SA Pricing - flogging a dead horse

[Yo-Yo]

I'm fortunate to travel to EU 4 or 5 times a year. I just returned with some goodies and here is the price diff @ ROE of 16.5

 

Park truing stand TS2.2 - local R 4 900.00 - EU R 3 275.00

Park puller set CBP-8 - Local R 2 050.00 - EU R 1 203.00

Park spoke tension meter - Local R 1 200.00 - EU R 935.00

AVID press fit BB GXP - Local R 800.00 - EU R 400.25

AVID 40P brake adapter - Local R 400.00 - EU R 200.75

 

My previous trip i brought back complete SRAM GX Eagle upgrade kit was about 35% cheaper than local

 

And i still need to get my EU VAT back which is 19%

Good savings. Is that local price with your local import duty, taxes and vat paid here on the overseas invoice price? Do you declare it at the airport and sort sars there and then?

[SCD]

Once I decided to drop a large amount of cash on a new popular fork locally. I wanted to support the local trade and wanted assurance that I am in good hands should there be issues.

Low and behold the fork lowers suffered structural failure within the warranty period. And the local agents came up with a wondrous story why that was a maintenance issue and not a warranty issue. I deal with deformed metals for a living so I knew that I was hung out to dry. Two independent bike mechanics confirmed the problem as well. Anyway. I moved on. That was the last time I spent a rand on those local agents. 

 

Some niche brands I still find worth supporting though. The MRP guys deserve praise eg. But their products are also not overpriced compared to the international pricing.

[ABrooks]

Here in SA you have "Agents" which 90% of the time have zero stock and when they do have stock the shops eventually get it...

The agents add cost and no value.

 

Im one of the pissed off few that dont like the fact we cant buy Shimano from CRC anymore.

 

I wanna save myself the frustration in asking them if they have any of these XTR crank bolts for me:

 

Need them for my M-970 crankset as I have one cap thats stripped:

 

 

DO I even bother.....

Have you tried getting an engineering shop to mill you one of those bolts as you only need one?

[Skylark]

Have you tried getting an engineering shop to mill you one of those bolts as you only need one?

How expensive would that be, what does an engineering shop typically charge per hr and do they charge min 1 hr labour per job?

[bullet77]

I'm in engineering and would not be interested in making that part even for my own bike. Set up time on a manual milling machine would be over an hour for one part.

[dave303e]

How much does the rent cost/m2 for a bike workshop vs car workshop and how many brake pads are sold per year for cars vs bicycles?

 

I follow what you say, but salaries for staff are the same for both sectors, but the market for bicycles are much smaller thus pricing will be higher to make up for the smaller market.

 

Well a 2004 Pajero is not the most common car, considering Shimano XT brakes are an option for nearly every single brand of bicycle, I am sure there are more Shimano XT brake sets than gen 3 Pajero's. So they definitely sell more brake pads, especially as the car ones last so much longer.

 

The motorcross market is even smaller seeing as most off road bikers have bicycles anyway so the tyre volume sales is also not comparable as they sell more mtb tyres.

 

I don't take workshops into account because I only buy parts, mechanic work is easy so I fix my own bicycle, Car and Motorbikes. Rent for a bicycle workshop- well if you only expect to take your bike to somewhere where there is a clean tiled floor and neat pretty workshop you can expect to pay, but a mechanic working out a garage would likely get the job done as well.

[Duane_Bosch]

All I can say on this is that if I was looking to start a business NOT A FKCU would I be getting into the bike game.

 

Most of your customer base is busy planning on emigrating

Those that remain's buying power is being eroded by the minute

Theres a new player "taking the market by storm" every 5 minutes

And... Your customers think the word warranty actually means unlimited no questions asked forever guarantee.

 

#notgonnafuckinhappen

[ABrooks]

I'm in engineering and would not be interested in making that part even for my own bike. Set up time on a manual milling machine would be over an hour for one part.

Thanks for clearing that up. I just knew it can be done and nothing about the time and labour that would go into it.

[Headshot]

Doesn't the above apply to all businesses in SA right now?

[Longbarn Killer]

Ehrm.

Our market is tiny. A drop in the ocean.

A single store in the usa can turn over more than the entire SA.

SRAM couldnt give a damn about our market, they dont need to be competitive here.

Why do you think that several brands have negotiated blocks to overseas online companies shipping goods here. As uncompetitive as it may be, its the only way the local distributers  are able to survive.

I once had dealings with the product manager of one of the biggest bike brands in SA. He told me that SA was one of the biggest markets in the world with respect to high end mountain bikes. In fact, at one point, South Africa was the biggest consumer of 29 inch mountain bikes in the world. I think the Rand may have taken care of that.

 

While I doubt we are bigger than the USA, I certainly think our market is way bigger than a single store in the USA and a lot bigger than most people think.

[Baracuda]

Mountain biking is just ridiculously priced in general.

I know many walking away from it and starting trail running or surfski'ing. A mate started riding last year and bought a reasonable bike, 2 sets of kit, servicing etc etc and entered one 3 day event. He tallied it all up and it came to well over 100k.

A decent MTB now days is over 60k (xt or gx dual sus), plus repair fees that are more than KTM.

I just started surfski;ing. A good brand new boat is 12k, carbon paddle 2k, with another 2k on accessories to complete the jockboat look. Done.

[Sllab]

Hi all. Two issues - firstly, any product that CoolHeat import is guaranteed to be late, wrong, and a rip off. They are the Shimano agents and they just milk it - have tried over many years to work with them, they are a major problem. Secondly, Aramex offer a UK forwarding service. So you have an account with them, you send your overseas purchases to Aramex in the UK. They forward to you via Aramex couriers. You will pay VAT and import duties, but as far as CRC and others are concerned, they are shipping to the UK......

[madmarc]

Good savings. Is that local price with your local import duty, taxes and vat paid here on the overseas invoice price? Do you declare it at the airport and sort sars there and then?

 Nope - there is no duty or taxes on these components, and I paid 19% vat in EU, so the ex VAT total is well within my allowable amount of 5K so no need to declare at customs - all perfectly legal

[DieselnDust]

There Are Shops That WILL Ship The Parts to SA.

try sjcycles.Co.uk

[Bonus]

If you guys want to buy from Europe and manufacturers are blocking you, perhaps I should set myself up as a middle man!

 

You guys order what you want and have it shipped to me here in Spain and I'll forward it to you in a "plain brown envelope" . . . .

 

:-)

[Weimaraner1]

There Are Shops That WILL Ship The Parts to SA.

try sjcycles.Co.uk

And Merlin and the prices are often very good.