General Cycling Discussion - Who is your Online Retailer of choice?

I have had it with Performance Bike and need someone else to order from.

Preferably someone who provides:

Good Customer Service
Tells you when something you ordered is on back order
Tells you when your order shipped out
Free Shipping


Thanks! :D

Nashbar; Niagra and Amazon.

Not free shipping except from Amazon for over $25 orders but it depends on what I am buying.

Jenson for some items. Some of their sale prices are quite good.
Niagara, through Amazon, frequently. Shipment is a bit slow.
Sierra Trading Post for clothing and helmets.
Harris Cyclery for IGH related items.
Direct from Amazon if they carry the item.
Velo Orange for some of their house brand items.
Lickbike has some excellent prices too for some items.

I have had no problems with any of the above vendors. Amazon tends to ship USPS and the tracking of the USPS tends to suck.

REI. They generally don't do free home shipping, but they will ship to a store for free, which works for me.

Excelsports in Boulder: https://www.excelsports.com/

Probably not the cheapest, but they get it to me quickly and have never made a mistake or screwed me over.

Aspire Velo but their selection is limited. Otherwise Excel or Colorado Cyclist.

Harris Cyclery - Sheldon Brown's old haunt - is the best for customer service I know of. But they are pricey. Newton, Mass is not cheap-rent. But they will talk to you and their crew knows their stuff better than the vast majority. No problems with the "Surprise! Back-Ordered!" And they ship same-day if before 3 or 4pm EST.

http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/

Other than that, I order from a bunch of different places. If I need something pretty quick, and Harris no got, I'm relatively close to Niagara. They are shipping USPS Priority Mail if you tick-off that box. Much faster than UPS for me. Tree Fort Bikes in Michigan has good prices and service. Jenson sometimes has BIG bargains on some high-ticket items. Cambria Outfitters does too - both have price-match. And Bikeman, in Maine, is always good - fast too.

Amazon and Niagara (I concur re. the poor on-line communication of Amazon's USPS shipped items!)

Not free shipping except from Amazon for over $25 orders but it depends on what I am buying.

Jenson for some items. Some of their sale prices are quite good.
Niagara, through Amazon, frequently. Shipment is a bit slow.
Sierra Trading Post for clothing and helmets.
Harris Cyclery for IGH related items.
Direct from Amazon if they carry the item.
Velo Orange for some of their house brand items.
Lickbike has some excellent prices too for some items.

I have had no problems with any of the above vendors. Amazon tends to ship USPS and the tracking of the USPS tends to suck.

I just bought some pedals from Amazon (sold through Niagara). They are S-L-O-W in shipping. They did ship it though a few days after I ordered it. Its now in transit. Whats funny is that they haven't even charged my cc yet and its already in transit. I would probably order from Niagara again if I didn't want it or need it sooner.

I have to give props to Biketiresdirect though. I ordered and received goods within a week.

Amazon and Niagara (I concur re. the poor on-line communication of Amazon's USPS shipped items!)

Not just Amazon. Anything shipped USPS with tracking is a PITA as far as package tracking. The USPS only scans the tracking number at the arrival post office either the day before or the day of delivery. No scanning at the sending P.O. or at any intermediate points.

Priority Mail always outpaces UPS for me from anywhere in the USoA. Maybe that's because the Post Office is busy moving it to me, while UPS is taking tracking-numbers and playing "Kick The Box" at their 10,000 detours?

REI usually. I can order online and ship it to the near REI store a couple blocks away and take advantage of the free shipping option.

I get free two day shipping from Amazon if it is a product they sell. I will have to see how many bike related items they have.

Nashbar...their credit card scandal, though, is problematic...I think some of their specials are amazing...the merchandise is pretty good in my opinion...and the USPS gets it here quickly. I even have a Nashbar road bike, which is a pretty decent one.

Jenson or Cambria Bike. Niagara sucks in my experience. Took weeks to try to get an order straight then weeks to get my $ back.

Nashbar and Performance are the same monkey - just wearing different color lipstick.

price point
jenson USA
chain reaction cycles

pp wil do you right, always have me; jenson is responsive to any issue you may have, and do the out-of-stock notification bit, as does CRC. CRC has free shipping if you're buying a lot, and that's from England. The minimum is like $250 right now, but there are some smokin' deals there, and hard-to-get stuff, too

Probikekit, if you're willing to do business in England, offers free shipping on some things to the USA. And it's as fast as most American dealers. Take a look:

http://www.probikekit.com/

MEC in Canada also is one you might take a look at.

I've bought stuff this year from Performance/Nashbar, Pricepoint (also Performance?), Jenson, and Tree Fort bikes (had best prices on Park tools for a while), all with no problems. The Nashbar credit card thing bothers me a bit, but I think it's a risk with any retailer, online or not.

Pricepoint seems to usually have the lowest prices for what I'm looking at, and so far I haven't had a problem with their service.

I like Price Point for many cheap tools. They aren't the Park Tools quality, but good enought for my needs. I've bought from Nashbar, Performance, Niagara with good results. I was a victim of the Nashbar credit card thing. My card number was stolen, but the card company caught it for me with no harm done. Since then, late last year, Nashbar has cleaned up the problem. I also have bought tires from BikeTiresDirect.com. Good prices, and service. Performance has free shipping to their store for pick up, which is good.

REI and Pricepoint.

Nashbar treated me poorly, + credit card incident = not worth the hassle.

I'm gonna order a wheelset from universal cycles in a few weeks (using their wheelset builder). Does anyone have any feedback on them?

REI
ColoradoCyclist
SierraTradingPost
Velowear.com
JensonUSA
PricePoint
BikeTiresDirect

Performance/Nashbar - cheap prices; customer service can be clue-challenged, but will get it right eventually; generous return policy

Excel - Not so cheap, focuses on higher end stuff. Customer service is excellent. But I mainly use them for the free, instantaneous shipping; which may not be available if your commute doesn't pass their warehouse :)

I'm exclusively an REI customer since last year.

I'm going to have to give props to Niagara. I ordered my pedals last Saturday 8/1 from Amazon but sold through Niagara. Originally, it said that delivery date would be 8/11. However, I checked the tracking number and its already here and status is out for delivery. It's 5 days earlier than they said it would arrive. I'm impressed. Maybe they improved their shipping times.

Jenson USA, Niagara, Loose Screws, Rivendell

I'm going to have to give props to Niagara. I ordered my pedals last Saturday 8/1 from Amazon but sold through Niagara. Originally, it said that delivery date would be 8/11. However, I checked the tracking number and its already here and status is out for delivery. It's 5 days earlier than they said it would arrive. I'm impressed. Maybe they improved their shipping times.

They had a representative in the forums here awhile ago. She was looking for feedback and constructive criticism. This in and of itself was impressive to me. You don't see Nashbar slithering in the door. Anywho - the unanimous complaint was delivery time from Niagara order to delivery. She apparently took this back with her. And it appears changes were made. They are much faster than they used to be.

Whoever is cheapest for whatever it is I'm buying at the time.

depending on items/cost and deals at the time I go to these retailers the most

I like (not in any particular order)

Bikeman, (Bath ski/cycle in Maine. Very good outfit when I lived in maine good outfit still) great on the phone for questions!!

Harris cant be reached by phone 97% of time but very good with Email

Rivendell $$ some unique items (very few items) great customer service phone or E mail always a hoot talking to them.

VO has been pretty easy to utilize as well.

"John"

They had a representative in the forums here awhile ago. She was looking for feedback and constructive criticism. This in and of itself was impressive to me. You don't see Nashbar slithering in the door. Anywho - the unanimous complaint was delivery time from Niagara order to delivery. She apparently took this back with her. And it appears changes were made. They are much faster than they used to be.

I just love having dealers and manufacurer's reps onboard. I know Ergon and Brooks are here, too.

Usually, I shop around and end up with JensonUSA, especially if I'm ordering several low dollar items. Their inventory usually covers everything, and shipping costs eat you alive if you have to order from a number of vendors to get all you need. Good delivery times, they will ship either UPS or USPS (important to me), and no problems to date.