Daylight Robbery

[bustthesickness]

I have decided that under no circumstance will I support local bike shops in RSA.

After constantly being ripped off, I've decided to only ship my bike parts and spares in from abroad.

 

After being quoted nearly double on a wheel the other day, this last weekend's situation took the cake. I was quote R500 for a Continental Gravity tyre. Nope, not the UST, foldable one. A straight up, wire bead. Guess how much CRC sells them for? R178!

 

If anyone else in Capetown would like to start a little gear ordering club, so we can pool our orders so as to avoid shipping costs [Chain reaction ships worldwide for free if the order is over R4000]. We can perhaps do a bulk order every month or two.

 

I will not be part of this 'Support Local' bullsh*t anymore though. How do these shops support us?

 

[Azonic]

I used to have a rule that if anything costs over R1000 locally, I'll ship it in rather as it usually works out cheaper. That threshold has since dropped to R500.

[eliminator]

To be honest I?ve never considered importing bicycle parts.  It sounds like a good idea though.

If you can maybe place a post on the hub two weeks in advance of placing the order and a list of suppliers hubbers can order from, I?m sure there will be some interest.

Maybe someone from Gauteng must take the same initiative I?m sure it will save on courier costs.

[bustthesickness]

 

To be honest I?ve never considered importing bicycle parts.  It sounds like a good idea though.

If you can maybe place a post on the hub two weeks in advance of placing the order and a list of suppliers hubbers can order from' date=' I?m sure there will be some interest.

Maybe someone from Gauteng must take the same initiative I?m sure it will save on courier costs.

[/quote']

Hi eliminator, we would only be ordering from one online supplier. Have a look at www.chainreactioncycles.co.uk   They are a UK based online shop. They keep stock of just about everything you'd need. They have far more variety than any LBS locally. The basic process is that you'd set up an account with them, pay by credit card. They ship with reliable couriers who are insured and guaranteed. As I mentioned, orders over R4000 have free shipping, and bike spares have no duty at customs, so you only need to add VAT on top of the price you see [tip - you can set CRC's website to show prices in SA Rands, which makes shopping much easier].

 

I spend R2000 on average a month at local bike shops. The equivalent products bought from CRC would come in at around half of this, thus with a 'bike parts ordering club', we could team up, do bulk orders and have a central collection point. Kind of like a book club

 

[DawieO]

Yep, I am in.

[Edge_Design]

I'm in CT and very keen to join this... Also been ripped off horribly in cape town far too often. Seems like JHB isn't as bad as CT from the little I've had to do with shops there. I was quoted over R9k for a set of Easton EA90 wheels in CT (from 3 different shops!) which I ended up paying R5500 for by shipping them from JHB.

[bustthesickness]

 

I'm in CT and very keen to join this... Also been ripped off horribly in cape town far too often. Seems like JHB isn't as bad as CT from the little I've had to do with shops there. I was quoted over R9k for a set of Easton EA90 wheels in CT (from 3 different shops!) which I ended up paying R5500 for by shipping them from JHB.

 

Thats a good price indeed. Which shop supplied them for that price? I'd be interested to see their current price as of this recession.

 

CRC's price is R5000 for those wheels [ http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=26446 ]

 

I agree, I do think Cape Town bike shops are much more expensive. A certain shop quoted me R3300 to build me a rear wheel the other day. It was a Hope Hub, Mavic 321 rim, DT spokes. They quotes 3 hours of build time!!! Chain Reaction cycles had a Hope wheelset equivalent for R3000, front and back! Guess who got my business?

 

[Jules]

I'm confused. Was the quote for labour or for everything? Doesn't sound much of a difference if for everything. If for labour: that's insane.

[bustthesickness]

I was quoted R3300 for the parts [hub, rim, spokes] and additional to this, I'd have had to pay R700 - R900 odd for labour. Might be a Capetown thing, but in Joburg I had a wheel built in an hour, and it's still going strong. 

[Zatek]

I'm in as well

[Johan Bornman]

I was quoted R3300 for the parts [hub' date= rim, spokes] and additional to this, I'd have had to pay R700 - R900 odd for labour. Might be a Capetown thing, but in Joburg I had a wheel built in an hour, and it's still going strong. 

 

It would be interesting to see a breakdown of these costs.

 

I have no doubt that the Hope hub cost R1500 or so. Then, spokes ( the cheapest good quality spokes) cost R9 each. 32 of them give R288. All but the cheapest rims are R1 000 each. This gives us a total of R2788-00. Plus rim tape, we have a materials cost of R2800-00. Which leaves R500 for labour.

 

I suspect that the components cost more than that however, lets work on R500 for labour.

 

To build a rear wheel is at the very least an hour's work. Sometimes two hours, if the spoke count goes down and the customer wants fancy spokes and difficult rims.

 

Are you prepared to put up with something slapped together by an unskilled person charging R100 per hour?

 

For instance, unskilled builders guess the spoke lengths. They don't understand trigonometry and can't use Excel. Just the slightest miscalculation on the spoke length could leave you with a wheel that looks OK, or as you say "still going strong", but two months or two years down the line has to be retensioned. That's when you discover the quality of the workmanship. If the spokes are just-just too long, you cannot tension the wheel again.  I see lots of that. Or, they use crappy spokes. At the time of receiving the wheel you are none the wiser. They all look the same. Two years later, you pay for new spokes.

 

Or, the builder puts loctite or glue on the nipples. Tomorrow you want to tune the wheel a little - impossible.

 

I think R500 for a rear wheel is within ballpark. Front wheels can be had for a bit less, unless they're disk brake wheels. These are similar in complexity to rear wheels and should therefore also carry a premium.

 

There are lots of shops out there that will build a wheel for R100, but you get what you pay for.

 

 

 

 

[bustthesickness]

 

 

I was quoted R3300 for the parts [hub' date= rim, spokes] and additional to this, I'd have had to pay R700 - R900 odd for labour. Might be a Capetown thing, but in Joburg I had a wheel built in an hour, and it's still going strong. 

 

It would be interesting to see a breakdown of these costs.

 

I have no doubt that the Hope hub cost R1500 or so. Then, spokes ( the cheapest good quality spokes) cost R9 each. 32 of them give R288. All but the cheapest rims are R1 000 each. This gives us a total of R2788-00. Plus rim tape, we have a materials cost of R2800-00. Which leaves R500 for labour.

 

I suspect that the components cost more than that however, lets work on R500 for labour.

 

To build a rear wheel is at the very least an hour's work. Sometimes two hours, if the spoke count goes down and the customer wants fancy spokes and difficult rims.

 

Are you prepared to put up with something slapped together by an unskilled person charging R100 per hour?

 

For instance, unskilled builders guess the spoke lengths. They don't understand trigonometry and can't use Excel. Just the slightest miscalculation on the spoke length could leave you with a wheel that looks OK, or as you say "still going strong", but two months or two years down the line has to be retensioned. That's when you discover the quality of the workmanship. If the spokes are just-just too long, you cannot tension the wheel again.  I see lots of that. Or, they use crappy spokes. At the time of receiving the wheel you are none the wiser. They all look the same. Two years later, you pay for new spokes.

 

Or, the builder puts loctite or glue on the nipples. Tomorrow you want to tune the wheel a little - impossible.

 

I think R500 for a rear wheel is within ballpark. Front wheels can be had for a bit less, unless they're disk brake wheels. These are similar in complexity to rear wheels and should therefore also carry a premium.

 

There are lots of shops out there that will build a wheel for R100, but you get what you pay for.

 

 

 

 

 

I was quoted R2400 for a hope rear hub, R700 for a 321, R11 a spoke. 32 spoke hub.

 

[CRC: Hope Hub R1590.02; Mavic 321 R251.64; DT spokes R4,12/spoke]

 

"Are you prepared to put up with something slapped together by an unskilled person charging R100 per hour?"

 

No, I'm not. My last wheel built was done by FritzP in Pta. I didnt pay R700 to R900 for the build. The guy who built my wheel knows my riding style. I have run that wheel for over 9 months and by "still going strong" I mean it is still as true as the day I got it, and it is still stiff. I ride hard. I abuse the sh*t out of my wheels. The wheel has seen big drops, kickers, and been slammed hard into things. So yes, you DO get what you pay for. R500 is still too much to charge for a wheel. Seriously, it's not rocket science. There is software available that provides all the data you need to choose the correct spokes, and seriously, it's a spoked wheel, not a large hadron collider!

 

Lets not sway the point of this post Johan, it's about local bike shops RIPPING people off. NOT the cost to build a wheel. We all get robbed on every part we buy, from a wheel, to tools, and this post is to get a group of like minded folks together so that we can share the costs to have these imported, and all save some cash.

bustthesickness2008-12-01 01:18:45

[knievel]

I see there are a few different options on their site when it comes to shipping. Which is the best and most reliable?

 

I assume that sending it via Royal mail would mean that it comes through our , not so reliable, post office. Correct?

 

 

[Slave]

That would be one way to look at it.

Stuff will probably get "lost" in our very efficient postal services.

Another thing to consider will be import duties and taxes (VAT) etc. If you only import a couple of things, you should have no issuse, but when you syndicate and import more and more stuff, you will get stung eventually for all the "hidden" costs (import duty, customs and excise and all that rot.)

 

You may just find Mr. Customs official knocking on your door wanting to get his fair share outta you, so be careful and factor this into your syndicate. 

[bustthesickness]

 

That would be one way to look at it.

Stuff will probably get "lost" in our very efficient postal services.

Another thing to consider will be import duties and taxes (VAT) etc. If you only import a couple of things' date=' you should have no issuse, but when you syndicate and import more and more stuff, you will get stung eventually for all the "hidden" costs (import duty, customs and excise and all that rot.)

 

You may just find Mr. Customs official knocking on your door wanting to get his fair share outta you, so be careful and factor this into your syndicate. 

[/quote']

 

So far all the orders I've placed have had no fee at customs, as parts and spares have no duty. Point taken regarding it getting too big.

 

As for items getting "lost", they are insured from CRC's side. If you are worried about the postal service swiping the goods, then UPS for a little more, to your door. Either way, if the products end up on my bike for a better price than my LBS, I'll have more money for travels.

 

[taygan]

To have someone set it up in Gauteng would be a brilliant idea!! A lot of my mates are also keen to rather buy parts from overseas.