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Buying a bike in Italy?

  • 14-10-2009 12:39AM
    #1
    stopped_clock
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 385 ✭✭


    I may find myself in Italy some time soon. (I've said this before and haven't been yet...)

    Do you think I'd get a better deal on a Bianchi/Colnago/Wilier/etc than I would (a) in Ireland or (b) online?

    Obviously aftersales might be a problem.

    I'm presuming that I wouldn't have to pay import duty, but I would have to pay Ryanair to get it back.

    Special bonus question: Know any good bike shops in the Treviso/Venice area?


Comments

  • #2
    Beasty
    Administrators, Social & Fun Moderators, Sports Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 78,525 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭Beasty


    No import duties within the EU.

    You will have to pay Italian VAT, which is currently 15.5%. Hence there is a 6% saving when compared with the Irish rate.

    However you should check out online sales from the UK. The VAT rate there is currently only 15% (although Wiggle are required to charge the Irish rate on items delivered to Ireland, most other online retailers get away with charging the UK rate - the UK rate goes back up to 17.5%, or possibly higher, on 1 January).

    The main advantage with the UK at present is the exchange rate, which is currently around €1.06/£. Although UK retailers will be ultuimately be paying euros for these bikes, it normally takes them a few mionths to catch up on prices. Hence you will probably find some good bargains in the UK at present.


  • #3
    zzzzzzzz
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,432 ✭✭✭zzzzzzzz


    stopped_clock wrote: »
    I may find myself in Italy some time soon. (I've said this before and haven't been yet...)

    Do you think I'd get a better deal on a Bianchi/Colnago/Wilier/etc than I would (a) in Ireland or (b) online?

    Obviously aftersales might be a problem.

    I'm presuming that I wouldn't have to pay import duty, but I would have to pay Ryanair to get it back.

    Special bonus question: Know any good bike shops in the Treviso/Venice area?

    There's no import duty if you buy within the EU. Your warranty would still be valid assumedly, so I don't think that it would be that much hassle not having a bike shop to go back to. Similar to buying online..

    I'm not sure on price differences though - I was thinking about looking in to it while I was over in Sicily last month but couldn't find any decent bike shops. Would be interested to know how you get on.


  • #4
    ednwireland
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 14,988 ✭✭✭✭ednwireland


    i want one of these to match my eighties one :D

    http://www.cbtitalia.com/fr/outlet/scheda_telaio.cfm?cod_telaio=63&cod_bicicletta=158

    telaio_klight_azzurro.jpg

    just remember loads of small manufacturers where you could get something unusual

    (although warranty could be harder to enforce )

    My weather

    https://www.ecowitt.net/home/share?authorize=96CT1F



  • #5
    bbosco
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 289 ✭✭bbosco


    stopped_clock wrote: »
    I may find myself in Italy some time soon. (I've said this before and haven't been yet...)

    Do you think I'd get a better deal on a Bianchi/Colnago/Wilier/etc than I would (a) in Ireland or (b) online?

    Obviously aftersales might be a problem.

    I'm presuming that I wouldn't have to pay import duty, but I would have to pay Ryanair to get it back.

    Special bonus question: Know any good bike shops in the Treviso/Venice area?

    I bought a bike in Italy two years ago. I had been looking for a new steel Olmo and couldn't find any in Ireland so after some searching online I found this shop in the same town as the Olmo factory in Celle Liguri, near Genoa. I exchanged a few pleasant emails with the owner about the Olmo I was looking for and then he suggested that he could get a custom frame made from a top of the range steel tube set (Dedacciai 16.5 EOM). So, I ended up going for that and it worked out really well. The framebuilder took a lot of time with me to come up with the best geometry and then I got to choose my paint job and even got my name on the frame. The frame was painted in the Willier factory. Shipping to Ireland was only €50, and that included a load of other parts I bought along with it (stem, bars, BB, bottle cages). Overall, I got fantastic value: a custom frame with a top end tubeset for the same price as an Olmo frameset with a mid-range tubeset.

    On the other hand, I was working in Rome for a while during the summer and had a look in some bike shops. Really, they were very similar to what we have at home and stocked mostly the same brands, with a slightly more Italian flavour. The big name brands like Pinarello, Bianchi, Willier etc. did not seem cheaper than what I've seen online. I suppose, these are international brands now and will ensure that their prices are fairly standard worldwide.

    So, maybe I got very lucky but it might be worth doing some research and trying to find some smaller, local brands?


  • #6
    stopped_clock
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 385 ✭✭stopped_clock


    Dammit, turns out Pinarello are in Treviso.

    Where's the penniless-but-at-least-my-bike-is-nice emoticon? :D


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  • #7
    JacksonHeightsOwn
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,913 ✭✭✭JacksonHeightsOwn


    what about a Fondriest?

    check the video out HERE,

    lets just say the bike did not fall from the ugly tree


  • #8
    gman2k
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,075 ✭✭✭gman2k


    I was in Venice during the summer, and never even saw a bike over there! Too many steps over bridges I suppose.
    Never saw any bike shops there either!


  • #9
    JacksonHeightsOwn
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,913 ✭✭✭JacksonHeightsOwn


    gman2k wrote: »
    I was in Venice during the summer, and never even saw a bike over there! Too many steps over bridges I suppose.
    Never saw any bike shops there either!

    see any boats? :p


  • #10
    cdaly_
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,440 ✭✭✭cdaly_


    Loads of pedalos... ;)


  • #11
    stopped_clock
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 385 ✭✭stopped_clock


    Thanks for the replies folks. I wasn't sure about the duty situation and hadn't considered VAT rates at all. It will most likely be after Christmas before I part with cash, so I'll have to look at the fx rates then to compare UK-online with eurozone.
    chrisbonnie wrote: »
    what about a Fondriest?

    Pretty:
    [URL="https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/171166/93280.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
    gman2k wrote: »
    I was in Venice during the summer, and never even saw a bike over there! Too many steps over bridges I suppose.
    Never saw any bike shops there either!

    Fair point actually - I've never seen a bike in Venice...

    There's apparently an excellent bike shop in Trento as well, which wouldn't be too far away.

    Of course, the problem with getting a bike from an obscure artisan (carbon-fibre) craftsman halfway up a Dolomite is that I'd have to get a Campag group on it, and I've been thinking a lot about SRAM recently.


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  • #12
    JacksonHeightsOwn
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,913 ✭✭✭JacksonHeightsOwn


    stopped_clock wrote: »
    Thanks for the replies folks. I wasn't sure about the duty situation and hadn't considered VAT rates at all. It will most likely be after Christmas before I part with cash, so I'll have to look at the fx rates then to compare UK-online with eurozone.



    Pretty:
    [URL="https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/171166/93280.jpg[/IMG][/URL]



    Fair point actually - I've never seen a bike in Venice...

    There's apparently an excellent bike shop in Trento as well, which wouldn't be too far away.

    Of course, the problem with getting a bike from an obscure artisan (carbon-fibre) craftsman halfway up a Dolomite is that I'd have to get a Campag group on it, and I've been thinking a lot about SRAM recently.

    would you not be better off just getting a frameset then, id imagine said builder would have no bother wacking SRAM onto it

    on another note, how sexy is that bike :D


  • #13
    Lumen
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 30,525 ✭✭✭✭Lumen


    chrisbonnie wrote: »
    on another note, how sexy is that bike :D

    It appears to say "World Cup Winner" on the top tube, which is a clear rule violation. :)


  • #14
    Chips Lovell
    Moderators, Politics Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 24,279 Mod ✭✭✭✭Chips Lovell


    I hope Fondriest bikes are better quality from the days that Cofidis rode them. Frankie Andreu said he smashed his once against a kerb on the way to a race and told the team it had been damaged in transit in order to avoid having to ride it again.


  • #15
    JacksonHeightsOwn
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,913 ✭✭✭JacksonHeightsOwn


    el tonto wrote: »
    I hope Fondriest bikes are better quality from the days that Cofidis rode them. Frankie Andreu said he smashed his once against a kerb on the way to a race and told the team it had been damaged in transit in order to avoid having to ride it again.

    i knew i had read about them somewhere, the Lance To Landis book

    there goes my dream partnership, back to the Argon 18 it is so :rolleyes:


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