A friend of mine who know nothing about bikes has asked me to help her out with buying a bike. She is after the usual pointers, how much to spend, what she needs, size etc. The problem is she lives in a seriously remote place (Nhulunbuy NT) with no local bike shops and she doesn’t know any local cyclists who could help.

I’m happy to point out the right sort of bikes for her but they need to be available mail order in Oz. Any ideas?

Ta

I believe plenty of Aussies use CRC and Wiggle.

As per mackem.

Oz BMX’ers are not amused.

probikekit?

I think it’s meant to be fairly popular over there.

That letter in Jamie’s link suggests that CRC is pretty popular in OZ.

Thanks for that

Have a quick look at Wiggle but it looks to be in the region of $150 to ship a bike to Oz, not sure if it would then be more because of her location. I’ve no idea of local prices though and whether that represents good value, even with shipping costs

£90 to get a bike shipped to Australia, isn’t that bad……or is that just me?

Blimey, 2012 BMX guy really doesn’t like Chain Reaction does he? He obviously doesn’t believe in growing a market, evolving business models or international trade.

Hey ho.

Blimey, 2012 BMX guy really doesn’t like Chain Reaction does he? He obviously doesn’t believe in growing a market, evolving business models or international trade.

To be fair, I would imagine there are many independent retailers in the UK who feel the same.

How come kit is sooo expensive in Oz? Japan is closer so surely Shimano should be cheaper than Northern Ireland? If it’s a taxation problem then blame the govt not CRC.

I agree, £90 doesn’t seem that bad, unless of course you can buy the same bike from Oz and avoid the international shipping costs (assuming the purchase price is comparable)

Good shipping but over $1000 you pay import and tax so about 20% on top or more what it costs here.

Plenty of online bikeexchange is one just search from Google.com.au and they will pop up. Go to any major city for a weekend and go home with a bike.

Nearest sizable town is Darwin, over 1000km away by unsealed roads, only open during dry season. They can fly to cities but don’t think they are planning to for quite some time.

This one is much harder than popping into Edinburgh Bikes with a mate and pointing to the nice bikes!

When I was there we all ordered from CRC- above a certain amount it’s free. About £300 I think. Most stuff is cheaper over there (when I was there anyway)- bikes were a bit cheaper, as were parts. But only at RRP and nowhere discounts, so it ends up that CRC is cheaper than anywhere else. Quite quick too.

Also, bear in mind any VAT is removed from the price shown on CRC- so there’s 20% off straight away, making the postage cost seem like less of a burden.

Tbh forget the standard postage rates quoted as your into remote surcharges there. And the vat removed goes on over $1000 anyway. Lot of online shops my internet is down but Google the model in the oz version and the list comes up. Only downsides if she knows nothing about bikes it will probably come in parts requiring tools to build it. Best going for a bike shop that ships rather than pure online. Failing that my lbs has some cube ht’s that I’m sure he would post