Has anyone got any recent experience of buying carbon wheels or other components direct from China?

Did you get stung for import tax or not? I’m just wondering what the current thinking is about whether it’s worth pre-paying the tax or taking a gamble on there being no charge at this end.

I bought some forks, paid parcelfarce the tax and handling fee as it was via ebay and there wasnt a prepaid option.

For wheels it might be worth checking what it would cost to buy the hubs and have them built in the UK, I saw at least one person moaning they had paid VAT and duty on a pair of hope wheels that weren’t cheaper than shop prices in the UK.

Yeah, one option is to buy the rims and get them built up by my LBS, although that will still leave me with the question of whether to pre-pay the duty on the rims.

I purchased some ICAN rims and there was a shipping option which included VAT and import duty. I’m sure it was less than I would normally have expected…(possibly a low declared value!)

Ask to order them delivered duty paid, much cheaper and faster than paying the customs.

Farsports were great, excellent service, great wheels what I paid online is what they cost, would and almost certainly will buy from them again. They have a duty paid option.

The handbuilt pair of wheels that I was looking at in the UK with similar hubs and spokes and alloy rims would have cost a bit more than I paid delivered from China.

Can’t fault them so far

Is smuggling legal, ethical or morally correct?

https://www.gov.uk/report-smuggling

Is smuggling better than shoplifting?

https://fullfact.org/health/how-nhs-funded/

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-7591609/Taxmans-585m-crackdown-unpaid-VAT-online-sellers-including-Amazon-eBay.html

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-4107122/How-taxman-spies-buy-sell-online-thanks-new-law-hardly-noticed.html

If you buy Light Bicycle rims from China and have them built here, I reckon it still comes out far cheaper than buying full wheels here and you get a top spec product.

Light Bicycle definitely on my radar Molgrips. They’re doing free delivery this month which makes them very competitive although you can still pre-pay the tax. Just a question of whether to go for a full build or just some rims.

Really is a lottery. I got charged parcelfarce duty on wheels but frame slipped through no issue 😐

I’ve had about 10 sets from Light Bicycle over the years and I’ve have them
Stopped and charged at customs every time. I pre paid the tax last time and they seemed to arrive much quicker but not sure much cheaper, at least you don’t get robbed for ParcelForce’s ‘handling charge’ that way.

Just a question of whether to go for a full build or just some rims.

I did a back-of-envelope calculation on the Hope hubs, they are about £150-200 more as a full build from LB. After all, you’re paying for the hubs to be shipped to China, imported, and then shipped back here and imported again. Fairly pointless when they’re made in Barnoldswick.

i recently ordered some light bicycle am928’s on dt swiss 350 straight pull hubs. came in at £570 and i emailed them and got them to declare the value at $200 dollars which they did.paid less than £40 duty.

Quote from LB is about £600 for DT Swiss hubs and some 36mm deep road/gravel rims including delivery and the tax.

They’re currently doing free delivery so the tax pre-paid is about £70. Probably worth it for peace of mind in view of Blazin Saddles’ comments above.

Think they must buy the DT Swiss hubs in pretty big quantities so possibly a bit cheaper than getting them to spec Hopes.

Think I paid £630 for DT 350 hubs Farsports rims and Sapim CX Ray’s delivered and duty which seemed like excellent value.

Likewise, for £636 ($805) I got LightBicycle AR36mm deep rims on 350 SP hubs with CX-Rays and duty pre-paid. they’re really well built and great quality. rims only were £245 (£308) plus duty and delivery. LB currently doing delivery for £1, so only duty to pay.

Interesting Blazin.

Those are the rims I’m considering. Currently about £280 delivered including tax for just the rims which seems like a bargain.

How have you found the wheels have performed? They’d be going on a four seasons road bike so wondering how they perform in cross winds. Seem nice and wide anyway, I’d be using them with 28 or 30mm tyres.

They’ve been perfect, I have some Roval CLX32’s too and they ride just as well if I’m honest. If you’re using 30mm+ tyres, you might consider using the WR35 rim. I run mine with 25mm Schwalbe Pro 1 and they stretch up to 28mm, I also have a pair with 38mm G-One on the cross bike, which also works well.

got them to declare the value at $200 dollars which they did.paid less than £40 duty.

And somewhere there’s an unfixed pothole that would have cost the other £80 just waiting to catch them with karma 🤣

Got a replacement Far Sports rim arrived last week, £22 due in fees. I think I’ve always paid too. Way back when I had a frame get through with no fees, but everything since (2 frames, 3 sets of rims, 1 pair of wheels) have been charged. Light Bicycle, Far Sports, Deng Fu and random Ali Express sellers.

One of my friends recently had a delivery from Light Bicycle, it was a larger value but if you comment on his youtube video I’m sure he will share the import costs/duties.

I have a Light Bicycle rim on order at the moment, for which I prepaid the duty. This is my 3rd set of rims and I’ve had no problems with them, all built by me on DT Swiss 240 hubs. Note, not surprisingly there is some delay on delivery. I ordered on 16th March, they have been in Hong Kong, Czech Republic and now Germany and they are saying there will be further delay.