Deals...
Not team deals. Deals on parts and cycling (at least cycling related) stuff. I started last week with tires from ProBikeKit.com. Well they still have tires (Vittoria Open Corsa CX), but the price is now $36.55 ea. They still have free shipping, so it's still a good deal.
Today, I want to let you in on a couple of sites I stumbled upon. First is Steep and Cheap. It's like woot but for outdoor sporting goods. For those who have never heard of woot, the concept is that they advertise one deal, on one product untill that product is gone. Then they move on to the next. I don't know the relationship, but there's also Whiskey Militia. Same concept, but with more emphsis on snowboarding junk.
Another site that's somehow related is GearEngine. This one is a little different, you can choose the catagory of items to display (road and mountain bike is an option), and it cycles through the deals it has for those catagories. Each item shows for about 3 minutes then refreshes to the next item. Other people and shops can sell items on GearEngine so it's not just one store offering it's items. But it is hit or miss as far as product goes. Sometimes I see some really cool stuff at a screaming good deal, or you see something that is average price. But it's fun to watch.
Last but not least, I will always encourage riders to support thier local bicycle retailer. Like Rochester Cycling and Fitness here in town. They may not always be the least expensive, but it's made up for in other ways. Experience and expertise. Hanging out. Start and/or finish point for group rides. These are things you can't get online. Plus bike shops always have old stock and take-offs that they need to get rid of. Sometimes you can score some gems for super-cheap. Take-offs are items that may have come stock on a new bike, but the customer swapped out after purchase, either paying full retail for the new item without wanting the old item, in which case it's free stock for the shop to sell. Or the shop "bought it back" after a couple of rides, and can't sell it as new. Either way they may give it to you at a super discount, or for nothing at all. But before you just stop in and say "I want some tires but don't want to pay for them", you should at least attempt to befriend the workers. Honestly they rarely bite. Also bike shop workers have access to used, "junked" parts that may still have some miles left in them. Say a customer comes in to upgrade thier Ultegra rear derailer to a Dura-ace after a year of riding it. Not crashed, nothing wrong with it, just a little worn and not top of the line. Customer pays for the upgrade, tells the mech(anic) to just dump the old derailer. Mech holds onto it thinking he may have a use for it. As a friend of the mech, you're hanging at the shop one night and mention that your ten year old 600 derailer is so worn that you have to overshift and back down to get into a lower gear, but you just don't have the funds to replace it yet. Your mech friend say "Hey I got a derailer with some miles still left on it." and either gives it to you (yea! free part) or sells it to you for super cheap. Sure he got it for free, but he held onto it, and he didn't even have to mention it to you, so don't think he's ripping you off $15 for a perfectly good Ultegra derailer.
Friday 02/01/2008 | 03:37 pm
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