For those people in the bike business, would you happen to know how to get a hold of products made for other markets?
It seems that some companies (I’m specifically looking at Giant OCR1) make different versions of the same product for different markets. Now… to some of you this is going to sound ridiculous, but I can’t stand the paint job offered on the Giant OCR1. Hate it. The chrome kills me. What about getting this product with the UK/Euro color scheme? Is that possible? Could my LBS do that? Wheel & Sprocket in Milwaukee is a pretty big operation.
I like the deal though with the OCR1. I figure that by switching out the cranks and upgrading the wheels I could have a pretty nice bike.
You might have to contact the shops about not being charged the Valued Added Tax (VAT) and shipping might be a bit high (DHL, UPS International, Parcel Force), but you probably can order direct from the following shops in the UK:
One of the roadies in our group was telling us awhile back that he plans on getting some upmarket Eye-talian bike directly from the over seas source since the model he wants can’t be purchased on this side of the Atlantic. Says it won’t cost much over Italy retail price/shipping. So I guess it can be done.
I was thinking of asking the LBS, to ask thier product rep, to tell their Taiwan manufacturer guy to ship one that’s supposed to go west, east.
No dealing with people overseas myself, since I’d still want all the advantages of going with my LBS… warranty, they build it, they swap out the cranks and wheels for an upcharge, etc.