Why are tires so much more expensive in the US

[kman]

Yeah, i think the industry needs to change somewhat. it's to the point that I buy stuff at the local shop because I feel bad. Which is lame. If the prices where anywhere near I would do it without thinking. But when you want say DA shifters and an online store has them shipped to my house in a couple days for 50% less ie 100-200$ how can you pass that up. The answer is you can't. I've asked bike shops about some of the big name uk stores and they say they never heard of them. Either they are out of touch or just in denial.

Good post, I agree 100%.

[topflightpro]

I pay about $68 for Conti GP4000 tubulars or Vittoria Corsa Evo tubulars at my LBS in the states. That is the price they offer to the sponsored teams.

[Clubagreenie]

I can buy from the US and pay in US dollars and have them delivered cheaper than I can get them from my local bike shop. Most shops here in Perth Australia are not overly interested in helping and getting back to you .... if you don't want a bike or buy the dusty gear on the shelf .
Most of my purchases now are from MERLIN,EVANS or I purchase from here. Australia lacks largely in customer service and pricing / value .

[WMW]

Plain and simple it is a greedy business.

You should go into the business yourself and report back.

For some reason the bike shops in this town keep going bankrupt...

[mellowJohnny]

Vote with your wallet.

My LBS will at least try to match web prices when I ask, but not always. I typically buy all my tubs online, but occasionally get the LBS to glue them up (usually when they are Conti ) because the charge is more than reasonable. I've been paying about $47 for a Sprinter online, LBS charges $68 plus tax. Can't justify the extra $50 at the LBS.

[hasbeen]

Blaming the bike shop is ignorant. Stores are entitled to try and make a profit. Required would be a better term. If you want to know why tires cost more at the store youre at then ask them. In my experience it all comes down to how much they paid for them. I know for a fact that UK pricing for the US customer is often times less than wholesale pricing to the US retailer. Hard to explain why but I guarantee its not greed.

[bombertodd]

I wonder why more shops don't buy parts from the UK? They could make more profit and pass on a small savings to the consumer.

[AGW]

I could see doing that for limited quantities of items, but it's not a sustainable for full-scale inventory, even just parts alone. For warranty purposes, I imagine that would make the shop the "original owner" on a lot of items.

[timzcat]

I will never understand how a shop, whether online or brick and mortar, can routinely not have inventory of popular products.

Try getting Audi brake discs and pads from a Ford dealer, they won't have stock. Or Pirelli tyres from someone who shifts/gets deals on Bridgestone. Its almost like trying to buy a set of enve rims from a bontrager stockist. Or conti tubs from a shop that sells 100 tubs a year, half a dozen from each manufacturer. You can't get the volume discounts to make it worth stocking them. Unless you charge over the odds, or RRP.

Its not helped by cycling being a low volume, niche sport, cars aren't. You don't have half a dozen warehouses full of all sorts of weird and wonderful kit from 10 year old bikes in every city. So your independent LBS has to go to the importer, and wait until the parts are posted out. Your independent car workshop can make a couple of calls and pretty much choose who to buy most parts from locally, and get them the same day. (Bike standards changing every three or four years is a pain, car standards tend to last rather longer, especially for serviceable items.)

Not to mention car servicing, service fixes and recalls (which is where most of the warehouse stock comes from) is a pretty predictable, regular occurrence, every 30000 miles, new filters, oils and so on.

I don't know anyone off the top of my head who treats their bikes like that.

You missed my point. I am talking about non-specific bike parts like aftermarket parts.

[timzcat]

Plain and simple it is a greedy business.

You should go into the business yourself and report back.

For some reason the bike shops in this town keep going bankrupt...

I should but that's a different topic.

Here is the issue as I see it, at least locally. Some shops are out to sell product to anyone who walks through the door, whether that is a seasoned veteran or a kids bike, sales are all that matters. Other shops recognize the value of supporting teams and organizations to help grow their business through relationships and word of mouth. I have seen good shops given a bad name because the manager or owner doesn't want to give a customer any discount of even a few dollars on an entire bike. Why not give that customer a discount of a couple hundred if that's what they want and still make a good profit, then not make the sale. They are just going to sit on the bike and discount it at the end of the season to clear the inventory.

[timzcat]

Shops can't buy from the UK. Part of what they get buying direct is support. A good shop can get the rep for a manufacturer to warranty just about anything.
I've had year old items replaced and things fixed that weren't even sold by the shop but they were a retailer for the manufacturer.
If they buy from the UK they get no support and proper warranty service. The bigger the sales the better the service from the manufacturer.
That's true for any retail business.

[bombertodd]

Shops can't buy from the UK. Part of what they get buying direct is support. A good shop can get the rep for a manufacturer to warranty just about anything.
I've had year old items replaced and things fixed that weren't even sold by the shop but they were a retailer for the manufacturer.
If they buy from the UK they get no support and proper warranty service. The bigger the sales the better the service from the manufacturer.
That's true for any retail business.

If they bought from the UK and sold it to me at a lower price I might buy something from my LBS. Instead I haven't bought anything in more than a year because the prices are outrageous at our local shops. I wonder if the shops were to buy parts and just advertise it with no factory support or no warranty. I've purchased from a couple of stores in the US that buy from the UK and sell online. These stores seem to be doing well too.

I guess the question would be, would enough people by stuff without warranty support if it was 20-40% less in price? Would they choose the discount or warranty?

[OwenJames]

LOL@you lot thinking you are having to deal with expensive bike parts.

Come to Japan and I will take you on a tour of the bike shops here, where you will discover a new meaning of the word 'expensive'.

[mattr]

You missed my point. I am talking about non-specific bike parts like aftermarket parts.

Makes no difference, there are far far far too many competing component standards and sizes (aftermarket or otherwise) for anyone to hold stock of everything. Or even a significant fraction of "everything".

This gets even worse when you start looking at high value items. Just to hold stock a full range of thomson elite seatpins is around $3000 (retail). Just so anyone can get one that fits. Start doing that with headsets, stems, bars, grips, saddles and so on and you end up with a lot of bankrupt stock floating around.

Holding stock of inner tubes is one thing, Thomson Seatpins are bankruptcy territory.

And FWIW, from working in the trade (a while ago). Cheap aftermarket stuff IS the popular stuff. Might sell 40 pins at £10 a pop before anyone even looks at a Thomson.

[sugarkane]

Normally we cop it in the as* here in Australia but I get veloflex
Tires from the importer here for a lot less than any shop in the USA and $10-15 cheaper than wiggle or the other evil LBS screwing mega online shops