Dear Shimano,

Thank you for blocking shipments to Canada from Bike24 in Germany for all Shimano products. My last order for bike parts and tools did not contain any Shimano products.

For those thinking this is a "let's support your local bike shop" issue, it's not. Some colors/styles or even entire serial numbers are simply not available in North America. So, why Shimano would do this to potential customers is beyond me.

LBS Snowflakes ruined it for everyone.

I suspect it was more the distributors like QBP whining.

Whining? Oy vey y'all are crazy. People are so butthurt about the bicycle industry here it makes no sense. You realize that Shimano pulled a bunch of stuff from QBP a while back and I see no reason for anyone to whine. Yes some of these distributors and certainly a lot of local shops are unhappy about people undercutting them and yes Shimano is doing something about it but none of it is whining. It is wanting product and MAP protected.

So if I’d like to buy a particular Shimano product that’s only available in the German market then it’s “too bad, so sad” for me?

Geez Shimano, after all my years of buying your products this is how you’re gonna treat me? Okay, I’ll be sure to remember this.


-Kedosto

No problem, I like Sram components. They are just losing sales!!!!!

Until you realize SRAM won't ship to Canada either from most places...

SRAM plays the same dumb games and worse--MAP no-sales nonsense wherever they can.

Isn't all this why we have ebay?

Great point. I don't use eBay, but if I must...


-Kedosto

Sine SRAM is even worse (MAP etc.), it will be hard to boycott both if you want modern drivetrains (and brakes).

The alternatives are not better or cheaper. Like box or sunrace.

KMC and Sunrace are good chain and cassette options that will get my money.

BOX looks really good in some narrow spots (single speed freewheels for BMX, drivetrain for downhill, things like that)
Microshift seems to be a reasonable competitor.
Sunrace seems to be coming on - their 12sp mtn stuff looks good, and their road offerings look fine as well - only drawback is non-aero shift cables and maxing out at 10sp. And availability - they haven't gotten any big online distribution, as near as I can tell. The prices you can get their stuff for is all over the map because of that.

Campagnolo groups from Europe are now cheaper than Shimano is available (as in, shimano doesn't seem to be available at all) - I can't even get Shimano through Jensen USA or Universal, I assume they aren't allowed to ship to Canada. ProBikeKit.ca no longer has groupsets, in fact doesn't seem to have any Shimano any more.

Shimano are the most recognizable name to the casual cyclist, and by far sell the most stuff both to OEMs and as upgrades. This might change if they are no longer accessible to the upgrade-itis crowd.

I've never really looked at SRAM because of difficulty in getting it - Shimano have now surpassed them in difficulty. Campagnolo I always percieved as a nightmare of compatibility. (although Shimano is no better post 5800/4700 groups)

If Campagnolo is now the most available and cheapest to home wrenches, I'm going to have to invest in a couple tools (although I guess maybe not if I go 11 speed - I can keep running 'shimano compatible' freehubs and cassettes and run FSA cranks)

The thing is, I'm not going to spend three times as much to get the 105 kit I might have bought from CRC or bike24 from the LBS - I'm probably going to buy nothing, buy Campy, or go full retro. I don't seen any way this actually benefits Shimano in overall sales.

Does anyone know if they're targeting online sites even in your own country? Are they funneling more business directly through local bike shops?

Consumers want variety at good prices.
That is true regardless of the industry/hobby being discussed.

I have no doubt you are also this way in some(many?) instances, just noy cycling since you are on the retail side of things.

Consumers have seen how much these components can sell for and naturally dislike price increases and reduced availability once they have seen what could be.

To that, you chastise. Typical.

Then you get the case of Australia where the availability is even more limited and the prices even higher than the USA.

In the golf industry both Ping and Titleist will pull a retailers account if they sell below MAP. That's just the way it is in some industries.

I would order Shimano stuff from Chain Reaction in Ireland then I was informed Shimano won’t let them sell to USA or Canada. I was

Thank you all for the ones who posted useful comments. However, this post about whining was not useful.

I don't understand what this topic is about. I guess I'll see in time how this affects me. Just looked on eBay, got a choice here of over 5,000 brand new Shimano rear derailleurs. Starting at the cost of a McDonald's meal. I'll get some boxes from work for hoarding, and keep an eye on things.

Is there a business opportunity here? I mean, one that pays a little more than Skip the Dishes or UBER. How about a middle man in a "Shimano friendly" country who buys quantities of Shimano product, gets a discount for bulk purchases and then re-sells it to places determined non grata by Shimano. He could position himself arms length from the actual jobber re-seller so Shimano wouldn't slap his wrist. I don't know, just an idea. Shimano is insane to flip the bird at a huge market like the USA.

The bigger problem is that now products just aren't available, not that they're available at an increased price.

Merlin still seems to be in operation, but mind you, the cost difference shopping there for Shimano vs. eg. Texascyclesport (using Ultegra 8000 groupset example) only seems to be about 15% -- which IMO wouldn't be worth it for the warranty issues from going overseas.

No problems buying Campagnolo products from England.

God bless the Queen.

Fixed it for you.

Does aliexpress have better buyer protection than ebay?