Classic & Vintage - Internet Bike Part Suppliers: Fastest and Slowest Shipping?

OK, this was my experience: fastest by far: Nashbar. I often get Nashbar orders within 3 days, I don't know how they do it. (Of course, they also scammed my credit card a couple of years ago....)

The slowest by far USED to be Niagara Cycle. It typically takes 2 weeks, sometimes as much as 3 weeks to get my order. But I have a new winner: Jensen. Ordered over 3 weeks ago, still waiting. Everything I bought from them could have been bought from Niagara for the same or less, but I was hoping for better service...

What's been your experience?

Hmm. I've heard that about Niagara before, but my own experiences with them have been pretty darned good. Last set of tires arrived in three days.

Fastest for me are Universal Cycles and Bike Tires Direct. They're just across the river, though. Well, technically Universal is across two rivers, but...

I'm sure I've used Jensen before but it's been a while. Bummer about the wait.

I also find Niagara to be very slow, usually between 1 and 2 weeks.

Velo Orange tends to be pretty fast. The fastest is Amazon--IF--I buy something that's actually from them (not from another seller selling via their site). Amazon of course doesn't have vintage bits and bobs, but for tires, tools, cables, bar tape and other common stuff it's great. I never pay for fast shipping and almost always get it in 2 days, occasionally I get it the next day, and occasionally in 3 days. Don't use the free shipping if you expect this service, though--It seems to me that they just hold it a few days before shipping it if you select the free shipping.

Lately, my Niagara orders have been coming faster. Not blindingly fast but acceptably fast.

It took over a month for me to get recent shipments from DealExtreme, but then again, they're coming from China by standard post. Still, they emailed me a few weeks after my order that they were about to ship. Then another week later, they sent an email saying they had shipped. Then about two weeks later, I received shipments.

They're a bit shady, so I only send them amounts of money I can live without. And some of their merchandise is super cheaply made, so I know the risk I'm taking. They say they accept returns, but I wouldn't even bother trying.

Nashbar and Performance are pretty quick for me - if I really need something from Performance I'll usually swing by one of their stores when I'm in the Seattle area.

Loose Screws has always shipped really quick for me. Only ordered from Niagra once - it was ok. Not real fast but not real slow. I've also ordered from Excel Sports which had pretty quick turnaround. Finally, my Amazon stuff (even that with sellers working via Amazon) always seems to come in fairly reasonably also.

Velo Orange and Ben's Cycle are extremely fast in my experience. Universal Cycles is also fast but is further away from me.

Nashbar and Niagara have been the slower for me but no problems and they have nice prices.

Oh, yeah, I should mention Loose Screws! They are awesome. It's normally pretty quick, but once I needed something extra quick, mentioned that when I ordered, and they shipped it only a couple hours later. They're very accommodating generally. Another time I ordered something, and later remembered something else I needed. I sent them an email, and they tossed it in the same box, charged my card separately (but didn't charge me any more for shipping), and it still shipped on time. They're all around great.

Bike Island, they are the fastest. They send me stuff in two days and I'm in CA and they are in TX. Abexo is good, one week and they are in NY. Worst was a jersey I ordered from China, 5 weeks. From china I ordered a set of pully wheels, 2 weeks. I bought a RD 600 arbesque from England, a little over 2 weeks.

I once placed a phone order with Nashbar, hung up and placed a web order with PBK in England. The PBK order arrived here in CA in 5 days, the Nashbar one took close to 10.

Jensen? Do you mean Jenson usa?

Performance is the quickest to me in NC, followed by Nashbar, which has slowed by a day or two.
Loose Screws is just as fast as Performance, as is Abaxo in NY.

I ordered shorts from China (you have to experience their padding at least once in your life...You'll need to lower your saddle 1-2cm) and they took almost a month, but I order those "Jagwire" kits once in a while, and 105 components from Taiwan, about 10 days.

I think the slowest shipper, in many cases, is me, on trades. Sheeet just piles up. I'm getting better, and hope to be "done" for a while.

My experience with Nashbar has been like BB. At least 10 days usually via the Fedex-Postal Service combo. Niagara can be weeks or as little as 5 days.

most of you guys are on the east coast. keep that in mind.

i buy as much as i can from tree fort bikes. they are in michigan, their prices can't be beat, and they carry most things i need.

edit: oh, and they process orders usually within a day...then its up to UPS.

I got nashbar within good time. I ordered some 2009 Easton handlerbars from Jenson USA last saturday and it should be here by friday, which I can deal with, since they shipped it on Monday and that is just how long UPS takes to get here from CA.

I just tried something with Outside outfitters today. Their HQ is about 7 miles from my house here in STL and they have a small retail area, so I drove by and ordered some Tektro levers. Apparently they have a few other warehouses in other locations or something of the sort, so I have to wait until Monday to pick it up, but shipping is free (have to pay for taxes though). I generally hear that they have some slow shipping times, but that is 3rd day, maybe 4th day shipping if I had it sent to my house, taking out non-business days (I don't know if they get it sooner, since there is usually a day where it is in your city being sorted through the UPS hub, and if they have to wait that day too, as they are across the street from the hub). Interestingly enough, they said they do repairs and builds their, but I won't be trying my luck anytime soon. The desk guy did seem to be knowledgeable enough, but he probably has to be, as I think he also takes phone orders.

I've only used JensonUSA once, for a set of tires. Were here in 4 days.

Niagara is slow.Like their websight.Colorado cyclist has the worst PR.Jenson I've found fast with great prices and a huge inventory.I'll never buy from Col.Cyclist again.

I just got some parts from AEbike. They offer free shipping over $75 and had the lowest price on a couple of the things I ordered.

They had it out the door in a day, and to my door in five working days.

For me, the fastest shipping has been from ProBikeKit. A couple of years ago, I received an order from them in 4 days. All the way from the UK to Kalamazoo and at Christmastime.

QBP. Next day delivery, free shipping and wholesale prices. But I work at the LBS.;)

I ordered from Blue Sky this summer, and they shipped it out the same day. Great prices as well.

I think Niagara has made a real effort to clean up their act.
The used to be atrocious - laughably so - but all of my more recent orders have come in a reasonable amount of time.

I mostly use BikeWorldUSA through Amazon: They carry almost everything that Niagara does at about the same price, but there's no random "takes an additional 2 to 3 days processing" on anything they stock. Getting an order here takes right around five days which is good for where I live.

Slow shipping drives me nuts, I do the internet sales where I work and we ship daily.

If we have the parts in stock it takes MAX 4-5 days to get anywhere in the continental U.S. on UPS ground.

I have bought from Niagara and will continue to do so for their prices but their shipping typically does leave a bit to be desired.

PBK has been has been super quick considering it ships from overseas. Harris Cyclery I've had great luck with.

^+1 to PBK (ProBikeKit in the UK). I received a saddle within 3 days from the UK to California--and that was with free shipping, a promotion they frequently offer. Plus, the original saddle had a tiny, tiny tear in the leather, and they exchanged it without any hassle.

i would say Nashbar is the fastest but I order much more stuff from Niagra because of the price. The past year or so they seem to have cut their delivery time in half. It's more like 10 days instead of 20.

I recently ordered a set of pedals from Nashbar for the free shipping. The tiny pedal box was packed into a USPS box, then into a FedEx box and shipped to multiple states over several days. I had gotten previous orders in only a couple days, since I only live about 150 miles from their home office. My wife thought I had bought a whole pile of stuff when she saw the size of the outer box. It's not Nashbar's fault, just the wierd way the packages get routed.

I ordered a flatbed scanner from Amazon and got it in 36 hours with free shipping.

A question about Niagra:

Purchases from Niagra can be made through Amazon. Would that expedite the shipping?

A question about Niagra:

Purchases from Niagra can be made through Amazon. Would that expedite the shipping?

No. If anything it seems to be a bit slower--In my experience anyway.

Last order for about 14 items placed with Niagara on a wednesday about noon.....items were in my living room by Friday noon (same week). I didn't pay for any special shipping.

Just called Jensen, ordered over two weeks ago, and they still haven't shipped. WTF? They had one item (out of about 20) on back order. Got them to turn the rest of the order loose.... Niagara is starting to look good.

I think Niagara has made a real effort to clean up their act.
The used to be atrocious - laughably so - but all of my more recent orders have come in a reasonable amount of time.

Still slow, about two weeks for my recent orders. They will take the absolute maximum of their stated time frame for each step, plus a day or so. Knowing up front that it's going to take that long it doesn't bother me, but I hated waiting on my first order from them.

I once placed a phone order with Nashbar, hung up and placed a web order with PBK in England. The PBK order arrived here in CA in 5 days, the Nashbar one took close to 10.

I've had a similar experience with ordering music. I placed an order from Music Non Stop in the UK and it arrived within a few days. I placed a similar order from Amazon and it took about 2 weeks.

Apparenly the Atlantic is easier to navigate than the border.

most of you guys are on the east coast. keep that in mind.

I don't think that matters much. I'm in NYC and Niagara is upstate, but it still takes them weeks. Loose Screws on the other hand is in Oregon, and they get items to me in as little as 3 days. I think it's much more about the time it takes them to process the order and send it out, and much less about the distance the order is going.

I have amazon prime so I get "free" two-day shipping on anything sold by or fulfilled by amazon.

Nashbar is usually mediocre speed, probably 7-10 days or so here in the northeast, it was a little longer in san diego.

I've only ordered once from niagara (via amazon) but it got here relatively fast compared to nashbar, probably 4-5 days or so.

niagra by far the slowest.. but I go back to them because they send exactly what I order and at a good price.. I can't recall the vendors name.. but whoever I ordered the last set of rim tape from took seemed like 2 days... (and my experience with niagra is location based, ups ships throughout ny state, then to kentucky, then finally to me in Cali.)

Last order for about 14 items placed with Niagara on a wednesday about noon.....items were in my living room by Friday noon (same week). I didn't pay for any special shipping.

Say WHAT?! :eek:

I have never even gotten an email from them stating the products had shipped in that amount of time.

Say WHAT?! :eek:

I have never even gotten an email from them stating the products had shipped in that amount of time.

+1

RobbieTunes, what do they put in the shorts, a whole pillow?

Thickly padded shorts are a pain in the b@lls, literally.

Tree Fort Bikes is the slowest that I've seen. I just placed my first order with them and it took 8 days before they shipped my order, none of which was indicated to be backordered or oversized. I can't remember any other order from another online bike retailer that took longer than 8 days to actually show up on my doorstep, including orders from the UK and Alaska.

When I lived in TN, I would get a shipment from Wallingford in just two or three days. Velo Orange took exactly a week, and now that I'm in WA, they still take exactly a week to get here. I don't order online very often though.

Nashbar- lightning, but they are very close. My only experience with Niagara was perfectly reasonable. Also have had good experiences with Chain Reaction Cycles and Modern Bike. Bikesomewhere took a little longer, but not terrible, maybe 10 days. Yellow Jersey shipped in a reasonable amount of time, but I felt the couple of people I talked to there were smug and mean. VO and Wallbike were reasonable, but not fast. Rebrit Cycles is a small operation, but I can't say enough good things about Steve. Compass took a while, but it's far away.

Chainreactioncycles has been almost shockingly fast in shipping components to Canada, with orders arriving on the west coast from the UK in less than a week (like, a couple of days). Free shipping, that. Ribble is quite decent also, though not quite as quick in my experience.

Most US online retailers charge much more for shipping to Canada (even if much more geographically proximate), so I have little experience with Jensen, etc.

VO is OK, as is VeloMine.

Best ones for me have been Jenson, Alfred E. Bike, Harris and Nashbar, in that order.

Worst have been CBO (weeks with no notification) and Niagara (careless boxing and inflated, item-by-item shipping costs)

Lately I have been put off by Nashbar's web site and suspect product descriptions, but ordering and shipping still seems very professional.

Where is Blue Sky located? Their advertised prices are very attractive.

I have stocked up on a nice variety of good 27" tires from Nashbar.

I just got a complete "11sp-style" set of Veloce 10sp ergolevers from Ben's for $100 shipped fast.

Jenson's the place with free shipping on $75 orders and best prices on KMC chain and Shimano cables. They shipped a partial order whenever anything was back-ordered.

Can't usually blame the shipper when an overseas item arrives late. I allow 10-30 days.

I believe that Abaxo is Niagara's Ebay sales outlet.

I bought something from Amazon this last Sunday. Instant order confirmation email. Two hours later (Sunday) I got a shipped status email.
Two hours on a Sunday is pretty good, but I don't want to work there on Sunday.

My last Niagara Order of about 12 different items was placed Monday 4/2/12 at 6pm. Confirmation of shipping arrived Wednesday 4/5/12 at 3pm. Order was delivered Monday 4/9/12 at 2pm.

Also have had good experiences with Chain Reaction Cycles and Modern Bike .

+1 on Modernbike. The last couple of orders I've put through with Modernbike came within a few days.

My last Niagara Order of about 12 different items was placed Monday 4/2/12 at 6pm. Confirmation of shipping arrived Wednesday 4/5/12 at 3pm. Order was delivered Monday 4/9/12 at 2pm.

+1 .
Good experiences with Niagara lately. They have improved their customer service greatly.

......The slowest by far USED to be Niagara Cycle. It typically takes 2 weeks, sometimes as much as 3 weeks to get my order. But I have a new winner: Jensen. Ordered over 3 weeks ago, still waiting.....

No experience with Niagra, but JensenUSA, Universal Cycles, Nashbar, Performance, Blue Sky, and Chain Reaction have always been pretty good to me, and Universal Cycles, Nashbar, and Performance usually are the best, but if you want to talk slow, try Deal Extreme(ly unlikely you will see it for a very friggin' long time.....). How about over 3 months for a Magicshine 808 and over 2 months for two sets of sunglasses, and no responses to any inquiring e-mails.... enough said.

I'll never bother to even look at what they claim to "have" again.