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buying bike items online

Old 11-26-21, 03:53 PM
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Calsun
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buying bike items online

Over the past 6 months I have bought a great many bike parts online from various bike retailers and most are really out to lunch in terms of providing accuate in stock status and so I have spent a lot of time phoning one shop or web store business after another. A notable exception and why I am writing this post is Performancebikes.com. I found the best price by a considerable margin for some Endura bike trousers and placed an order with them on Wednesday. Today the US Postal Service delivered the trousers and shipping was free. This is a small business owned by a husband and wife team and I do like to keep my money local and not send it to Bezos or the Waltons.
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Old 11-26-21, 04:25 PM
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Originally Posted by Calsun
Over the past 6 months I have bought a great many bike parts online from various bike retailers and most are really out to lunch in terms of providing accuate in stock status and so I have spent a lot of time phoning one shop or web store business after another. A notable exception and why I am writing this post is Performancebikes.com. I found the best price by a considerable margin for some Endura bike trousers and placed an order with them on Wednesday. Today the US Postal Service delivered the trousers and shipping was free. This is a small business owned by a husband and wife team and I do like to keep my money local and not send it to Bezos or the Waltons.
I doubt it matters if I give my cycling dollars to folks wealthier than me or folks a whole bunch wealthier than me and everyone I know or ever will know, combined. I'm still at the bottom of the food chain. Glad you had a good experience. I don't recall ever having a problem with an online cycling retailer but I've only ordered a few things during COVID and I tend to stick with the major sites.
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Old 11-26-21, 06:23 PM
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Originally Posted by shelbyfv
I doubt it matters if I give my cycling dollars to folks wealthier than me or folks a whole bunch wealthier than me and everyone I know or ever will know, combined. I'm still at the bottom of the food chain. Glad you had a good experience. I don't recall ever having a problem with an online cycling retailer but I've only ordered a few things during COVID and I tend to stick with the major sites.
My local and federal tax dollars go to Wal-Mart which each of its stores receives $400,000 in rent and food and healthcare subsidies for its employees. The profits go to Bentonville and then to the Waltons instead of to local businesses that support the local communities by paying their workers a living wage. Money spent locally or with small businesses is recycled a dozen or more times instead of ending up offshore in a tax shelter. This is why we have a first rate military and everything else is third rate.
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Old 11-26-21, 06:30 PM
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That domain is not active. Did you mean performancebike.com ?
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Old 11-26-21, 06:57 PM
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Old 11-26-21, 07:56 PM
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Well, kudos to Performance for paying their employees more than Walmart! Health insurance as well.
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Old 11-26-21, 09:34 PM
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"Better than Walmart" is what used to be called a back-handed compliment ......
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Old 11-27-21, 09:51 AM
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Originally Posted by Calsun
My local and federal tax dollars go to Wal-Mart which each of its stores receives $400,000 in rent and food and healthcare subsidies for its employees. The profits go to Bentonville and then to the Waltons instead of to local businesses that support the local communities by paying their workers a living wage. Money spent locally or with small businesses is recycled a dozen or more times instead of ending up offshore in a tax shelter. This is why we have a first rate military and everything else is third rate.
Take it to the p&r forum.
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Old 11-27-21, 10:40 AM
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I guess I'm lucky to live in a town with several good bike shops. Yes, inventory can be spotty, but in the last week or so I've walked in and gotten a chain, a GXP bottom bracket, a Brooks C-17, some bar tape, and a Smith helmet. I don't have anything against buying online, but I always check the locals first.

And while I'm no fan of Wal-Mart, the Waltons have financed a network of cycling trails and other infrastructure in NW Arkansas that you'd have to see to believe. It's truly world-class.

Last edited by Rolla; 11-27-21 at 10:46 AM.
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Old 11-28-21, 11:54 AM
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Originally Posted by Calsun
Over the past 6 months I have bought a great many bike parts online from various bike retailers and most are really out to lunch in terms of providing accuate in stock status and so I have spent a lot of time phoning one shop or web store business after another. A notable exception and why I am writing this post is Performancebikes.com. I found the best price by a considerable margin for some Endura bike trousers and placed an order with them on Wednesday. Today the US Postal Service delivered the trousers and shipping was free. This is a small business owned by a husband and wife team and I do like to keep my money local and not send it to Bezos or the Waltons.
Over the past three weeks in particular I've ordered quite a few cycling items, including components and tools from eBay, totalcycling.com, merlincycles.com, enroute.cc, chainreactioncycles.com, primeauvelo.com, lafo.com and mec.com. Shipping has generally been good, though one of the eBay items seems to be being delivered by horse and buggy. Duty is inconsistent. Some times I pay, sometimes I don't. A lot of items though are in scarce supply, even at the big UK e-retailers, some of which I mentioned above.

If I had my way, I would have purchased everything from local bike shops, but it just wasn't possible. I was able to get Campagnolo carbon brake pads and the handlebar tape of my choice from one local dealer, and a couple of Park tools from two others. Beyond that, that's it. The main store in Toronto that carries Campagnolo components has basically nothing in stock and they don't know when they'll be getting anything in. I took to the Internet and was able to get everything I was after. I'm happy I was able to give a couple of Canadian businesses my business, but many of the things I was after came from the UK and two from US based eBay sellers. Sometimes you gotta do what ya gotta do.
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Old 11-28-21, 01:29 PM
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Originally Posted by luteplayers
That domain is not active. Did you mean performancebike.com ?
I noticed that too. But the “Big” Performance Bike is certainly not a mom and pop small business, as best I can tell.
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Old 11-28-21, 02:36 PM
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Originally Posted by datlas
I noticed that too. But the “Big” Performance Bike is certainly not a mom and pop small business, as best I can tell.
If you really want to read about their history:
https://www.performancebike.com/abou...e-bicycle/i415
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Old 11-28-21, 05:29 PM
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Originally Posted by Jared Purdy
If I had my way, I would have purchased everything from local bike shops, [snip] Sometimes you gotta do what ya gotta do.
A few years ago my town of about 35,000 people got a bike shop after being without one for many years. Unfortunately once their lease was up, they had to close. They have a couple of shops an hour or so away from me and I will go there from time to time, but it sure was nice when there was a shop in town. I imagine in the cyber shopping age, a bike shop is a difficult business to sustain in small markets.
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Old 11-28-21, 11:29 PM
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container ships are stacked up like cord wood out in the ocean, lately i have had experiences where-by the items listed online are not actually in stock due to the supply chain logistics and the IP robot not being able to keep up with store inventory, . this can result in long delays, a substitute item being shipped where they hope you don't care like a 48 mm stem instead of 32 mm, or a month long wait because i did not need the item right away, and we realize the situation and are understanding but eventually we reach the boiling point so we send a message and get a "oh we are so sorry!" reply (trying to avoid neg feedback) and a refund.

this is a small town so sometimes i worry about running into the LBS guy on the trail and having him say "where did you buy that?"'

Sometimes i like to get stuff as soon as i think about it which means the LBS, and i also like having something to look forward to , like having some slave dropping off cardboard on the front porch. sometimes i will stack up orders so i get a package every day to the point where the mail man once said 'you are on a roll, what did you do, rob a bank?" its like Christmas every dang day around here. selfish excess, the American way. can you imagine scanning a sears-robuck catalog like our parents and sending a snail-mail order form along with a check? then waiting for a month, how spoiled are we with "buy it now" and "free shipping"

i knew a mountain biker who worked for FedEx, he would order everything "Overnight" . I asked him why, after all, that cost a small fortune, and you know what he says? he says "i know what a pain those overnight packages are and how they stress me out so i like to make someone else squirm like a toad, make some anonymous joe feel the pain, and plus that, i want my stuff now so i can ride it tomorrow!"

now lets see, how is out gatorskin inventory doing, only ten on the shelf, better order up...UPS Red.

Last edited by cjenrick; 11-29-21 at 12:00 AM.
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Old 11-30-21, 05:26 AM
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Originally Posted by Chuck M
A few years ago my town of about 35,000 people got a bike shop after being without one for many years. Unfortunately once their lease was up, they had to close. They have a couple of shops an hour or so away from me and I will go there from time to time, but it sure was nice when there was a shop in town. I imagine in the cyber shopping age, a bike shop is a difficult business to sustain in small markets.
Until recently, when a new shop opened in the next town, our "LBS" was about 30 miles away, which can be ~ an hour in Vermont. Even so, one of my bikes has a Pinion gearbox bottom bracket, new oil is an internet order item. The other bike is >30 years old, with a Suntour drive train, again, not stocked in local shops, not even easy to source on the web.
Of course, some might consider that a reason to buy a new bike: hey, I'm supporting local business, and I'm ensuring I will be able to buy spares and replacement parts for it.
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Old 11-30-21, 08:10 AM
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There were three Performance stores within a 20 mile radius of me, and it was sad to see them (and Nashbar) depart. Fortunately I stocked up with many items during their last day(s) when discounts reached 95%, so haven't had to purchase much in the last few years.
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