I just received a secondhand Rohloff from a super-friendly Albanian, for the bargain price of £530 (it's the newer model, too)
It's quite an exciting and mysterous thing to hold in your hand. Although I'm still not certain I want to use it (my friend is going to buy it from me if I decide not to). The plan is/was to convert my Soma Wolverine to a super-low maintainence gravel bike -- my previous thread on this had no consensus if this was a good idea
My conclusion from that was that the cost issue is overblown, because I was always going to go secoondhand if possible, and they basiaclly don't seem to loose any value -- I could probably sell this one for a profit 5 years from now if I wanted. Provided I change the oil when needed. And as for drag, that seems to settle down alot after a few thousand miles. And my drivechain always seems to be running a bit sh*t anyway.
As for the bargain price, I seem to have been charged £0 for importing it, so god knows what's going on. Unless I have to work out how to pay the charges (the postie just handed it to my partner earlier today without asking for anything...?)
Here's the bike Rohloff-less
If it came by Royal Mail on the last leg of the journey to you, it's been through the Customs checking process already and has, basically, escaped charges. You've been lucky. Import duty and Vat are due on most goods on arrival but there simply isn't the resource available to query, challenge and administer charges by many of the involved organisations. Pre-owned, second hand goods are a minefield all of their own and it's possible that the person who examined your parcel has decided it isn't worth challenging, based on what the sender had declared on the outside of the package..
@highlandman thanks, that's what I suspected (it came via parcelforce)
I didn't get charged customs on some secondhand forks I bought from Finland a few years back, either
Kind of crazy that it's a lottery -- they could easily have charged me £150 on this
As Rohloffs are made in Germany rather than imported from China, etc, are they not zero-rated for import duty under the Free Trade Agreement or whatever it's called?
You also wouldn't pay VAT on something bought privately (not from a business) just like you wouldn't pay VAT to anyone who wasn't VAT registered, in the UK.
You also wouldn’t pay VAT on something bought privately (not from a business)
Just all the other taxes.
Let us know what you think of the rohloff. I didn't like it, too much weight in the rear wheel felt wierd and I just didn't get on with the gear range.
I think my problem was I was swopping between bikes so never got used to it. I guess if its your only bike you will adapt.