What to buy while in Germany
 

Next month I will be in Germany and was planning on purchasing a Schmidt dynohub for my Riv. I was wondering what light I should buy to go along with it? Also are there any other unique parts or gear that you can really only find in Germany or Europe that I should look into buying while I am there?

How about Supernova lights.

The best tires I ever bought were made in Germany. Bontrager Racelite silica

Supernova lights and pitlock skewers.

SON Dyno hub, Schmidt Edelux front light and matching tail light, Schwalbe tires, Tubus racks and Tune ultralight components. Oddly I have found Shimano XTR components to be cheaper there than in the USA.

VDO cycle computer?
Rohloff hub?
A nice beer?
:thumb:
Ali from Cali

Schmidt Edelux lights are excellent, even if you don't save much money they're on more or less permanent backorder from Peter White Cycles, the Schmidt importer.

It might be worth your while to compare the prices of Ortlieb panniers and bags, they might be cheaper in Germany.

Are you going to try to get the Mehrwertsteuer refunded?

I can't imagine that there are many bike components made in Germany that will be significantly lower to purchase in Germany than the price for the same thing from a distributor in the US. The US dollar has lost so much value vs the Euro, it might even cost more in Germany. The reason is sometimes a distributor might have purchased the item when the exchange rate was more favorable to the dollar. Getting your sales tax refunded is just one more little hassle to take care of when leaving Germany, then declare the items for US Customs. It's just not worth it for maybe 10-15 percent savings.

Sales Tax (Mehrwertsteuer) is 19%. I'd be happy to save a fifth of the total price. But I'm a cheap-skate. :D

+1

I live in Europe, and often by things made in Europe while visiting the States as they are so much cheaper there.

a friend of mine went to a bike auction bought his daughter a beautyful bike for 70 euro,so if you visit one of these you could pick up a nice bike and strip all the gear of it .if you find something suitable of course.might be well worth your time to sus one out.

Thanks for the input. Of course I want to save money if I can, but the main thought was that I might be able to pick up some parts or gear that are hard to find in the states. I have thought pretty hard about picking up a Rohloff hub, I really would like to have one, but they are so darn expensive.

Because I am in the military I do not pay the sales tax.

A canyon bike with hummel figures.

This is a rather large catalog of parts from a German online shop that I use. It might give you some ideas.

http://bike-components.de