Not a shill - I'm laying that down right now. I've been around long enough on these boards/forums, really and I've watched more than enough bickering/arguing threads on this "delicate" topic. That being said/written, let's cut the cheddar out and stick to the inquiry:

I'm helping a friend find a bicycle for his girlfriend (and eventually, a new/upgraded rig for his own needs). Budget is a concern and admittedly BD is quite hard to beat for price vs. components.
Sure, the arguments can be said that this person (or anyone) wouldn't be getting the LBS "service" experience, etc:. Not a problem here as this guy knows how to work on his bike and is reasonably experienced to get some basic mechanicals in shape, plus there are a lot of local resources available in the area (BicycleKitchen, BikeOven, Bikerowave) - so let's not argue on those points, this is not the thread for that.

So, I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a few other websites/places to look for the highly competitive pricing that we'd normally see on BD?

I'm sure they exist, and I'm sure people on here have happened upon or know of these sites. If so, drop the names here.

(the point is that I'd like to find as many purchasing options for my friends. BD has choices, sure, but I'd like to find other sites that may offer other "competitive" deals for their choosing)

Thanks for your help.

Performance has a lot of entry level type stuff that I would put on par with Bikes Direct. Don't quote me on that though, I have no solid experience with either.

If you have a Performance store nearby, I would recommend them over BD by a large margin for low-end bikes. For better quality bikes, try Colorado Cyclist.

I've considered that and they've looked at Performance, but the prices are still hard to beat (again, no shill). I'm recommending, for their situation, that she go no lower than Shimano 105/Tiagra mix drivetrain.

Ebay.

I just helped a friend get a bike-- she'd been riding my girlfriend's road bike for a while and got hooked enough to get her own. We looked at Craigslist, Ebay, LBS's (it's sale time for last years models that are still on the floor), and considered BD, too.

LBS's often have sales that are pretty competitive with BD even, especially if you go at the beginning of the new season when they're getting rid of last year's stuff that's still on the floor or in the warehouse. You even get to try it on.

Craigslist has a lot of interesting stuff, but it's hard to browse and a lot of people have no idea what they're selling or how to describe it.

Ebay- takes some patience to get a good deal, but they're out there. She ended up getting a full Veloce equipped Bianchi in near new condition for about $450.

We did a few things to make it easier: she had spent a bunch of time on my GF's road bike, which was a bit too small but rideable, and made her try on the track bike, which has a taller standover but same sized cockpit. I had good sets of measurements on those, so we knew the starting point.

After that, I got a slew of emails (3-6/day, usually in small clusters) of "How about this one". Which led to looking up the geometry on each one, estimating whether it was worth it, and bidding or not, or calling the person (for CL listings).

It takes some patience, and some knowledge of bikes and geometries, but you can get a really nice deal.

What about ibexbikes.com?

Though, for the prices, BD is going to be impossible to beat. Their stuff is decent too. Why the hate?

No hate, I'll pass that site along to my friends. Comparison shopping is a great thing, I think, no matter what someone is looking for. Thanks!

I also just spotted rscycle.com - does anyone have experience with them? good/bad?

You might get lucky and find your model/size at www.sierratradingpost.com. Sign on for their email flyers and they usually send a 20% off coupon which makes for some excellent deals. Happy hunting.

One thing to make craigslist easier to use is to add the script to view the images in the search results. came in handy when i recently bought a wheelset. no needing to click through to see the pics.

to do this, get firefox, add the greasemonkey extension, and then add one of the following scripts: https://userscripts.org/scripts/show/24089 or https://userscripts.org/scripts/show/6155. the first link is a newer, less bugs, but haven't installed it myself. Both should work instantly (after restarting for greasemonkey install).

https://www.rscycle.com
The Tommaso line they carry isn't too bad. Built a couple up for a couple of people and was impressed by the quality to cost ratio.

https://www.leaderbikestore.com/

I love mine....

bicyclebananas.com

They sell old stock roadies at a significant discount. Some nice Jamis stuff over there.

In idly clicking around on ibexbikes.com, I noticed that they are all sold out of many models. They must be waiting for the 2008 shipment to come in.

Thanks guys! Keep 'em coming.

+1

tks for the tip... makes using craigslist a lot easier!

+1

Epic thread, keep it up!

I bought my K2 MTB from Randall Scott last year. Great deal, and easy to assemble. No problems at all.

Just for the record, for those who might come upon this thread in the future who might be in Europe:
Cube
Planet-X
Focus

For those in the US, I imagine shipping would kinda negate cost savings.

Try www.Chucksbikes.com. He is in California. He carries frames, components, wheels and is willing to put together bikes based on your budget

Chucks Bikes is good, I've bought a number of components from there. If you're local, he'll let you do a pickup and save shipping.

+1

he's the best and i have purchased many items from this vendor, saving *lots* of money on components!

There are only two that I've found that seem competitive with BD. Both operate as eBay stores. One is "Sprtymama" and the other uses "chicabike". Although, personally, judging from the prices and products and location, I think "chicabike" is actually Bikes Direct. That would only leave "Sprtymama" and on some bikes, they actually beat BD.
Of course, as everyone knows, there is also Amazon.

Hope this helps. If you find more, post them so we all can check them out.

Ryken5

https://stores.ebay.ca/SPRTYMAMA-BIKE-SHOP

I find zero products from Sprtymama listed on ebay.

Same for chicabike...

https://search.ebay.ca/_W0QQsassZchicabike