TP_Mantis

A friend of mine has gotten into cycling and wants my help to build up his first real road bike (currently has a hand-me-down). Needless to say, i am excited.

We haven't gone through all the options yet, he has his eye on a few frames.

My question is where do you generally get the best deal on Groupsets?
Looking at the Force / Chorus / Ultegra range depending on what he likes the feel of. What online shops would you hit up looking for these?

I live in the US but not opposed to shopping overseas if the deal is better.

thanks,
Mantis

urbanknight

As funny as it may seem, you might get it cheapest if you buy a complete bikesdirect bike and take the components off of it. You'd then have a frame, wheels, bars, seatpost, etc. to either use or sell off to help pay for better ones.

datlas 

Shop around. Generally the UK sites (pbk, ribble, etc) have the best deals.

I got my new ultegra groupset from lickbike last year at a very good price.

Hunt-man

Look at performance bike, they were having a sale on Shimano / Ultegra.

I just bought a Bikesdirect Kennet for the parts. I'll let you know in a few months if buying a whole bike for parts was the right way to go. I've got a Pedal Force QS3 on the way, some day....

intence

UK Sites have good prices on Shimano/Campy. SRAM not so much ... eBay or search locally. Performance / Nashbar with coupons have had decent pricing lately on new Shimano and some SRAM.

Steev

I hope you and your friend realize that it is usually cheaper to buy complete rather than build up a frame.

paste_me

i learned this the hard way...

lesson- sell your bike in parts
lesson- buy your bike whole

sstorkel

When I bought my Red gruppo, admittedly 2 years ago, GVH Bikes had the best prices of anyone around. Great service, too...

Metzinger

These guys, near Amsterdam seem to be lower than the UK guys.
I don't know if they ship.
But if you holidayed in Holland and bought from them, you could see about getting a further 19% (tax) refunded.

mumei

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I have a somewhat related question.

Does anyone know how warranty issues work if a groupset is ordered from overseas? In other words, if I, living in US, buy from someplace in the UK, then I assume I have to work with that UK store to get a warranty repair if anything goes wrong. Or do I forfeit the warranty completely buying overseas?

Does anyone have any experience, first or second-hand?

datlas 

I am not an expert, but concern about warranty led me to buy from an authorized usa dealer (lickbike) rather than save a few bucks from an overseas seller.

Truth be told, most modern components are of good quality so this may not be as much of an isssue for many buyers.

My understanding is that buying from a non-authorized dealer may invalidate the usual manufacturer's warranty.

rdubbz

ebay. my rival came in $100 cheaper than gvh.

teokiatuan

Now that's cheap. About $774 dollars for a 6700 group.

Thanks for the headsup.

Fox Farm

Are those USD prices??? Amazing if they are.

383

SRAM Red for 1100??? Rival for just 450? Wow. And an American probably wouldn't have to worry about VAT, either...

I'd recommend a combination of GVH and eBay. GVH raised their prices so it's not the great deal it once was, but is still pretty good.

ksharp

Most likely Euros

ptle

Ebay...

I just won some brand new 2010 Rival shifters for $211.52 shipped.

Metzinger

yes

igonebikin

at Texas Cyclesport. The service was good and quick. Really liked the way these guys are.

datlas 

I know it's a thread from the past, but I wanted to point out the warranty issue.

I had a catastrophic fail of my 6700 chain (they have since fixed the intrinsic problem with the 6701) which caused the RD to be ripped in two. I sent the chain and RD to Shimano USA along with my receipt and they kindly gave me a new chain and a new RD.

If I had bought these from ebay or the UK or some other "grey market" seller I am sure they would have not honored the warranty.

MrTuner1970

Over the past two years, I've bought Campy components from Ribble in the UK. Very satisfied.

If your friend is going with Campy, might I recommend 2011 Athena components with Chorus shifters? Chorus (and the more expensive groups) shifters do 5-down shifting, which is nice.) I have 2009 full Chorus group, and the 2011 Athena/Chorus mix. The Athena/Chorus performs even better than the 2009 Chorus. Very quick and smooth shifting. A bit noisier than Ultegra, but great stuff. Great hoods.

A downside to Campy is that parts are often harder to get at the LBS because the others are more common. No big deal -- just know the stuff you're likely to need, and order 1-2 times a year from Ribble.

milnerpt

complete bike isnt always cheaper, depending on what group you are looking to get. PBK just had shimano 105 (5600) for 275 shipped... although you would have had to swap out the italian BB. I only scored a standard BB with compact groupset for 390 (they sold out of the former pretty quick)