Road Cycling - European retailers equal Great Prices?????

Why are high quality road frames so much cheaper in Europe than in the USA?? It can't be because of the duties. The duty on a European bicycle frame is only 3.9% which is lower than the sales tax in most states. Has anyone ever bought a Pinarello, Colnago, De Rossa or any othe high quality Euro frame from a European retailer over the internet??? What was your experience like??? Did you have any problems, and would you do it again?? Are the frames cheaper because they are factory seconds??

Can anyone recommend a good European retailer to deal with??

Fewer 'middlemen/women' raking off profits. Sure they are all returns,seconds and defective.

Pokey is right. And don't forget a lot of additional freight. A shipment of frames that comes to the US has to be shipped buy ocean or air to the importer, who adds some profit. Then smaller shipments are trucked to a distributor, who adds some profit. Then even smaller numbers are shipped, probably by UPS, to your LBS, who also has to make some profit. By contrast getting a frame to a retailer in Europe probably doesn't cost much more than getting one to the wharf for shipment to the US.

So next time you go to Europe you could take all your parts in a bike box, and buy a frame cheap over there. Good luck collecting on the warranty if it breaks. :D

I bought a PINARELLO PRINCE frame with seat post from an online store in the UK and had it shipped to the USA. It was very easy to do. Prices were in American dollars and surprisingly shipping was slightly more than shipping a frame from say New York to California. Overall, it was a great buy, I saved almost $800 had I bought it in the States. I just don't understand why Italian frames are SIGNIFICANTLY higher here than in Europe. Someone's goughing us riders heavy.

Good luck collecting on the warranty if it breaks. - Rainman P

This is a serious issue, and should be highlighted more often when discussing trans- European or American internet buying. Although your LBS might be more expensive, at least you are sure that the waranty is intact. Frame or fork breakage, although rare, do occur. Importing your own bike is in many instances not covered by the "limited-lifetime-worldwide-blah-blah-blah" waranty. Caveat emptor - buyer beware

hey poululla

How much do Pinarello Prince frames go for in Denmark excluding VAT taxes etc??? Is there differences in price between European countries..say Italy and England???

And to anybody, who is the best Cycling retailer in the USA??? best service, best price etc. Is there any company that one should avoid???

if you are looking for Pinarello, check out www.cbike.com. I believe they currently have a sale going on.

Hi joeyjindan

Here is the info for Pinarello Prince. Price in Denmark = 18 989 Dkr which is 2507 US dollars. Now knock of 25%,which we pay in VAT, and you have 1880.25 US dollars. The complete bike with campag record and mavic cosmic carbon is 39 999 Dkr. You do the math on this one.
Visit the folowing site for a better idea on European prices. Remember that if you live outside the EEC, you do not have to pay the VAT on the purchase!!!

www.bikebuster.com (http://www.bikebuster.com)

This is a Danish site, in English. You can set the display to show prices in US dollars, which is helpfull.
Here is a Italian site to compare with, but I prefer the Danish site myself since you can subscribe to their electronic newsletter ,which informs you of great deals.

www.zonabici.com (http://www.zonabici.com)

Happy hunting:beer:

You see the same purchasing behavior going on in the area of climbing equipment. For instance, it is a lot cheaper to purchase carabiners, climbing shoes, and high end ice-climbing equipment from a little retailer in Spain and have it shipped over than it is to purchase it domestically. One of the major climbing magazines is now refusing to run ads for these little euro-discounters because they believe that this trans-atlantic purchasing is killing the small, independent climbing stores. You are seeing a parrallel to this in the biking community.