Alias530

I hope this type of posted is allowed...

It seems like Chain Reaction Cycles, Wiggle, and Merlin Cycles are all way cheaper than anything I can find in the US, but they're in Europe so shipping times suck. I usually plan ahead for maintenance items (chains, cassettes, tires) so shipping time doesn't matter, but if I have to buy something in the US to get it quick, who is the cheapest?

Nashbar and Amazon (limited selection) seem to be the best, but can I do better?

FIVE ONE SIX

how quick do you need it?! i don't know who you spoke to, but i usually get my parts through Merlin Cycles in the UK and have ALWAYS gotten my deliveries in less than 3 days if i pay shipping. their paid shipping is guaranteed in 2-4 days to the US and you can fully track it from start to finish. also their shipping charges aren't expensive at all, it's usually a bit more than you would have paid for tax, if you actually would have had to pay tax...

Alias530

I've ordered from Merlin 3-4 times and it always takes 5-6 business days (I'm in California so that explains why you get it quicker) and only half the time I have the ability to track shipment.

johnny99

I don't think there is any single US web vendor that is consistently the cheapest. Sometimes you can get good deals at the outlet sites and EBay, though selection is obviously very limited.

Leinster

I've bought from eBay, Amazon, and a bunch of other US vendors, and got parts in yard sales and out of the Lbs parts bin. If it's urgent enough, price doesn't matter. If price is important, I don't mind waiting a few extra days.

prorobo

Nashbar and Performance Bike or Nashbar/Performance Bike.

sced

Niagara Cycle Works is pretty good, but slow shipping. Sales at Nashbar and Performance. Ebay is always a great place to start.

My experience with the UK sites is that their shipping times are comparable to the US sites.

bmthom.gis

QBP....though you need a retail/business license and tax exempt code. I miss my part time LBS job lol. Good info on here. I'll have to check out Merlin.

Lone

does anyone know what happened to icyclesusa.com ? i loved that website. they even offered a mystery box of bicycle related things, acutually they offered two sizes of mystery boxes, one for like $6.

Doug28450

Try spadout.com for general price searches.

For the deal of the day/hour/half hour, try chainlove.com

canam73

Chainlove and the similar sites for camping and skiing are all run by backcountry.com, which also owns Competitive Cyclist and Dept. of Goods. The Chainlove deal is usually the best thing they have going, but all of their sites can have some very good sales.

Pricepoint is another place that can have good sales. Like Nashbar/Performance Bike, they also have their own house brands of bikes, parts, tools and clothes although most of it is...well... house brand quality.

Phlorida

some older posts on this forum indicate that they went out of business in mid 2007

Looigi

What shipping method are they using? In my experience using the mail services, parcels can get hung up at the US port of entry for varying amounts of time. Usually it's a day or two but not infrequently it can be a week or more.

Wanderer

With the savings I get from CRC, it's worth the wait.............. I got more bikes, if one is down.

rms13

There is no answer. One place is cheaper for one thing another place is cheaper for others. I like Bikewagon, Modernbike, Velomine and Ebay.

And for the record the stuff I've ordered from Merlin and Ribble has gotten to me within a week and well worth the wait to get a 105 group for $400 and an Ultegra crankset for $120 with free shipping from both places

FIVE ONE SIX

it was shipped UPS International Express. i do know it tied up in Germany for a night because of weather issues, but like i said i ordered the parts first thing Wednesday morning and the box with everything was at my front door Friday by 4:30pm. i ordered Sidi shoes from Bike24 in Germany a few days ago, and i'm expecting them to take a week or two cause they use Deutsche Post / DHL, which absolutely sucks...

bengreen79

I agree with many of the posters above - I don't think any of my orders from UK sites have taken longer to arrive than stuff from sites like Competitive Cyclist or Niagara. It seems the only way I get bike stuff faster is if it is something prime eligible on Amazon. Otherwise it's almost always 5-7 days regardless of what side of the Atlantic it's from. I received a pair of bibs from Tenn in the UK in three days once.

Psimet2001 

The (mostly illegal) price control measures taken on in the US have greater effectiveness than in the EU. That combined with the fact that large contingents of US IBDs and key OEMs are making huge efforts and pushes to squash anything out of policy lately has been having some effect on US internet pricing. The prices have come up.

During this process some of the large component OEMs have been making changes. Shimano has withdrawn distribution of their components in the US down to just QBP and essentially themselves. Giving them much tighter control. SRAM has begun moving some of their key product lines/brands away from "all" distributors and down to only certain US ones. QBP being the largest, has been testing customer direct models for a while as well. They have been attempting to go customer direct and refer the shipped part to your local IBD/LBS.

The reality of the situation is that for us dealers - it's not apples to apples. EU (UK) dealers have the ability to simply buy product at lower pricing and are not bound by the same MRP and MAP policies and programs that we are bound to here in the US. In other words I can easily find items I can purchase from the UK at retail prices that are in fact lower than the US distribution prices (prices charged to the actual bike shop you would be expected to "normally" buy from). So in essence in the US you have a ton of dealers who can occasionally get good pricing on old, overstocked or bought in high volume parts and sometimes they get to pass on that good pricing to customers without the OEM threatening to take away their access to the product for selling it too cheaply. Because of the nature of all of this you will not find a single place that just has the best price on everything anywhere in the US.

I encourage you to continue to buy everything that you can at the best price that you can find -> from the EU. It means I don't have to spend all day trying to make single digit margins work on commodity products. It means that the buying dollars are moving out of North America which will finally make all of the worldwide OEMs have to sit down and realize what they've done to their own business and it will eventually make the US agencies involved in foreign trade dive into everything a lot deeper to make sure that all of the taxes, tariffs, and duties are being collected correctly. Maybe then things will finally change so that all of us are able to offer good deals without fear of losing either our access to product or our own homes.

In the meantime the general rider gets to buy good stuff at a cheap price, gets quick shipping to their door and I don't have to spend all day looking up pricing on thousands of commodity parts for a bunch of bike geeks who spend all day price shopping instead of doing their real job (red: "my people"). The only losers are the local municipalities and states who lose their sales tax as well as federal who can't tax the sales that don't happen stateside.

Alias530

The wait sucks too though... I ordered something 1/2/15 and got it yesterday. Good thing I didn't need it any time soon, because I sure didn't get it any time soon! ha

floridamtb

Buy local! By giving so much business to my LBS I get a 20% discount so that beats any online pricing as well as saves shipping. It's also benefits me when I need a quick repair or adjustment, they'll squeeze me in because they know I give them all my business.

LesterOfPuppets

They made the pedals only available from Shimano direct, didn't they? I remember the notice about a year ago, and QBP brought out that new pedal brand, with lots of color choices.

Alias530

I don't know where you're shopping but the discount online can easily be 50%. A few examples--Ultegra wheels--$700 at LBS, $315 online. XTR 11spd cassette--$350 at LBS, $190 online.

I talk to the manager of my local shop every now and then and I've referred him to deals online that beat his dealer cost. On high dollar items I always give the LBS a shot but I'm not going to pay hundreds of dollars more for no benefit. I don't work hard just to put my LBS owner's kids through college. Cheaper parts = I get to buy more toys

LesterOfPuppets

I buy most of my stuff locally. Michelin Pro 4 is the same price at biketiresdirect and probikekit, after figuring in BTD's loyalty discount. Most other stuff is reasonable if you jump on the sales, too.

Mostly Universal and Western/BTD for me. I realize I'm kinda lucky to have those shops that do a lot of online business within 15 miles of me. I also cruise Jenson and Pricepoint for deals, getting most of my tubes from Pricepoint.

If I was looking at a groupset, I'd probably have to go across the pond, however. I mean, saving $1000 on Record EPS is a big deal.

celticfrost

You may want to try Jenson as well. They have a price match feature that has worked for me in the past (where they matched the price of an overseas supplier), but I received the item faster (since Jenson is based state side).

kbarch

Apparently this is something you've given quite a bit of thought to, so I'm glad you encourage buying from UK vendors, because I do. Sure, their pricing is great, but their selection is even better.