Depends. Last time I was in the states(last October to NYC), I was quite surprised to find that many things were quite a bit more expensive in the USA despite the exchange rate. Other things such as electronics for example still tend to be cheaper on your side of the border. The CDN dollar is at an all time low in exchange with the US dollar. This makes Canada a cheap holiday. On a visit here you would have good buying power with the exchange and likely find hotels, etc as good bargains. The only thing that you have to be aware of is that sales taxes up here are higher than in the US. There is the much hated federal GST sales tax of 7% on all purchases plus most provinces have there own sales tax. In Ontario it's 8% which means you would be paying a total 15% sales tax. Alberta(I think) still has no provincial sales tax, so you would only be paying the GST. Would you would have to do is phone some bike shops on either side of the border and figure out the prices with the exchange rate and sales tax. If you live in a border town and can drive over and back to make the purchase it might be worthwhile but if you live in Texas or somewhere the added cost of shipping would likely not make it worthwhile.

I can't believe this. I just hung up on my cell phone with a girl I recently started dating who lives in Canada and had this same conversation. She bought a Trek in Canada on sale for about ("abooout in Canadian) $1000can. She priced that same bike in the U.S. and it was about $1000 U.S. also on sale (previous model year). Had a U.S. citizen exchanged U.S. dollars for Canadian and bought that bike in Canada suing their funds they could have saved a substantial sum. I did some checking and found this to not be the case in all cases though. Using this hypothetical example: A bike sold here in the U.S. for $1000U.S. is available in Canada for abooout $1500Can. So there weren't any savings. A good reference is Cervelo's website which depicts Canadian and U.S. Pricing. Fopr instance- The Cervelo Soloist 105 is $1699 U.S. on the website and $2599 Canadian on the website.
Bottom line- not much in savings on in-line stuff. It is also worth mentioning that, although my new girlfriend, a French Canadian Princess if there ever was one, is very good with $$$ and very clever. She did a lot of shopping around. However, once she did get the bike she had serious fit issues and brought it to our store based on our reputation in the area. She spent another $274.90 to get the bike correctly fitted. I threw in another $90 seat post becasue I felt bad for her and thought she was pretty. Not long after that my girlfriend at the time and I started having some pretty heavy issues and broke up, then I started dating the young lady from Canada, and, among many other things, I've learned a little about Canadian bike pricing.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

"my new girlfriend, a French Canadian Princess .... I've learned a little about Canadian"

But have you learned French yet Tom!!

tom, i've been meaning to post this for a bit now----you got girls coming out of your ears. Whats the secret mate? I bet if tom dumped his canadian princess next week, it'd take less than a week to pick up another. Do i have to own a bike shop to get the girls? Let the secret out, eh?

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Want: 58cm Cervelo Soloist. PM me if you have one to sell

Vintage Cervelo: A Resource

Dude, it ain't like that..... And no, I can't speak French (yet) but she does. Very, very nice. She's a wonderful girl. There's no question I'm pretty darn lucky for a dumb American guy. It's been a rough ride the last few months on the girl front- I can tell you that. Legendary...

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

If you can buy canadian and sell US you can do quite well... if you are a baseball team and get paid canadian dollars, and pay your players in US dollars, you are likely loosing money even if you can fill the stands.

What I've noticed is that, once the exchange rate is taken into account, there is not a great deal of difference between the prices. For example, a P2Kfor around $2000 in the US will be around $3100 up here and it takes abooooot $1.54 Canadian to buy $1 US (1.54 x 2000 = 3080). However, sometimes sales items or certain specialty items can be found that will make a difference. My experience with looking at web prices is typically that these work out better for us northerners who want to shop south of the border.

I agree with what has been discussed so far. Prices for bikes and frames are usually about the same in both countries. Components and wheels do seem to be cheaper in the U.S. in most cases. If you are looking at heading north to our cold (especially for the past week), but welcoming country, you should know that while we do have to pay GST on our purchases here U.S. visitors do not. This is something to keep if mind if you come to race, vacation or just buy a bike!

From the Canada Travel website http://www.travelinx.com/visitorinfo.asp



Visitors from outside Canada may claim a refund of the seven per cent federal GST (Goods and Services Tax) on accumulated purchases of a minimum of $200, provided that each receipt is at least $50 in goods before tax and that the goods are taken out of Canada within 60 days of purchase. GST charged on hotel and motel accommodation is also eligible for refund. The provinces of Quebec and Manitoba allow application for a rebate on provincial taxes.

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http://www.bytowntriathlon.com

Yeah.. U.S. visitors can get a refund.. but don't they have to declare the goods at customs then? Wouldnt you have to pay duty on a new bike? Or am I wrong?

I seem to recall a guy in Washington state, went to Vancouver and picked up a bike cheaper than he could have bought it in the U.S. even with the taxes. Then, I think he just rode it over the border...

Or maybe I have no clue..

regarding the mention of the GST (in the second post by cerveloguy), if i remember correctly, you can have that refunded on your way out at the duty free shop. i know there's a minimum, but i'm sure you'd cover it with a bike purchase (it may have been like $50 canadian). i tried, but didn't have enough from my hotel to meet the minimum. i just thought i'd throw that out there for any of our border friends. later kids,

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mckenzie

It's super easy to get the GST refund. You can claim it at the border and get USD cash right away, or you can get all of your receipts together and mail them in once you get home. You usually get your check back within 2 weeks or so. When you cross back to the US they ask you if you have anything to declare (over $200 I think). If you say "No", then they just send you on your merry way. I live in Seattle and go to Vancouver all the time. The GST refund is why I always volunteer to make the hotel reservations with my credit card and tell my friends to just "give me cash".

Part of the trick is knowing which way the exchange has gone since the prices were set. In cars the manufacturers set the MSRP when the model is released. If the C$ depreciates relative to the US$ then that car will be cheaper in Canada (The MSRP is usually set lower in Canada anyways but that is because we are an overtaxed country.. but I'll save that discussion for a financial forum). However if the Canadian dollar appreciates relative to the US$ then that same car will cost more. I would hazard a guess that Bike manufacturers who also produce annual 'models' would follow the same method. Up until the last month the C$ had depreciated significantly over the past year, therefore Canadian prices would, on average, be cheaper than in the U.S. ALthough what is a 100-200$ if it doesn't fit...

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"which is like watching one of your buddies announce that he's quitting booze and cigarettes, switching to a Vegan diet and training for triathalons ... but he's going to keep snorting heroin." Bill Simmons, ESPN