Buying a bike on internet

[pombstard]

Anyone done it? Looking at my price range I can get a Blur LT from the US for about 2/3 the price it is over here, but am concerned about warranty issues, etc.

[rico]

Don't forget to factor in the import duties too

[pombstard]

Even factoring import duty and delivery, it still seems a lot cheaper than you can get in Oz - I'd be lucky to find one here for less than AU$6k, which is about GBP2400

[beyond rational]

Depends really, I know a few people who have had bad experiences when buying whole bikes, but this'll depend on the store and how old and well their stock is stored, something you can rarely tell via the net. Then there is how well they package it. Sometimes you have to be careful on the spec, I know of a few that have turned up with a few differences and defects - almost as if they know you won't be able to send it back too easily. And then you have to build certain bits of it,maybe set up gears/brakes but that of course depends on how competant you are.

[Graham@Reading]

Nowhere near that price and I don't know if they do your model, but Evans Cycles were fine with my GT Avalanche delivery, although obviously that wasn't international.

Hmm...not a very good comparison really

[pombstard]

Well, I hit a bit of a problem straight away. Phoned a shop in California to order a new Yeti 575, just wanted to check some of the spec, to be told that the agreement they have with Yeti, Santa Cruz and Intense is such that they are not allowed to ship these frame or bikes outside the US.

Now I've got to find someone in the US to stump up US$1500 for a frame and arrange for delivery to Australia or find someone going there on holiday with a big suitacase. Time to see if I can pull in a few favours...

[rlk500]

I tried to buy some forks from the us (have you see the price of Fox's over there compared to the uk..). Gave up in the end. Basically, the warranty is a big issue, it won't get transferred, so if anything goes wrong you are shafted.