Yup

shades of Homer Simpson Saccy

Question: If I was going to the US in the very near future, what gear (complete bikes or parts and accessories) should I bring back to sell here? I'm dying for some proper Mexican food, but need to make a profit out of this visit. Thanks all.

Check out Ebay for items that are being bid on (you'll be surprised at some of the unexpected things that ppl want!). Hitchy and Wattsy might be able to give you some pointers, although it's odd that they aren't in yet. Maybe they got banned

Be careful tho, you are obliged to pay GST (and maybe even duty) if the stuff you bring in is worth more than a certain amount. I rang customs once and the guy sed they collect on items if the tax component is >$50. Anything below that they couldn't be bothered with. A certain importer got caught not declaring the true value of frames he was importing and was slugged with a mega tax bill!!

I've done this trip a few times, and know the deal with customs. I just don't want to buy a bunch of stuff that I can't sell quickly. It's either bring stuff back or keep getting Ti and carbon fibre goodies shipped over by mail. Do you use energy bars? I've been trying for over a year to get Clif Bars here. I'll be bringing back boxes of them for my own use. Much better than a Powerbar, and there's no melting chocolate, they stay stable at all temps too. The mint with caffeine rocks! I have a box in my bedside table drawer for emergencies.

I'll buy some of those Cliff bars if you can convince me I wont be on the rough end of a rort.

I get the sinking feeling that I might need a box of hangers in my bedside table drawer!

Ooooh, Clif Bars, YUM !!!! If you bring enough of these back I'll gladly buy some off (of) you, they are the best bars out there.

Parts? How about decent tyres (singles) and CX tyres? Cross bikes/frames, they are hard to get here but popularity of them is growing. Good wheelsets are always sought after, as are replacement derailleurs, shifters etc.

Check them out at www.clifbar.com. We need them out here. I miss them. And I'll never forget the customs lady in Auckland that was inspecting my bags. I had 3 boxes of Clif bars, and a box of Pop Tarts. I know, very American. She just looked at me, and all I could offer by way of explanation was "breakfast". My step mum sends them to me. She means well, but it's like AU$30 in shipping for a $12 box.

Expat this is minor technicality, but at what point in life does a setp-mom get converted to just plain old mom? Is it case specific? Is there money involved? I've never been able to work it out.

Black Cherry Almond Clif bars are great, I've got into this bad habit of eating one for breakfast when I'm in a hurry. Back to lurking

I think it's rather case specific. My folks divorced when I was young, and my dad remarried 20 years ago. My mum passed away in 1996. I'm closer to my stepmum now, but she knows she will always be just that. Oddly, my wife's kids call me dad, and call their biological father by his first name. but I've been told that has to do more with my character and his lack thereof. Ok, I'll try not to be so serious.

Try to imagine life without them. Tragic. Our LBS has some crappy bars that are about AU$4 a pop. I wonder how much a shipping container full would cost...

So when you going over Expat? Browsing that Cliffbar site has given me a hankerin.

BTW, if yer talking about bike bits, the only things I'd look to change on my bike are the wheels and seat. From my limited knowledge, people like mucking about with those things. Don't know if I can afford to change out anything like that at the minute, but if something like Velomax Ascent II's were crazy cheap over in the land of libartay then I might have a crack at them. Cheeky Monkey have them for $1350. I wonder what they could get landed here for through other means?

Anyone know where I can find a Bell Furio? Google doesn't even know!

no Hammer Gel in Australia either. That stuff is good also, thin, mixes with water easily and comes in bulk, tastes OK too. They ship it to you but it costs twice as much as the product to go FedEx with it. Start hassling them to be an Oz distributor.

The Ex in FedEx stands for Expensive not Express. I use USPS and haven't had any problems at all using standard air at about 1/3 of the price. Delivery is normally 4 working days door-to-door from USA, so they're almost as fast as DHL, FedEx, etc.

The key is to have things sent to my dad's address, then have him send it to me. Yeah, I pay shipping twice, but USPS is so much less expensive. That also gives me the option of surface shipping for things I don't need right away. I have no idea how much a headset press costs over here, but there's one on a boat headed my way right now.

no Hammer Gel in Australia either.

I'll look into that too.

if something like Velomax Ascent II's were crazy cheap over in the land of libartay

the holy grail of search engines - www.qbike.com

Um, what's a Bell Furio? I've got a Bell connection in Canada. We're thinking February, for my wife's birthday.

https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=7117699441

See if he can give you a quote for USPS surface shipping. If you can wait, it will be less than US$40. They can probably go by air, but in separate boxes.

It's a helmet, one down from Ghisello or whatever its called. I have a cracked one that I'd like to replace. My LBS is happy to sell me a $230 Limar 707 or a $300 Met Stradavarios. I'd prefer that everyone (LBS guys) stopped *****ing with Pacific Brand & Liesure (the Oz distributor for Bell helmets) and let me buy what I want to bloody-well buy.

Fargin farg!!!! $500 delivered? Dang, if I wasn't so scared of ebay I'd do that for sure. My luck if I did that and won that bid, a set of 1980 plastic BMX wheels would turn up.

Coupla intereseting comments in amongst a raft of +ve buyer feedback:

nice wheels, quick shipping... interesting definition of "mint", though
Item was described as new. It's clean, it's cared for, but it's not "new"
Very nice frame, as described. Communication could be a little better though.

Jeez, looks like us Mexicans have been taken over by the "hot-landers"

I thought you'd all been banned for your extreme posting naughtiness. The hide of some ppl, frequently digressing in the middle of thread of ill-repute.

yeah, it's been pretty sensible today

Muncher, did you see how cheap your helmet is in the states? And have you guys priced 1980's BMX gear? Relive my childhood on a US$1000+ PK Ripper frame? Just goes to show, never throw anything away. In 20 years, our old crap will be worth something. Oh, and my Ti frame will still look new and have no fatigue...