Dura Ace 9170 di2 Disc now available on Merlin...

[ravdg316]

For $3k. Yikes. https://www.merlincycles.com/shimano...er-103343.html

[thermalattorney]

You forgot an additional $270 (!) for rotors. Why are the DA rotors *twice* as expensive as XTR? For only $5 more you could have a pair of 9100 rim brakes.

Guess I'll have to wait for R8170 stuff to replace my R785 levers.

[peanutgallery]

Not for long, I have a heard serious rumors that Shimano is lowering the boom on the whole UK crap show. Lots of behind the scenes stuff at the moment, but its garnered the attention of certain folks. You'll be paying actual retail before too long...plus VAT....plus tax. Get it while you can

Cost of the rotors is the cost of doing business, don't be cheap...you're getting an incredible deal and have nothing to moan about

[Lanternrouge]

Originally Posted by peanutgallery

Not for long, I have a heard serious rumors that Shimano is lowering the boom on the whole UK crap show. Lots of behind the scenes stuff at the moment, but its garnered the attention of certain folks. You'll be paying actual retail before too long...plus VAT....plus tax. Get it while you can

What I've heard is that this isn't really a big concern to Shimano since it still gets the sales and the overall percentage of parts that get sold this way is pretty negligible. I don't see how Shimano doing this would mean foreign customers would be paying VAT.

Time will tell, though even Shimano cracking down like this isn't going to help LBSs that much with all the domestic internet competition.

[peanutgallery]

Shimano America didn't care, until they saw the import numbers from the UK

Long term, it affects OEM pricing and the value of products provided by much bigger partners. Much bigger deal

As far as domestic internet retail. A good side affect is that many have been nuked by the UK, too. Additionally, they seem a great source for dated and odd sized product. There's a reason for that. The few out there that are doing well have had to change their way of thinking, they have to be the bottom feeders of the market. Constantly scanning QBP, J and B (junk and bargains) and the like for their daily closeouts and scratch/dents and then shifting them on the interwebs. Some also do the live consumer info thing from QBP and also shift stuff for the same price you'd pay anywhere. In my region alone, 2 of these bottom feeders showed up in Lancaster PA from the west coast in order to take advantage of QBPs location there and proximity to a large portion of the US population. I'm sure they're not the only ones. You can do OK, make good margins - but its a tough way to go. Might even be tougher than an LBS

Interesting times in the domestic market, you will do fine if you're nimble

Originally Posted by Lanternrouge

What I've heard is that this isn't really a big concern to Shimano since it still gets the sales and the overall percentage of parts that get sold this way is pretty negligible. I don't see how Shimano doing this would mean foreign customers would be paying VAT.

Time will tell, though even Shimano cracking down like this isn't going to help LBSs that much with all the domestic internet competition.

[xvxax]

Originally Posted by Lanternrouge

What I've heard is that this isn't really a big concern to Shimano since it still gets the sales and the overall percentage of parts that get sold this way is pretty negligible. I don't see how Shimano doing this would mean foreign customers would be paying VAT.

Time will tell, though even Shimano cracking down like this isn't going to help LBSs that much with all the domestic internet competition.

It's a really weird work-around to be able to ship the same product from like 8000 miles away and get it for much cheaper if you know the right places to look. I'm curious what the actual reasoning is, but I know SRAM recently shut down a lot of the different market pricing and I hope shimano follows suit.