Has anyone else noticed the increase in cost of shipping to Ireland? Prices have soared from £25 to £60 pounds in 6 months, and they wont let you use the parcel motel service in belfast. This company has gotten to big and too greedy. I wonder if the balance sheet is being fattened for a corproate sale. The after sales service has been appaling as well, completly different from my last experience. This is the last time i will be using them.
Has he just said something bad about Islabikes?? LYNCH HIM!
Welcome to the forum.
Always suspicious of someone who joins to slag a company off and gives no specific details on the 'poor service' - I assume transport costs were known up front?
Welcome. Feel free to make sweeping statements with very little background or context.
I wonder if the increase in shipping costs has anything to do with the general increase in, erm, shipping costs? I sold off some parts recently and was appalled at how much it cost to send items within mainland UK.
More like the Royal Mail balance sheets being fattened for privatisation? 😉
As for the staff (not necessarily after sales), I've only spoken to them a couple of times but they've been excellent in my experience.
I imagine when you phoned them to place an order they told you how much postage would be? So you accepted and paid the cost, and then complained about it on here?
Welcome to the lynching.
Let's just run over a few things here, shall we:
Random capitalisation? No
Sweary words? No
So far, this is not going well.
Appalling spelling and grammar? Yes
First use of forum to slag off very reputable company? Yes
So, I'll give you 5/10, seeing as it's Friday.
200 for a 3yr olds bike IS a rip off.
[i]200 for a 3yr olds bike IS a rip off. [/i]
It's cost of ownership though.
If you can sell if for £100 after 2 years it's cost you £50/year.
You can buy something that weighs twice as much and is less pleasant to ride for £100 and it'll be worthless after 2 years. Cost of ownership £50/year.
Last week seat post shims, this week Isla bikes, it's almost as if threads are being constructed on a friday to roll for the weekend 😉
200 for a 3yr olds bike IS a rip off.
Depends on how long it lasts for and if a 3 year old can take it apart.
I've heard of plenty of adults who spend £500+ on bikes only to keep taking it apart to swap frames.
I paid £25.00 to ship an Islabike to Ireland, they couldn't have been more pleasant, and the bike is absolutely brilliant - my 5 year old did 13k with me.
Welcome. Feel free to make sweeping statements with very little background or context.
He/she should fit in quite well around here then 😉
I think islabikes are a ripoff, but so is the rest of the bike industry! And most other stuff actually....
200 for a 3yr olds bike IS a rip off.
Rubbish. Compare it to a similar quality adult bike - There's still the same amount of tubes to be cut and welds to be made, it's still got all the same components on it - headset, bars, stem, gears etc.It's just smaller.
This is why a pair of shorts isn't much cheaper than a pair of trousers: Same work to make them just smaller quantities of materials (the cheap bit...) needed
I think some of you need to understand the difference between being ripped off, and merely paying a high price for goods and services.
Sorry 200 is too much for a 3yr olds bike. Plain and simple.
£1500 is too much for a single pivot bike frame.
Everything around cycling nowadays seems to be how to extract more from enthusiasts too.
but its for ickle hands and the bikes are lighter is another argument. Surely this can be done at a lower price point.
At the end of the day it all comes down to what the market can support- thats why they price the way they do.
What you all are are a bunch of handwringing apologists. Either that or 'it'll pay for itself come resale time'.
On STW you see these for sale and I think 'but you paid less than that and its used- your not passing on the love are you'?
Welcome to the Bear Pit!
Sorry 200 is too much for a 3yr olds bike. Plain and simple.
So you don't want to pay £200 for any 3yr old's bike. That's not the same as a rip off.
Without wanting this to spiral into a debate over Islabikes compared to others, you can't argue about the quality of them. Same as adult bikes, you get what you pay for and since the market is supporting their pricing they've obviously got it about right.
No apologising, no handwringing. If you want to spend less you're free to do so, some do some don't. The OP decided to buy an Islabike so called and placed an order. At that point he'd have been quoted shipping costs and could have decided against it but didn't, I don't understand what the complaint is.
[url= http://www.islabikes.co.uk/how_to_buy.html ]Our prices include free delivery to UK mainland addresses, please contact us for surcharge to other destinations.[/url]
hora, stop whinging.
What sort of bike for an adult do you get for £200? If it was the same spec as an Islabike, you'd be laughing.
Factor in that the market for "good quality" kids bike is pretty small so you're losing out on quantity of scale to reduce prices, and that pretty much sums it up.
Bandito junior #1 is on his second Islabike. I did consider the Frogs, but he has between sizes, so the Beinn20 suited him better, it should last a couple of years. Then it goes in the loft for a year, then its passed onto his brother for the next 2 years. £200 over 5 years, not bad I reckon, given what I'll spend on the adult bikes in the family.
And back to the OP's mithering: postage off the mainland for a small company is always going to be pricey. Suck it up, or buy elsewhere.
It comes down to the fact that there's a choice. You don't HAVE to buy an Islabike (but if you can afford it, you'd be a fool not to)
Sorry 200 is too much for a 3yr olds bike. Plain and simple.
That's opinion only.
And you're wrong anyway.....
How many kids bikes have you assembled and sold?
We sell a similar sized Ridgeback for £140, and you can see where a Frog bike at £185 is better for the extra money. I wouldn't buy anyhting cheaper than the Ridgeback, personally. They're decent tough bikes, but the Frogs are a lot lighter.
😆
Incominnnngg..dive for cover!
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At that point he'd have been quoted shipping costs and could have decided against it but didn't, I don't understand what the complaint is.
His complaint seemed pretty obvious from his post, the cost of shipping to Ireland has gone up from £25 to £65 over a short period of time. If this is the case it seems like a reasonable complaint .
You can argue all day about spending £200 on a 3 year old's bike but it does not cost 60 quid to send a childs bike to belfast. Fair enough if you want to pay for the 'premium' kiddies bike but why should companies be making a profit on postage? Is it premium postage? Or parcelforce 48hr? I wonder.
What you all are are a bunch of handwringing apologists. Either that or 'it'll pay for itself come resale time'.
Hora, that's exactly what you do! Buy a frame then apparently "sell it for the same as I bought it for, it hasn't cost me anything" [s]a year[/s] [s]six months[/s] two weeks later
Incominnnngg..dive for cover!
Sometimes it's very hard to tell when someone's a troll and when they're just a pillock.
Sometimes it's very hard to tell when someone's a troll and when they're just a pillock.
and someone somewhere feels safe and secure that they can act all rufty-tufty without being wedgied in person for being an internet warrior.
Vern0n - MemberYou can argue all day about spending £200 on a 3 year old's bike but it does not cost 60 quid to send a childs bike to belfast.
I'm pretty sure that we're not talking about delivery to Norn Iron, judging by the OP's name.
Still, could be worse. They don't deliver at all to mainland Europe anymore.
The general increase in cost of shipping may be a reasonable complaint, but he's blaming Islabikes for this rise in cost when it may well be down to the shipping company. Given Islabikes apparent desire to build their brand I doubt they'd jeopardise that to make an extra few quid on shipping.His complaint seemed pretty obvious from his post, the cost of shipping to Ireland has gone up from £25 to £65 over a short period of time. If this is the case it seems like a reasonable complaint .
The OP had the opportunity to decline and go elsewhere but he didn't, IMO this makes his complaint unreasonable.
Pretty much agree with you Hora.
Thing is though - (stating the obvious approaching) kids grow out of stuff all the time! Especially bikes as they start to use them at the time when they are growing the most.
So 2nd hand is the completely bloody obvious way to go if you don't want to spend that much on a bike.
Why people have to buy NEW for their kids, I don't know, but let em!
My kid couldn't have had any more fun on an Islabike than he's had on his £90-off-stw-classifieds-Specialized. (And he beat all the kids on Islabikes at the Big Bike Bash 😀 )
Hora, if you feel that £200 for a 3 year old's bike is too much then there must be a gap in the market. Why don't you set up a company making good quality kids bikes, as good as the Islabike range, but sell them cheaper? You could clean up, make a fortune. Maybe.
Double post
Because he's (mostly) full of sh*t?
To the OP, have you priced up a similar sized parcel to the ROI? I'm assuming not, as you would know that's about the going rate.
Because he's (mostly) full of sh*t
As opposed to pure shit like you? 😉
As for Parcel Motel - have you ever used their service? You're not fitting a bike into one of their little lockers.
Sorry pauper, I can't hear you from the bike industry ivory towers.
Never bothered with Islabikes just thought they are too much money for too little time!
Agree with DezB it's not like they have any less fun on another decent brand IME: new Marin £200, 2nd hand Specialized £100, New Ridgeback £140, 2nd hand Merida £80. My two have all gone through these and we just got our hands on a Dawes Espoir as a loan bike from the club. All have needed little maintenance that an Islabike doesn't also need having spoken to others. The Marin I bought 4 years ago and am now selling it for £75.
We had a couple of faults on our Islabike - their tech support guys couldn't have been more helpful.
The 2nd hand value of the bikes we bought have meant running them cost something daft like £30 a year by the time we got rid of them.
Frog bikes do look good also.
and someone somewhere feels safe and secure that they can act all rufty-tufty without being wedgied in person for being an internet warrior.
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200 for a 3yr olds bike IS a rip off.
Whereas Decathlon balance bikes are excellent value?
I think they're a bit of a rip off too. With some clever marketing, they've become the STW parents' darling. I'm not really sure how; their USP seems to be that they're a bit lighter than others. No great sustainability policy, no fair trade/pay agreements, nothing. I'm sure that their Vietnam manufactured bikes are great for young people, I just can't see why they are so much more expensive than the alternatives.
1 post and 45 replies - this new boy's good!
Pricing up a parcel to Ireland (Republic) by a courier which would appear to offer insurance for bikes and suitable expedited and tracked delivery, based on correct, weight and volume of a 20" Bike Box comes in at £67-£98 depending on the courier.
Glad to see Frog get a mention and yes,
Thing is though - (stating the obvious approaching) kids grow out of stuff all the time! Especially bikes as they start to use them at the time when they are growing the most.
So we do this with Frog bikes and a few others (yes it is self promotion but hey it's unique):
[url= http://bikes****y.co.uk/catalog/214 ]S****y Kids Plan[/url]
A few pounds a month for a good quality bike and it can be changed after 15 months for the next size up if the kid outgrows it.
Our goal is help get as many kids as possible onto good quality bikes as possible. Then maybe they'll keep at it as they grow.
Of course, the other 2 purchase options apply as well.
legend - Member
1 post and 45 replies - this new boy's good!
POSTED 27 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST
New boy? Or maybe a old boy playing from under his bridge 😉
What's the adult 29'er they do? Wouldn't mind getting matching bikes for me & mini me
We bought an Islabike for £120 I think 6 years ago, they are now £200. Is it me or is that quite a big jump for that period of time? I thought it was a fair price then but don't think I could afford what they are now. On the plus side when we come to sell ours we should got a lot of that back.
Simples.....if folks want to spend that on a bike for their kids then let them.
If folks want to spend their own hard earned on whatever they want but it happens to be more than you would spend on a similar item then so be it.
Similarly if you or your kids finished a charity bike ride or 'race' before folks who spent more than you on their equipment what of it?
It's called free choice. We all make different choices so get over it.