importing tt bike?

peterc1979

Im considering splashing out on a tt bike for next year, im just wondering has anyone imported bike from abroad, ie china??? if so is it money well spent or just a shot in the dark??

Beasty

Any bike you're importing from China will attract Customs Duties (IIRC 14%) and VAT (23%), which makes importing a bit more expensive than it may first appear

fat bloke

Interesting one. A lot of the so called "Chinarello" style frames attract an amount of "What if it falls apart next time you're hurtling down Sally Gap?" and "Who's the shytehawk now???!?" style questioning. In that respect, I think I'd personally be more comfortable with taking an aul chance on a Chinese TT frame, because I'd just be riding on the flats on it generally, and will never have the power output to be "hurtling" anywhere on it at any time:rolleyes:.

So if you could get a nice light no-name carbon TT setup, it could well be worth a shot.

pprendeville

big huge thread on roadbikereview with all the info you could ever need (if you get through it all you deserve a medal):

http://forums.roadbikereview.com/bikes-frames-forks/chinese-carbon-thread-ebay-direct-version-6-0-a-272806.html

i got an FM039 from HongFu and its a great bike. HongFu, DengFu, Miracle and Yishun are a few of the main manufacturers in China and probably have the best rep. Communication by email should be relatively straightforward but keep your questions short and simple (bullet points) and if you do place an order expect them to go quiet on you in terms of updates but you will get the product. I'm in Finglas if you want to see my bike or I could cycle to within reasonable distance if you like.

peterc1979

I saw a sale in wheelworx on the fonthill road recently. tt bikes going for €1400. how much to import from the likes of china ie bike price and packaging?? I wouldnt have a clue where to staart looking to be honest.. yeah i work in blanch and could tip across to finglas and have a look if that was ok.. Would a tt bike even improve you time much? a

peterc1979

oh and to add I'd be looking to get complete bike not just a frame.

el tel

I would have thought that almost all bikes in Ireland are imported from abroad? :pac:

Lumen

peterc1979 wrote: »

oh and to add I'd be looking to get complete bike not just a frame.

I vaguely recall that duty on bike parts from outside the EU is much lower (at 4% ish) than on complete bikes.

Beasty

Lumen wrote: »

I vaguely recall that duty on bike parts from outside the EU is much lower (at 4% ish) than on complete bikes.

I'm pretty sure it's 3.5%

Lumen

Beasty wrote: »

I'm pretty sure it's 3.5%

Go on then, try and find it on revenue.ie :pac:

theautophile

It's 4.7% duty on carbon bike parts from China. Other parts may vary in rate.

I wouldn't worry about frames falling apart at speed either, most of the major brands that claim to be making their products in Taiwan are also using Chinese factories for production......