rant about Oz prices

yeah, prices here are an absolute fkn joke, and bar & stem prices particularly [censored] me off (but not as much as the price of bike clothes and tyres) because they are not moving parts; just cheap, small chunks of aluminium!!

in about 1992, I bought some Cinelli bars for 50 bucks, and a Cinelli stem for 60 bucks, and I barely noticed bar & stem prices until a few years ago when I needed to upgrade to A-head. Well, I was shocked to see alu stems and bars over 200 bucks each!!!! Barely justifiable!!

I rountinely skimp on non-moving parts such as stems, bars and seat posts, often buying 'BBB', unless I get a super deal on a 'name' brand. By the time we put bar tape, a speedo (a "computer" is what I'm looking at right now), heart rate monitor and lights on the bars, who can see or give a [censored] what brand they are? 😄

The main problem is that the volumes that aus importers sell are small. So they are trying to make a viable business by charging large margins. This used to work before Ebay and the internet. I have been buying all my major purchases for the last 13yrs from overseas. Even if I want to buy some things locally the importer wont bring them in, such as Conti Gatorskins 700x28. The reply was "how many pallet loads"! So they wonder why I buy from OS! The wonderful Mavic importer will only sell rims by the pair.
I buy small items and Velicity rims locally but thats it.
I am building up a new Titanium road frame with bits from Ebay so I should save a bundle when I am buying Chris King, Dura ace and FSA for less that half the local price. Tough choice.

Cheers

As much as I would like to support, and build up a relationship with local bike shops, the savings from purchasing over the internet is just too much for me to justify purchasing from the local bike shop.

As mentioned the cost of bike clothing is just over the top compared to sites like probikekit.com, tyres as well.