Buying gear in the US

Dave80 said:

A friend is travelling to the US soon and I'm after some new shoes. A quick scan of the internet shows that I might be able to save about $20-$50 (Australian) on a $220 (Australian) pair of Shimano shoes. Is it worth hunting around more or is this as much of a saving as could be expected.

I'd be buying more than just a pair of shoes.
Chris King Hubs
Pedals
zero-gravity brakes
Dura-ace derailleurs
Anything that has a huge mark up when you buy it in Aus
.........

Cheers

Geoff

Next year I'm hopefully off to europe and I'm going to be hunting for some cycling gear. At least I won't have as high postage from Probikekit 🙂

geoffs said:

I'd be buying more than just a pair of shoes.
Chris King Hubs
Pedals
zero-gravity brakes
Dura-ace derailleurs
Anything that has a huge mark up when you buy it in Aus
.........

Cheers

Geoff

Yeah I would love to bring a suitcase full of stuff home but I'm a student and short of $$$.

Does anyone have any good recommendations for places to shop? LA area would be super or I can get things shipped to North Dakota or MN.

Thanks heaps

Baalzamon said:

Next year I'm hopefully off to europe and I'm going to be hunting for some cycling gear. At least I won't have as high postage from Probikekit 🙂

I was thinking about the same thing, but for shipping to EU countries Probikekit will charge you VAT which I think is around 17% - cheaper to get it shipped to Australia if its a medium-large order!

Components and most clothing is cheaper in the UK. Zipp wheels, tri bars and some other bits and pieces are good value from the USA but for anything else I'd stick to buying over the net from a UK based outlet like Parker Int; Probikekit or total cycling.

Cheers
Chris

Dave80 said:

Yeah I would love to bring a suitcase full of stuff home but I'm a student and short of $$$.

Does anyone have any good recommendations for places to shop? LA area would be super or I can get things shipped to North Dakota or MN.

Thanks heaps

Try Jax bicycles (www.jaxbicycles.com), I found the shop at Irvine to be good value, but Jax have multiple locations over LA.

Another good store chain is Performance Bikes (www.performancebike.com), (used to be Supergo) try the Laguna Hills store they generally have lots of close outs (end of season sales) on shoes. You should save a lot more than $50.

Both these stores are in Orange County south Anaheim and your friend will need a car to get around (for anything). Rent a Sat Nav, worth it's weight in gold in LA. There are a lot more in this area that are more like the LBS, but the above have a large range and are good for one stop shopping.

roshea said:

I was thinking about the same thing, but for shipping to EU countries Probikekit will charge you VAT which I think is around 17% - cheaper to get it shipped to Australia if its a medium-large order!

Is there anyway to get duty free? Otherwise, might as well pay for the postage.

mikesbytes said:

Is there anyway to get duty free? Otherwise, might as well pay for the postage.

AFAIK, it is only VAT-free if it's going outside the EU, so you are up for either shipping or VAT. I think there are sometimes deals from Probikekit for free shipping to USA so that may work out for you!

geoffs said:

I'd be buying more than just a pair of shoes.
Chris King Hubs
Pedals
zero-gravity brakes
Dura-ace derailleurs
Anything that has a huge mark up when you buy it in Aus
.........

Cheers

Geoff

I'm with you. I'd be buying stuff that has the biggest price differential compared to Oz eg Powertap laced to a set of Zipp404's would be high on my shopping list, but just depends how much $$ you have to throw about...all grows on trees right???

Wheelbuilder.com in SoCal has great selection of wheels and the guy there knows his stuff and builds a great wheel.

roshea said:

I was thinking about the same thing, but for shipping to EU countries Probikekit will charge you VAT which I think is around 17% - cheaper to get it shipped to Australia if its a medium-large order!

No, they charge you a flat rate of AUD$18 no matter what you order, unless you get wheels, then it's around AUD$100

www.probikekit.com and www.chainreactioncycles.com are both cheap, reliable and quick. Many bargains to be had!!

F.

Can highly recommend Probikekit.net

Purchased a full ultegra groupset from them, total cost including direct to door delivery in Sydney and VISA conversion charges was $860, close to $400 savings. Arrived yesterday in a little over a week no dramas at all and with great savings.

Will certainly purchase again.

roshea said:

I was thinking about the same thing, but for shipping to EU countries Probikekit will charge you VAT which I think is around 17% - cheaper to get it shipped to Australia if its a medium-large order!

Feideaux said:

No, they charge you a flat rate of AUD$18 no matter what you order, unless you get wheels, then it's around AUD$100

www.probikekit.com and www.chainreactioncycles.com are both cheap, reliable and quick. Many bargains to be had!!

F.

Slight mis-undertanding there. Shipping is a flat $18.99 for most orders to AUS. What I meant was that if it's a medium-larger order then the shipping cost is cheaper than VAT and (cheaper) delivery to the EU.

sorcha said:

Try Jax bicycles (www.jaxbicycles.com), I found the shop at Irvine to be good value, but Jax have multiple locations over LA.

Another good store chain is Performance Bikes (www.performancebike.com), (used to be Supergo) try the Laguna Hills store they generally have lots of close outs (end of season sales) on shoes. You should save a lot more than $50.

Thanks for the tip, went to performance bikes. My gf got a pair of Shimano R151 road shoes for $70 US (=$96 AUD) as a close out special which is an awesome deal.
I got:
3 x Jerseys,
Cat Eye Astrale 8 computer,
2 x Cannondale Fastbag 78's (one for the GF), and
Ascent Bare Bones Multi-tool all for $208 US (=285 AUD).

My only question now is why the hell do we pay so much for this stuff in OZ? I also picked up a pair of Asic 2100's for 40% of the Australian price and a new set of lenses for my oakleys for about 50% of the price here.

Dave80 said:

Thanks for the tip, went to performance bikes. My gf got a pair of Shimano R151 road shoes for $70 US (=$96 AUD) as a close out special which is an awesome deal.
I got:
3 x Jerseys,
Cat Eye Astrale 8 computer,
2 x Cannondale Fastbag 78's (one for the GF), and
Ascent Bare Bones Multi-tool all for $208 US (=285 AUD).

My only question now is why the hell do we pay so much for this stuff in OZ? I also picked up a pair of Asic 2100's for 40% of the Australian price and a new set of lenses for my oakleys for about 50% of the price here.

It's all about marketing and availability.
Hell, in the USA, they market Foster's as an up-market beer and charge you extra for it... so I guess it works both ways.

Now there's an idea, see what the US bike shop will swap you for a carton. 😄

you know its interesting

its not just cycling its across the board food clothing cars

but its simply econmics on different scales

if you lookk at the wage a common american gets compared tro the price they pay for things its not too different to the common australian with what they get

remember year 9 econimics

when i went to america its great because you got tourist dollars

so yes its cheaper
but if we had no income protection
loose ohs practises
low taxation rate
double dipping government sectors
and a vicious employmnt sector that does not foster growth
................

mmmmmmmm

starting to sound familiar

anyway apples with apples

mikesbytes said:

Is there anyway to get duty free? Otherwise, might as well pay for the postage.

I'm not sure about stuff from the US, but for anything from the UK, like probikekit, if you spend over a threshold of $1000 AUS your parcel will be held up for checking by customs, anything under that they won't look at and it will come in "under the radar".

Frames and Forks I think are liable for a 5% customs duty, everything else is duty free, HOWEVER if you do spend over that $1000 mark you will be hit for GST at 10% and a $50 handling charge.

So to keep it simple - don't spend over $1000! Or if you do, check your sums after GST against an LBS cost!

SpiderJ said:

I'm not sure about stuff from the US, but for anything from the UK, like probikekit, if you spend over a threshold of $1000 AUS your parcel will be held up for checking by customs, anything under that they won't look at and it will come in "under the radar".

Frames and Forks I think are liable for a 5% customs duty, everything else is duty free, HOWEVER if you do spend over that $1000 mark you will be hit for GST at 10% and a $50 handling charge.

So to keep it simple - don't spend over $1000! Or if you do, check your sums after GST against an LBS cost!

I recently made my 2nd purhcase with probikekit. Purchased some Mavic ES wheels when their 10% sale was on a month or so back, total price came in just over the $1000 threshold and recieved it at my door with not GST or duty charged within the week of ordering, whether it was pure chance customs didn't charge me the costs as all the invoicing was still in pounds or they just don't have the resoucres to check all incoming goods... either way I was pleased and will buy again from probikekit,

vazzwells said:

I recently made my 2nd purhcase with probikekit. Purchased some Mavic ES wheels when their 10% sale was on a month or so back, total price came in just over the $1000 threshold and recieved it at my door with not GST or duty charged within the week of ordering, whether it was pure chance customs didn't charge me the costs as all the invoicing was still in pounds or they just don't have the resoucres to check all incoming goods... either way I was pleased and will buy again from probikekit,

I think they don't iclude the shipping cost in their analysis, perhaps this was got you home and dry?

I got stung when I bought my SSC SL's, I didn't know about the threshold and ordered othe bits of gear with them, which took it over the $1000, I was kicking myself!

Saying that I have no hesitation in buying anything from probikekit. Apart from maybe a whole bike!