Ranger shorts that needed to be retired, the Nashbar short was only about $18 while the Rangers now sell for $80 (I think I paid $48 about 3 years ago). But everything about that Nashbar short is just quality construction, as much as I don't like to buy stuff made in China the price difference and quality just can't be ignored sometimes. I haven't worn the Nashbar short long enough to really get a feel for how long they'll last but from the way they feel and act they should last as least as long as the Fox.

I almost bought a pair of Nashbar padded liners due to high reviews but I went with Garneu brand instead since it was a big sale at Nashbar for darn close to the same money as the Nashbar one and it too got high reviews.

I think Performance and Nashbar are really improving their game and want to be the leader in online cycling stuff in America, and if they stay on this track and make further improvements which I'm sure they will they will be extremely tough to beat by anyone in America.

Like I said earlier, for some reason there is strict price fixing going on with certain brands in America which is why those brands that have that price fixing here in America don't have it in the UK or Europe, so those brands can be found for less money outside of the US, so places like what you mentioned CampyBob will indeed have cheaper prices on those brands. I've just always been a bit leery of buying something from another country because I'm not sure how things would be handled if there was an issue and how long it would take to handle the problem. But as the cycling industry starts, starts? they've started a while back, but anyway, as they embrace more and more wealthy corporate types like the golfing industry did, prices of cycling stuff will continue to trend steeply upward in the battle of corporate greed, and we'll have to open our minds up to other areas of the world to get what we need for a price we can afford.

America is cycling's cash cow. We are the largest, most spendy market on the planet...even if a lot of that gear just sits in closet or garage.

Credit cards...how do they work? If you get stiffed, just call up 1-800-VISA I've Been Screwed. My screwings have all come from within our shores so far and VISA just deletes the charge. No worries. If the seller wants his stuff back he better send a pre-paid RGA tag to my door.

Time? Well, shipping from Yuroland does take a week or two longer and that's due to our U.S. Customs. ICE. I don't mind at all. For returns, yeah, there might be a time lag there and double-check policies on return shipping.

For an experienced cyclist there isn't much of an issue. We know our sizes, components and with a few intelligent questions can figure out the rest.

Brexit caused a noticeable drop in prices from the English sites. Like I said earlier, go shop around for a decent carbon bike with Ultegra and a name set of wheels on it. If you had walked into Ribble's shop with $1000 in your pocket you could have probably ridden it home for that cash.

That's all fine but I will never buy a Ribble frame, unless I was racing and needed a cheap frame in case I had an accident or broken frames like you do then it would be cheap to replace. Those Ribble frames are nothing but generic frames that the factory put their decals on. In fact Ribble frames are called an open mould Chinese frame made by XPA which you can buy direct from XPA for roughly $300 less than from Ribble. In fact the older Ribble R872 is the same XPA/Ribble frame made for DeRosa called the R838, and Deng FU also sold the same frame as did Planet X.

Does that mean that the Ribble, DeRosa, Deng Fu, Planet X, and maybe a couple of others I missed, are crappy frames? No, they do get good reviews for the most part. I guess it's sort of like in the 80's when Nishiki and Centurion was being imported by West Coast Cycle, and those bikes were pretty good. So I'm not going to fault anyone for buying one but I'll leave myself out of that picture, besides at my age with all the functioning bikes I have I don't think I'll be buying anymore unless a see a vintage one for cheap! Or if I decide to get really serious about touring and figure out my current touring bike is either too old or inadequate then I may get a touring bike, but that has a very long shot of ever happening.

The Ribble R872 is manufactured by XDS Carbon-Tech Co., LTD. of Shenzen, China. On the mainland. That's what the manufacturer's wrapping that was on mine stated.

XPA is Xpace. They manufactured my three Wiliers. They are located in Taichung City, Taiwan. Theoretically, they should have a higher build quality than Carbon Tech. I was also told that Xpace sub-contracted work from the Chinese mainland by a sales rep at Competitive Cyclist.

They probably ship the same molds around to Uncle [censored], Cousin Wong and who knows who.

The Derosa R838 featured external cable routing, a different fork and different chain stay profiles. It was more similar to the Ribble Swift model, which preceded the R872.

In any event, they (the Wilier's and the Ribble) are great racing bikes for not much money. Maybe you could save a few bucks buying direct and forgoing someone to deal with the speaks English, gives great service and might just stand behind that 6-year warranty. Competitive Cyclist had me a new freebie frame in a matter of days after I sent them digital pics of my cracked one.

Again, I would challenge anyone to find a full Ultegra carbon racing bike with decent [censored] semi-aero wheel package and a good cockpit for under $1200. I put another 33 miles on the Ribble yesterday and it continues to impress. Like that Selle Italia Flite saddle, the price tag makes pulling the trigger a no brainer.

It's possible that at some point Ribble may have changed from XDS to XPA, or somehow I got the information wrong, but supposedly it came from a Ribble owner. Regardless which place it's made it's still considered an open mould, meaning generic.

Open Mold is industry jargon for non-proprietary use. Multiple companies are able to buy product off that tooling.

That does not mean the product is identical from company to company. Carbon layup schedules are changed as it the type of carbon pre-preg and the percentages of carbon types used. Ribble up-spec'ed the R872 for stiffness while keeping it light enough that two years ago it would have been considered a halo product level in terms of out of the mold weight.

Mold inserts are also changed out for geometry updates, tube shape and detail changes, etc. Like I said up top, the Ribble has a completely different chainstay configuration than the De Rosa. I looked a little closer at the Swift and De Rosa and it may be that the seat stays are different below the brake bridge, but I would like to see more close up pictures before saying that with certainty.

One company might use internal bladders while the next would use shaped sacrificial internal mold cores.

The fork spec'ed is also as easily changed as the rear triangle.

I have a feeling, from what I've seen, that a lot more forks than frames are generic. Everyone and their brother that makes a CF bike has a fork with either some odd name or their company name on the fork, and know darn right well they don't make forks. Lynskey "makes" a Lynskey CF fork...except they don't even dabble in CF manufacturing, so when I bought my Lynskey in 2013 I had Adrenalin Bikes replace that fork with a Enve 2.0, which even then Enve was already pushing their fork production away from America to China. The fork that I got was in a transitional year for the fork production so short of pulling the fork and sending Enve the serial number I don't know if it was made here or in China, but the quality control seems really high from what I know about CF forks...which ain't a lot! The only thing that Enve now makes in the US is their wheels which I think is bit bogus of Enve to ship the rest of their stuff to China, for what? costs? Their already among the highest costing stuff so why would that be a consideration? So they have to charge another $25 for a fork to keep production here, big deal.

Off shoring is done not so much to lower costs. It's more designed to increase the profit margin. And to eliminate having to deal with .gov regulation.

And yes, I'll admit that quality varies a LOT in Chinese products. If it is a capital goods purchase I steer clear of Chinese stuff, but bikes are just an appliance to me. They're no different than a toaster anymore.

I get a 'good enough' toaster...beat the [censored] out of it and get another toaster a few years down the road.

They're cheap. They're interchangeable. They're employ technology that's changing rapidly. In a couple of years we'll all be on Graphene frames with electric shifting and ceramic bearings everywhere...for cheap.

It really doesn't matter to me if I ride a Westinghouse brand Chinese toaster or a General Electric Chinese toaster. It will be obsolete in a few years anyway. Ribble. Rabble. Rubble. It matters not two [censored].

So buy yourself a new Ridley Scott POS and beat the living snot out of it. Laugh, knowing it never spent a day of its life in Belgium.

yet there are some very high quality stuff that comes out of China that IS NOT a western branded or product, like tube amps, Yagin, Icon, and Ming Da, make some of the best tube systems in the world for the money, meaning sure you could buy something that is at the most 10% better from America or England but you'll pay 5 times more for it! But China has been doing tube stuff since tubes came out combine that with cheap labor and you get a really nice product at low prices. My understanding of some of this is that China has certain marque companies that great pride in what they build, but when they build something for an outside company they do it fast and without a lot of care involved because after all they are told to do it cheap so cheap they'll do it.

Froze, interesting you felt the need to upgrade your Lynskey fork. My buddy did the same thing last year, paid a good bit more for an ENVE fork. I went with the generic fork as I liked the look of the Lynskey decals on it, and it looked like it fit the bit perfectly with the OS tapered headtube. It feels like a solid fork to me.

I certainly understand why someone would (and should) pay extra for a superior design, better tested and better QC'd product. But absent any comparative design or quality data, I couldn't justify paying extra. Plus, I didn't want the ENVE logo on the fork to be the brightest thing on the bike. One reason I got a Lynskey was that I like the subdued look....don't like bikes that shout their brand name in a dozen places!

Speaking of Lynskey, I watched a Bobke TV video recently where he talks about hand positions on the handlebars. Was excited to see him in front of his garage doing the demo with a Lynskey. Cool, Bob Roll rides a Lynskey...he gets it!

Sadly, my balloon was burst a few seconds later when he said it was "his winter beater-bike", not his "go-fast wonderbike"....he just didn't need to say that!

Chinese firearms are roughly finished, but generally reliable and durable.

And yeah, American tubes from RCA are kind of tough to come by these days! eBay! Not much choice except for imports there. Rebuilding that old Fender Bassman...go broke on eBay buying up NOS or just hit alibaba.

While the Chinese, and the Russians, each make really nice vacuum tubes, what I was talking about was that the Chinese, (not the Russians), have 3 brands of Chinese private party owned companies that make tube AMPLIFIERS. Actually Chinese make what's called a integrated amp, this is a preamp and amp in the same box. But the Chinese amps have a slightly warmer sound to them than the Western counterparts who prefer slightly brighter sound over natural or warmer sound, this is because a lot of Chinese music listeners listen to traditional Chinese music which is soft warm sounding genre of music.

The Enve fork thing was a swap at the time of purchase, so Adrenalin Bikes took the Lynskey fork off and put on the Enve 2.0 (along with upgrading the low end FSA headset to a Cane Creek 110) before they sent the bike to me, all I had to do was pay the difference between the two which was $174 (somewhere around that figure). The reason I went with the 2.0 instead of the 1.0 or the Lynskey was two fold, first was I was a bit concerned being a generic fork as I had mentioned, but I also could not find the rider weight limit on the fork whereas with the 1.0 it was 220 pounds and the 2.0 was 350 pounds and rated for tandem use. Now 350 pounds seems absurd to you, and anyone else reading this, especially since I only weigh 175 pounds, but being a bit leery of CF strength I decided to make sure it was very over engineered for the weight it was going to carry, and with a weight penalty of only about 42 grams over the 1.0 the weight of the fork was non issue. The graphic on the fork is OK, it just has white ENE in a weird modern art look to it like this: http://static1.squarespace.com/static/544eb0dce4b0e2d1f5a007d6/55bfe391e4b06f6d00a3dd5f/55c4dd29e4b04e60a55ebb7a/1438965125689/?format=1000w For me since the entire ENVE isn't spelled out plus it has that modern art look to it, and since my bike has white graphics, white bar tape, white seat, it all just seems to blend in together.