Ordered a new set of Fulcrum R3's from Wiggle at about 11PM on Tuesday.

Selected the free shipping option, which had a declared ship time of 8 days.

This was my first time ordering from Wiggle, so I mentally prepared for at least two weeks coming from the UK.

Nope.

Imagine my surprise when I got an SMS notification yesterday mid-morning that said my package was out for delivery.

Sure enough, DHL was at my house shortly after 1PM.

$#@%!!??

From the UK to an Atlanta suburb in a little over 48 hours?

For FREE??

I mean, I always thought Merlin's free ship was fast, usually receiving items in around 7-10 days.

But TWO? Is this typical for Wiggle?

Because if so, I may never order from anywhere else ever again.

Pretty typical for DHL through Wiggle, yes. Will be slower if you order smaller items, but as long as your order has something large enough in it that it won't fit in a parcel, the free shipping option will be DHL.

I ordered a groupset from merlin on Monday and had it at my house in LA on Thursday.

Any extra "fees"?

cool..what'd ya get?

which group?

I had the same speed from Merlin on a 105(5800) groupset. But the Shimano ultegra wheels took almost 4 weeks.

yeah it depends. I ordered a set of shimano hydraulic disc brakes from them and it took about a month to show up. I wasn't in a hurry to get them and they were so much cheaper than anywhere else so I didn't care.

5800. My third order from Merlin and all same speed

yep, good stuff

I've made 2 orders from Merlin. One was a set of C24 wheels. The other was a near full Record Groupset. Both orders made on a Friday night, both times, delivered on the following Wednesday. I'll never order anything major anywhere else (except possibly Wiggle).

The best part was having my bike in the local big Spesh Dealer shop and having the shop manager ask about how much it cost to build and watching the bewildered look on his face when I tell him what I paid / general cost for other items from same place. "Wha...? I can't even order those things as a dealer for that little!" - When I told him you can get full Ultegra Di2 or Dura Ace Mechanical for $1200.

Love it.

why do that?

Why do what? Tell someone the answer to the questions they asked? Tell them about a resource which anyone with a computer can find out about? More specifc please.

OP, can you give a mini-review/your impressions on the wheelset? I'm looking to get the same.

Ribble has bee quick getting my orders here, I am seriously considering the Merlin deals on the 5800 groups right now.

Bill

I was hesitant to order from Wiggle because of members complaining about the long wait. Maybe I should give them a try...

Wiggle/Merlin if you have time... you save a LOT.

LBS if you don't have time and want to support them.

I certainly can wait 3 days to save 30-40%

Same question

I think the takeaway here is that you don't have to wait a long time to receive heavily discounted items from overseas.

None. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

The wheelset cost $385.84. And that's all I paid.

No shipping costs, no taxes, no VAT, no tariffs... nothing except the price itself.

Sure, will do later when I have time.

Although you had a great experience, I've read where others have very long shipping times, items getting hung up in customs and unexpected duty fees. I guess it depends on the size and the cost of the item, but don't order something from the UK if you need it within a week or two. I do agree, they have some great deals though, too good to pass up.

Yes, that is why I said, if you have time. My groupset took a few days. My wheelset took 4 weeks. Be ready to wait if it comes from the UK. It depends on how they ship it and what is going on.

Agreed. My latest experience may not be repeated in every case.

However, there is very little I can imagine wanting to buy where the need is immediate (consumables excluded of course).

Fortunately for me, I have multiple bikes with common components. So in the worst case if something breaks, I can just rob the part from another bike in the interim.

In fact, that's exactly what I did in this particular case – I was sharing my older '11 R3 wheelset between 2 bikes.