That makes THREE Victors riding fixed in Vancouver. Yay!
HOW TO BUY A BIKESDIRECT BIKE IF YOU LIVE IN CANADA
1) Email BD and tell them you live in Canada but want to buy a bike and ship it to a USA address. They will email you a phone number to call where you place a credit card order over the phone.
2) Select a USA package receiver. Since I live in Vancouver, I used this one:
http://www.thelettercarrier.com/ You could just as easily use one in Blaine or whatever border is convenient for your needs. If you set up with The Letter Carrier, they will email you when the package arrives and will sign for it. In my case, I used the UPS tracking provided by Bikesdirect.com and tracked the parcel so I knew when the box arrived before receiving the email from TLC (email was sent by the afternoon after receiving it in the morning).
3) Bikesdirect did not send me an invoice. Neither was one included in the box. Suspecting this might be the case, I did a test CHECKOUT on the Bikesdirect website to generate a price and printed that out to use as the invoice to clear customs at the border. They give you grief if you do not have something on paper showing the price.
4) Returning to the border, I told them I was bringing a bicycle back. They send you in to pay the HST 12% on the purchase listed on the invoice.
That's it.
You do need some mechanical knowledge to assemble the bike. Specifically:
- trimming brake housings and cables
- adjusting brakes
- spoke tensioning
- lubing and tightening the right bolts and nut in the right way
- adjusting chain tension
- swapping a cog (in case factory one is too big)
- changing and tightening the lockring
- adjusting cup-and-cone on the axle hubs
To do this properly, you will also need some bike specific tools. So unless you already have these tools and knowledge, it will be easier and more importantly SAFER to pay a bike shop to assemble it. If you want to learn the skills and acquire the tools along the way however, then its a great opportunity. Alternatively, bringing the box to a bike co-op like Our Community Bikes or the equivalent will also be fine.