Yes, bikes getting cheaper! That deserves a story, right? Gravel bike specialist Lauf has moved a significant portion of its operations to America, and in doing so has managed to create efficiencies that translate to some quite significant price reductions on its bikes.
The new prices take the £2,890 Weekend Warrior Wireless Seigla that we tested down to the equivalent of around £2,520:
However, there are still shipping and taxes to add on the top, and a quick play with the checkout (keeping the credit card well out of reach!) suggests those in the UK should budget a chunk on top of the price you see above:
If you were wondering whether a trip to the USA to collect it yourself might just work out a bit cheaper, that £500 difference in taxes is probably not enough to cover the airfare. Our minds work like yours! And, you would still be supposed to declare your purchase on arrival in the UK…
The USA is Lauf’s biggest market however, so this move makes a lot of sense and will surely have a few people reaching for the Buy Now button. And here in the UK we can live in hope of some sort of trade deal with the USA making things a bunch cheaper… can’t we? There’s always hope, and dreams, right?
If you’re dreaming of this bike, here’s what the official Lauf PR has to say:
Pushing the envelope is in our DNA. We’re not here to conform. Since we started the journey back in 2011, we’ve gone from a “garage band” in Reykjavik, Iceland, to a household name in gravel cycling.
Our suspension innovation needs no introduction, but we won’t stop there. We didn’t enter cycling to “only” come up with cool technology. We entered cycling to make a mark and get our technology to riders, for them to enjoy. At the end of the day, the point of it all is to help cyclists ride further, faster, and more often. A crucial variable in the equation is often overlooked though – pricing.
To further streamline our operations, we’ve been busy setting up a USA base in Harrisonburg, VA. Why Harrisonburg, you might ask? Because it offers amazing riding (gravel, road and MTB), and because it’s a beautiful college town that has excellent ground logistics for the US and flight connections to Iceland.
Earlier this year we started shipping US-bound bikes from our Harrisonburg warehouse. This increased our efficiency and enabled a price reduction back on March 11th. Not to mention the much welcome reduction in CO2 footprint it entailed.
We didn’t blow our horns when we lowered prices in March though, as we knew it was the first (smaller) step of the final price reduction we were aiming for. Before we could complete our mission, we would also have to set up assembly in the US. Reducing our inventory cost through Just-in-Time bike building. This avoids tying components down to bike types/sizes/colors, which in turn enables a far lower total inventory. These streamlined operations enable better pricing.
It has taken a while to prepare, but we’ve now started assembling bikes at our downtown assembly plant in Harrisonburg! Our HQ remains in Reykjavik, but all bikes go out of Harrisonburg from now on. This being the most efficient setup for Lauf, as the US is our biggest market.
Seigla is a gravel bike you should want regardless of its pricing. Its ride, features and quality set it in a class of its own. Now we’ve also put its pricing into a class of its own!
If you received a Seigla within 30 days ahead of this price drop, you can contact our customer service on Live Chat and they will get you store credit for the price difference! Not including tax, and assuming you didn’t/don’t return the bike.
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