Have a brother in law going to be working in Texas soon with lots of trips either way and offered to be my mule for all things biking. Are there any biking or biking kit bargains that are too good to miss??

Components, gear, clothing etc

Bump…

Last time I was in the states, I was chatting to the owner of a nice sized, well located LBS. He pointed out that potential customers could buy Shimano parts online for less than the trade price he’d have to pay to stock it!

So, US brands only and niche ones at that!

Chris King, Yeti and Santa Cruz immediately spring to mind.

Get yourself registered with Competitive Cyclist, Pricepoint, JensonUSA and a couple of other sites. Look for their deals and pounce when they have a sale. Complete bikes like Santa Cruz, Turner etc are well worth it.
I live in the US and found a Reverb seatpost and Saint pedals to be cheaper at CRC than anywhere in the US.

GoPro.

I’ve been surprised when searching for brakes recently that CRC still seem to be the cheapest.

On the bright side here in drought-ridden California I’m using a couple of sets of pads a year and I’m on the same cassette two years in. I think I’ve washed the bike four times, maybe five.

phinbob – Member

I’ve been surprised when searching for brakes recently that CRC still seem to be the cheapest.

On the bright side here in drought-ridden California I’m using a couple of sets of pads a year and I’m on the same cassette two years in. I think I’ve washed the bike four times, maybe five.

*Reports phinbob to waternazis for wasting water* 😉

Once you have paid state sales tax and a crappy exchange rate on a card a US LBS is usually not cheaper than back at somewhere like CRC. I have a US bank account and shipping address but usually don’t bother with buying in US.

It’s not all doom and gloom.

Camelbak spares are chap as chips ($10 for tubes, cleaning kits, bite valves in packs of three).

Most oakley and camelbak hardware is the same digits in $ as £. There’s a few states where there is no sales tax (Oregon is one I think Delaware, Montana & New Hampshire are the others).

Outlet malls are totally bargainicious. Of the many hundreds that there are, Premium outlets seem to be the best stocked.

A Costco card give you access to their stuff, which in the US is properly cheap – my gopro hero2 with wifi pack was $130 a few years ago.

For general outdoor gear dicks sporting goods is ok, but rei is better, despite having a reputation as a rip off palace amongst locals. Rei membership seems to be worthwhile. For some reason, proper Lake District approved waterproofs are stupendously expensive in the states – that’s if you can find any.

If you have children then kids clothes are very cheap.

Sure I’ll think of more.

Oh, yes uggs. Not really bike related, but if you or anyone you know has a penchant for Australian cattle rancher footware then uggs are almost a sensible price.