I'd guess never. You either need to take a trip to Europe or pay the local prices.

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"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"

I heard it was brick and morter shops complaining about lost business. Shimano called it.

I started buying from Jenson usa

I am pretty sure that Merlin Cycles will sell to the US.

Just ordered DuraAce Di2 9150.
Ordered from:
MerlinCycles - free USA delivery, ok price.
Bike-Discount.de - $30 USA delivery, but better price i could find at all.




.

CPTPP means no tariffs for Japanese goods. BOOYA.

probikekit isn't selling Shimano to America, either. Which stinks because they have Latex tubes for 7.99 and Conti GP 5000s for 91 bucks a pair.

You can get continental and schwalbe from bike24.com for less than CR or PBK

no crank. it is over $900 from wallmart with a crankset. Merlin is cheaper

I just got a pair for $108 shipped from Sigma Sports UK.

Bumping this back to the top. Surprised that both parties haven't found common ground to restart North American Shimano sales after 10 months.

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Swim - ( x ) All good ( ) In the shop
Bike - ( x ) All good ( ) In the shop
Run - ( ) All good ( x ) In the shop

I suspect their is no common ground here. Chain Reaction/Wiggle (same company) will never agree to sell Shimano at Shimano's minimum retail price as this would kill their market and business strategy. Shimano will never agree to allow Chain Reaction to sell below the minimum retail price in the US, where they can legally enforce the minimum pricing, as this kills the other distribution networks and erodes the price.

Neither player has anything to win by changing their position. Its a potential pain for the US consumer but will help brick and mortar stores so depends on your view point.

If you are in the USA like me, check out Jensonusa, Competitive cyclist and Tree Fort Bikes.

I normally look at Tree Fort Bikes first because they are a smaller brick and mortar shop with an online presence. They have a price match spot on their pages. If they say it's available online it will just take 1 day longer to get it. Orders in before they place their next day's order come to their shop the next day and then they send out to you the day they get it.

Jensonusa Website Not Found

Works for me :

https://www.jensonusa.com/

So how is Merlin still allowed to sell Shimano to North America?

My understanding is that Merlin is not technically selling in the US they are just shipping to the US. So they are selling under EU commercial and tax rules and then it is up to customs in the receiving country to sort out the details. It also means even a US consumer is paying the 20% UK VAT so that ratchets up the price. When the GBP is strong against the USD the 20% VAT really hurts this business model.

Chain Reaction has distinct US and EU companies with unique distribution networks so with them you are buying within the US from a US company (although that company can ship things internationally). This means no customs or international shipping and the 20% UK specific VAT disappears but you have to play by US rules. A strong USD and weak sales tax makes favours this sort of arrangement.

Interesting. If what you say is true about Merlin, then I guess Canada is different. I've ordered from them a few times recently, including shimano parts, and all have arrived without any payment owing and I did not pay VAT at checkout.

I just looked into it more and I am wrong about Wiggle/Chain Reaction/Bike24 having a US operation. They are based in the UK but have kept Bike24 operating from Germany presumably to have foot in the EU post Brexit. As for VAT it may be a common wealth thing or a trade agreement between countries. For example as US citizen living in the UK I don't have to pay US taxes on my salary as long as I have already paid the relevant UK tax.

I am now curious how Wiggle is moving/shipping units like a Tacx Neo. Shipping a Neo transatlantic can't be cheap yet they are offering free shipping to the USA. I know that Canyon has struggled on this front and don't offer all their EU bikes in the US.

There's no "middle ground" to be found. Shimano wants to have different pricing structures in different markets (both geographic, and o.e.m. install vs individual "replacement" sales) to optimize the revenue-per-unit/market-share equation. Their wholesale prices for replacement component sales in the USA, a market with a large number of consumers with substantial discretionary income and relatively low transaction taxes, are presumably at the higher end of the scale. When Shimano turns a blind eye to retailers who are grey-marketing Shimano components bought wholesale at European o.e.m. install prices (presumably at the lower end of the scale) into the USA replacement components market, it not only undermines the US wholesales & retailers, it also undermines Shimano's overall global pricing strategy.

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"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"

Once that cat got out of the bag, it provided insight into what bike companies are paying for the drivetrains. Why are bike companies putting NX drivetrains on $4000 mountain bikes when GX is only a couple hundred more? Or why don't we get a pick of our preferred drivetrain and save/spend +/- $200? When customers realize how they are getting hosed, of course they are going to find a way around that. But consumers can be ridiculous demanding Red/DA/XTR/XX1 on an Ultegra/Force/GX/XT budget.

Yes it undermines their strategy, which is basically, screw the North Americans because they can afford it. The existence of grey market is an unsurprising result of this strategy. If they had a flat pricing strategy across the different markets, there would be no grey market and no undermining of US retailers.

really, you guys don't know how good you have it!
its not just north americans they are screwing, it is pretty much every market outside of the EU/UK. in NZ we look enviously at the US prices (on pretty much everything) and we can't get shimano from wiggle etc either.