Buying a bike in the US of A

dario28

Anyone bought a bike while on hols in America ?

Im thinking of looking for some thing tri- specific , maybe second hand off Craigslist

Any tips , web sites to check etc

Lemag

Would probably be very costly to ship and you could have to pay import duties on it. Might end up cost you substantially more in the end that it would have if you'd just bought a similar bike here.

Lumen

Lemag wrote: »

Would probably be very costly to ship and you could have to pay import duties on it.

Not if it's second hand and you bring it back with you.

k_d

im planning the same for my next visit,

its cheaper to buy over there, buy a good bike box, pay for the box on the flight home than it is here.

take the tyres and rub them in a bit of dirt...used...no tax!"!

dario28

deffo would be just bringing it back on the plane , no shippin and would ride it there anyway so no tax

Lemag

Lumen wrote: »

Not if it's second hand and you bring it back with you.

True that

dario28 wrote: »

maybe second hand off Craigslist

I should have read the OP more closely.

k_d wrote: »

take the tyres and rub them in a bit of dirt...used...no tax!"!

Very cunning.

jspruit

Seemed to be a fair amount of cyclists/triathletes going to the states in the past few years picking up nice bikes over there and then bringing them back on the plane with them in a bike box. When the getting was good a few years ago I think that a few people were even flying over to NYC for a long weekend, picking up a nice Cervelo and then coming back and still saving a few hundred euro.
When I moved from the states to Ireland, I brought along 3 bikes with me, 2 of them were fairly new and I had no problems with customs at all. 2 of them were boxed up in their original boxes from the bike shop, and the third bike was in a specially built bike box.

Mellon

I bought myself a Specialiazed the end of last year on ebay.com using a US friends account and shipping address. When I was over visiting packed it up into one of these from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Thule-Round-Trip-Shippable-Bike/dp/B0029N1UKA/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=sporting-goods&qid=1281708215&sr=8-4

Customs had no interest in me as I arrived on an early morning flight

kenmc

Wanna be careful though, they drive on the other side of the road over there, so left is right and right is wrong. Wouldn't chance a left hand drive bike here myself.

Mellon

Tell me about it! Too many times descending I was unsure for a second which brake was which...as my MTB brakes were opposite and what I was used of...so I switched the road bike brakes around, a quick job really but some new bar tape was required

FrankGrimes

A guy in work buys a fair bit from http://www.racycles.com/ - not sure if he always brings the stuff back with him when he's over there on business trips or if they post it over. He says he also buys some stuff from www.bikesdirect.com.

I've no experience in buying from either but I'm over in the US in October on business and was thinking of having a look at these sites to see if there's anything that I don't really need but that represents enough of a bargain that I could rationalize purchasing it to myself

FISMA

Dario,
One of the best US sites is bikesDirect.com - they're pretty limited in their models, but some good deals.

the_doctor

FISMA wrote: »

Dario,
One of the best US sites is bikesDirect.com - they're pretty limited in their models, but some good deals.

Bikesdirect.com has a horrible history. Most of the bikes are moderately priced. There are not great deals in general.

Tri bikes are always overpriced since the shifters cost practically nothing in comparison to road shifters.

The OP should mention where he is headed.