hhmmm...Wiggle
 

I had a Wiggle advert in my inbox this morning so I clicked over, as I hadn't been there in awhile. The first 3 brands I clicked on are no longer shipped to the US: Assos, Kask, Castelli. Unsubscribed Wiggle.

things are a-changin for the worse for us, the US consumer of euro products. don't know what's up - but the deals of the past are not as easily found on european based stuff.

been to Ribble lately? they basically have zero campy stuff on their site anymore....

they used to be the absolute go-to place for campy gear and wheels. not anymore.

I suspect, as has been rumored, that distribution to consumers will be more regional..as in..want to buy some assos bibs? live in UK? Buy from UK reseller, type thing. PLUS some expiration of trade deals in Europe or the UK with manufacturers..Manufacturers tightening up their distribution.

I wonder what role Brexit plays in this and if maybe our allegiances should shift to the German sites like Bike 24.

Yeah this is why I bought a bunch of stuff during the winter sale. Prices will probably go back to what they were like when I started riding 10-15 years back.

I would blame Donald!
:no:

Add SRAM, Zipp.....to that banned list as well. Take a look at Chain Reaction, they are more expensive than anyone else in the world nowadays.

^^ Oh geez - here we go...:bike:

Let the gouging begin!

Welcome to the Canadian reality.

Sites like Chain reaction (my old go to) have different prices for different parts of the world when you convert all to a single currency shipped to the same place.

Funny, how 'some' have been so 'low price' indoctrinated, so that more normal 'margins', either via a manufacturer direct or via a distributor, becomes 'gouging'. Gouging implies somebody is taking a YUGE margin, but in reality, a lot of this 'alternative' bike stuff channels are being closed, some who rely 100% on volume. I get a little testy when 'some' imply when a LBS, for example, put a price on some bike widget, that's lots higher than some 'neverknownbeforetoday' web site..then automatically the LBS must be 'gouging' the customer. Not how it works, in most cases. 'Most' decent bike shops pay a price for that bike widget, divide by .65 or so(35 point margin, NOT 'markup')..to get to their price. 35 point margin is recognized as the "MINIMUM" required to keep the lights on..have ZERO net profit at the end of the year and no more debt.

Well Said!!!!!

The Campy stuff has dried up, but wholly crap you can buy an Ultegra 8000 group for $665 Makes me rethink the Chorus group I was considering.

Get Potenza😍....

Price fixing is alive and well.