I just picked up my Shamal Ultra clinchers from the Post Office, and to my surprise they charged me $60 for the customs clearance. The wheels were purchased from Shiny Bikes in the UK. What's strange is that I did not get charged anything for the Record group I bought from them a few months ago.

Could it be due to the larger box the wheels were shipped in? Is it possible that someone goofed up? I went ahead and payed the $60 because I got the wheels for a great price and I wasn't about to leave them at the Post Office. It's just annoying when you have to pay money unexpectedly.

Nope it totally has to do with what you purchased. Bicycle components are not taxed. Bicycle wheels or complete bike are (or should be) as are "bicycle accessories".

I got whacked once when Total Cycling put "Bicycle Accessories" on a shipment where I ordered 2 Campy group sets. It shouldn't have been taxed but I had to shell out like $200 to get the stuff.

i thinking of getting those, can you see if they say where they are made? i heard of people saying theres a sticker saying made in taiwan

According to the HTS codes, assembled wheels fall under Bicycle Parts and Accessories, Other and have a 10% duty. If you got charged more than 10% there is a process with the USPS to get the amount corrected.

$200 for 2 group sets? Yikes. What's strange though is I bought some Dura Ace c24 clinchers from Chain Reaction last year and there was no import duty. As for the 10% duty, I paid $900 USD shipped for the wheels so the $60 I paid is less than 10%. Strange...

The sticker on the outside of the box says Made in Italy. The inspection cards that came with the wheels say "This wheel has been designed in Italy and it has been assembled manually."

Also, they tried delivering to my door yesterday, but I was at work so they left a notice saying I could pick it up at the Post Office today after 9 am. What would they have done if I was home yesterday? Charge me $60 on the spot or something?

Yes.

What you paid and the value of what the importer stated can be different.

You learn something new every day. Thanks guys!

Welcome to my personal nightmare.

I've really liked Canyon bikes for awhile now, but they wont deliver to the US, so I was going to go through someone in the UK to send it to me via him. Problem is, I dont trust the bike getting to him, then to me w/o trouble(getting lost), or me having to pay almost the price of the bike upon delivery, so I can somewhat relate to your problem.

Hey, at least hubs are duty free. Now if you could only get the Asia exporters to declare things accurately, it would be a breeze.

Got a set of Zipp wheels last summer from PBK and there were no extra charges.

It's all about how the shipper declares the product. Bike Parts will probably be free. Bike Accessories will be taxed. If it was labeled Bike Wheels it should be taxed.

ILC, you gave up on tubulars?

Nope. Just needed a nice clincher wheelset because having only one tubular wheelset is not a good idea. If I were to get a flat right before a club ride or something I'd be screwed considering it takes 3 days to glue on a tire.

I ordered a DA crank from ribble or wiggle a few years ago and by the time I paid shipping and customs, I could have just bought it locally.

Yeah, if it's close enough in price I'd rather buy it from a US seller because shipping and returns issues can suck when dealing with an international seller. However, the deal I got on these wheels was too good to care. My total for the wheelset after paying the $60 customs fee was $960, which is $290 less than the cheapest eBay seller.