New York bikes shops?

dmigsy

Anyone ever bought a bike in New York to bring back? Any good/bad experiences with shops over there? How did yis pack them for the plane home ; just in the box from the shop or buy a special bag? I'm heading over in couple of months and I'd be mad not to pick up a bike with the price and exchange rate differences:)

E@gle.

http://www.racycles.com/

iv heard this is an excellent shop

your best off bringing an empty bike box out with you and bringing the new bike home in it

theseanman66

Great idea, buying a bike in America and shipping it home with you. I did that in the 80's several times, when the exchange rate situation was reversed, I was bringing bikes from Ireland back to the U.S. with me.

If you have a specific bike brand / model in mind, go to that company's website (the U.S. one) and do a "dealer locator search" Use the Zip (postal) code 10118 - That will center your search radius in Manhattan.

Find a few dealers in your search area, and go visit them when you get to N.Y. Definitely shop around.

I think your best bet will be to buy the bike unassembled, in it's original shipping box. For one thing, it's designed to travel that way, and you don't have to worry about inadequate protection.

Due to liability issues, most shops will be reluctant to sell an unassembled bike. There may even be issues with the manufacturer regarding this, but if you speak to a manager discreetly, and tell him you're taking the bike overseas and you'd prefer to buy it in the box, you should be able to do that. (you might even get him to knock a few $$ off the price since he won't have to pay someone to put the bike together).

All that is out the window, of course if you are buying some sort of custom bike, assembled in the shop from individual components. Then, you'll have to pay the shop to pack it in a bike box for you, and hope they are thorough in what they do. It's amazing what kind of damage even a small part can do to the finish on a frame, if they are banging against each other for hours at a time. Expect to pay $50- $90 for the packing service.

Note: I have been able to skirt around the airline fee ($50-$100) by having my bike boxes wrapped in plain brown boxes (or, a bike box wrapped in brown package paper) with "camping equipment" written on the side. Tell them you're carrying a couple of tents. Works every time.

RA Cycles in Brooklyn is Bike HEAVEN! Also look at Brands Cycle Center in Wantagh, on Long Island.

Good luck!

dmigsy wrote: »

Anyone ever bought a bike in New York to bring back? Any good/bad experiences with shops over there? How did yis pack them for the plane home ; just in the box from the shop or buy a special bag? I'm heading over in couple of months and I'd be mad not to pick up a bike with the price and exchange rate differences:)

E@gle.

Trek and specialized seem to be very cheap over there, exoctic brands such as pinreallo, colagno and look will be very expensive over there.

A mate of mine bought a cervelo (made in canada) cheap in R & A cycles, and another guy in the club bought a Trek Equinox TT bike for $1700 in R&A and it was €2500 over here. you can really make big savings over there if you buy and 07 model, also even the 08 should start coming down in price soon as well

dmigsy

Not looking at anything too fancy. Probably a fixed gear. Something along the lines of a Cannondale Capo/Lemond Fillmore/Kona Paddywagon. Really good savings to made on these.

E@gle.

Le mond's are being discountinued so they are probaly going cheap

kona

dmigsy wrote: »

Not looking at anything too fancy. Probably a fixed gear. Something along the lines of a Cannondale Capo/Lemond Fillmore/Kona Paddywagon. Really good savings to made on these.

customs will nail you, the only way around it is to bring a ****ter with you in box and pay for it on the ticket out.
this way you can let on you bought the bike here.

kona are VERY cheap there, maybe 40%-50% cheaper:eek::)

try to order a bike over to the hotel from the internet, cheaper again.:)

alastair

Have brought back a GT and a Klein from the US. There's great value to be had on secondhand bikes (craigslist, ebay, etc). Brought back a Klein Adroit from New York a few weeks ago - boxed in a bike box (which most of the airlines will require), which might have traveled free of charge as a second piece of hold luggage except that the dimensions ran above Continental Airline's maximum. Had to pay excess luggage charge of $80 or so. Was stopped by customs, but told them I was bringing a secondhand bike back for a (previously US resident) friend and that seemed to keep them happy. Super Shuttle will carry a boxed bike out to the airport in NYC.

studiorat

alastair wrote: »

Was stopped by customs, but told them I was bringing a secondhand bike back for a (previously US resident) friend and that seemed to keep them happy.

Genius, I got nailed with a second hand guitar from the states. You would think as it's second hand you wouldn't have to pay duty? WRONG!!!!

Had a really bad experience with NYC bikes online, wouldn't do business with them again.