:ROFLMAO:

dumbass?!?? that's not strine, that's yank crank.

i could've accepted strine equivalents such as "ya drongo", "ya bloody drongo", or "ya ****en great dill". but dumbass? you've become americanised too quickly expat. i worry for you. soon you'll be voting republican,playing softball, and proudly drinking crap american beer

Yes I had the Stelvio's on the Orbea. They rode well I thought.
The Vitorias I have are; TT - 'Rubino Pro', GT - Diamonte.(sp) All pretty good rubber IMHO.

on the subject of tires
I just had my first wet road ride on a fixed gear
and I thought the vredestein fortezza on the front was a winner.

My latest ebay puchase came with a gp4000 on the rear but a gp3000 on the front, and I dont like the 3000, slides far too easy. Might swap them around and get back to you.

yeah, the GP3000s always seemed like hardish compound to me

Um, I declined an invitation to join the company softball team. They don't even go out for beer and pizza after a game.

Most overrated tyre ever.

What's next?

http://www.t-mobilepictures.com/phot...tzydj2orhgtj35

About 10 days door to door! BTW, included in the $19 delivery was a Triathlon Bar, 6 tubes, Knee warmers and a rain jacket.

yer i cant go past that, 40 odd bucks for GP4000's is fantastic, can get 2 deliverd for the price of 1 in a shop!

just remember not to go crazy with pooling or bulk purchases.


customs is obliged to collect tax on imported items, but generally don't chase tax amounts of less than (say) $50. seem to recallexpat having some more info on this sort of stuff from back in TAT 1 or 2

I think wholesalers here probably don't have much to worry about in the next few years as we've been very, very slow to embrace online purchasing or mail order, but the reality is that there are just too many people that have their hands in the cookie jar and I think it's just a matter of time before bike shops just become bike repair shops. Obviously this is something I think about a fair bit, but I also wonder just how much of the Aussie bike wholesale business is propped up by 'bro deals' and 'people with more money than brains'?

The other thing that concerns me, is my ability to offer complete bike packages. I have very few OEM accounts because I can't order the types of quantites most OEMs want, but even if I did, the prices on some of these mail order places are so low, that they're not far off the pricing I can get anyway.

I can always be competitive on Answer/Manitou stuff because they've been nothing short of fantastic and will sell me any quantity of any thing at OEM pricing, but most other companies just say "Buy from your local wholesaler".

What's the point when my local wholesaler of Brand X is more expensive than PBK or CRC!?!?!?!

Sure, there's this issue of warranty, but that last thing I had a warranty issue for was for some Stans rims, and he sent me a new pair within 7 days of me lodging the claim....from the US.

I'm not anti-retail at all. I still like a good window shop, but the stark reality is that one US mail order outlet sells as much stuff as the entire Aussie bike 'industry' and has/gets better pricing than the Aussie wholesalers. Over the next 10 years, I expect there'll be quite a shift in the way everything works here in terms of the whole retail/wholesale game.

From my experience anything over AUD750 (or is it AUD1000? I get the USD/AUD thing confused) automatically gets hoiked, anything under and it's subject to random checks and is generally pretty safe and will more often than not get through without being GSTed.
Thanks been my experience anyway, and I import a fair amount of schtuff.

This is for Tiger and you, Yoda. You can check the Customs website, but if I recall, there's two different forms for declaring your imports. You've got a short form for stuff under AU$1000, and the big ugly form for goods over that amount. Something like that, anyway. The thing is, if you have stuff sent over by USPS, then your best mate Lancey says "Hey, these are bike parts for those good Aussie blokes, don't tax them". Ok, that's not the way it works, but if it goes UPS, DHL, or FedEx, they pretty much always do a Customs entry, which is about AU$50, just for the filing. So USPS kind of slips under the radar. Something to keep in mind.

can't wait for that to happen

This is what I deciphered expat.
1) try and stay under the $1000
2) ship USPS

What are you, a Uni student?

Let me translate: Make sure the declared value is under $1000. By the way, they include shipping costs in that figure. Also, many of the USPS services are not trackable. It's a numbers game, but we never lost a package.

Oh, on a side note, I just noticed that the weight of my freight was 7,700lbs. Apparently, that's what we loaded into the container that day.

Cadel Evans
 

Cadel Evans has Hunter syndrome.

Rare genetic syndrome, worse case scenario, may shorten his life expectancy, and almost cruel his career or certainly finish it depending on degree.

Best case, with treatmeant, may be able continue on his upward curve.

nice it defiantely didnt feel that much. Must be all those heavy bikes you own:D

...or was it all those 4kg boogey boards :p

Bad news, but late onset has a better prognosis for longevity. He'll be hoping he misses some of the badderer symptoms like joint stiffness and carpel tunnel issues. It's too late for his butt-ugly melon though :)

Cant belive the scot on TAT is first to pass on best wishes for ANZAC day.

FWIW, I am now the proud father of a little girl, 8.5lbs, 50cm!

STREWTH... what a day!

congrats pshaw :)

Shhhh!

Congrats! You'll never have sex again. :D

Congratulations on the new arrival ........ name?

TBD, mum is knackered so we will decide later today!

Back to cycling... i had 2 pairs of Castelli Yfusos (seamless) which the chamois started to come away on.

Sent them back to OZ dist this week, 2 brand new pairs turned up today. 1 x Yfuso, 1 x Suzuka.

I'm stoked. Great service!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!