Cheapest Campagnolo Groupset in US?

[cgolvin]

My experiences with Merlin have been excellent -- bought a Chorus 12 groupset a couple of years ago, great price and arrived very quickly. Unfortunately, right now, while they have the Chorus 12 (rim) group listed for $930, the details show no cranksets in stock, only direct mount brakes, and some other shortage on options. Personally, if I were buying the same group today I'd upgrade to Record brakes & FD -- the Chorus brakes tend to rust in spots and I've broken 2 FD cages in 15k miles.

OTOH, almost every purchase from PBK has been an adventure, though always made whole on their mistakes … eventually

[Polyglot]

I do consulting work in North America for an Italian consulting firm that counts Campagnolo as one of its bigger clients. The firm was and is still instrumental in setting up and running the Romanian factory. When I was last building up a new bike, I asked my colleagues whether they could hook me up with Campagnolo. They came back to offer me the Campagnolo employee discount as long as I picked up locally from Campagnolo in Italy or from the Romanian factory. Let's just say that with the employee discount, after including the VAT, my price for pick-up in Italy would have been more expensive than with most of the big mail order businesses. in the end, one of my colleagues took delivery from Romania (where he was able to avoid VAT) and then delivered me the parts in the US. The ultimate savings were definitely not worth the hassle.

[vespasianus]

Originally Posted by Polyglot

I do consulting work in North America for an Italian consulting firm that counts Campagnolo as one of its bigger clients. The firm was and is still instrumental in setting up and running the Romanian factory. When I was last building up a new bike, I asked my colleagues whether they could hook me up with Campagnolo. They came back to offer me the Campagnolo employee discount as long as I picked up locally from Campagnolo in Italy or from the Romanian factory. Let's just say that with the employee discount, after including the VAT, my price for pick-up in Italy would have been more expensive than with most of the big mail order businesses. in the end, one of my colleagues took delivery from Romania (where he was able to avoid VAT) and then delivered me the parts in the US. The ultimate savings were definitely not worth the hassle.

So what is the point?

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by mstateglfr

Wow that was quite the rant.
Honestly, I really dont even follow all of it.

Lots snipped..yup, an unorganized rant. The whole pricing gig with bike stuff is one of the biggest reasons I sold my retail bike shop. Used to be customers coming in with Performance or Nashbar catalogs , now it's with their iPhone...

The gig with QBP is surprising to me as their bread and butter is the IBD..not sure why they would create a brick and mortar/MO place(PC) to compete with those people.

Used to get 'will call' for wheel building stuff from the big QBP warehouse in Denver..When I signed for my one or two items, I saw dozens of items signed for by...'Planet Cyclery'..if they weren't 'owned' by QBP, they at least turned a blind eye to PC deep discounting of bike stuff...something QBP would howl about if I, as a wee bike shop, did...

Rant number 2 out.

[Polyglot]

Originally Posted by vespasianus

So what is the point?

Don't waste your time trying searching out the very best price, you are better off going with a known supplier like velomine who will give you a fair price and allow you to get out on your bike quickly enjoying the parts. Plus, in the unlikely case you have warranty issues, it is far easier to deal with a domestic supplier.