So I am in Canada, and just ordered a Felt IA disc advanced ultegra di2.
Because the canadian website does not yet show the latest ia bikes/prices, i have been looking at the USA site and doing currency conversions. Actually, for whatever reason, the ultegra di2 build is only on the European site as of this writing.
But when i ordered from our lbs, the bike was a solid 1000$ (Canadian) less than the same bike in the US. Then i looked at the European site, and when i converted euro to canadian, their prices also matched the canadian prices. A solid 1000$ cheaper than the identical us bike. The force etap ia is 800usd less in europe/canada vs the USA.
I am relating this to usa tariff policy to the far east.
Is this an anomaly? Or are the usa folks seeing this trend across the board? I presume it depends on where the bikes are coming from also.
I am kind of happy for me (but unhappy for my usa neighbours), because for things like cars, we cannucks tend to get gouged vs usa prices (usually due to our dollar). For usa folks, you might save some solid cash coming up north for a bike…
A lot of the higher end frames and components are manufactured in U.S. and Taiwan, not China. Felt frames used to be manufactured in Taiwan, not sure if that is still the case or if Rossignol moved manufacturing.
Felt raised its US IA prices across the line. It looks like more of a premium pricing play than cost adjustments.
Edit: They only raised prices by a couple hundred dollars over the past few years, not $1,000. So, if there is a huge price disparity, it has always been there. Or Rossignol cut prices to non-US markets. Or, Euro and Loonie exchange rates are exceptionally good now. Or, your LBS discounted the price from the recommended retail price. Or, you did the conversion math wrong.
Sounds like an insulin situation.
My Orbea that I just ordered was not more expensive. There are good options out there that are not effected by the Tarrifs…
If you look at the IA2, on the US site it’s $7899 US. On the Canadian site it’s $9499.
US-Can exchange rate is $1US = $1.33CAN
So $7899 * 1.33 = $10,505 CAN… so your story checks out.
That’s a huge discrepancy.
A lot of the higher end frames and components are manufactured in U.S. and Taiwan, not China. Felt frames used to be manufactured in Taiwan, not sure if that is still the case or if Rossignol moved manufacturing.
Felt raised its US IA prices across the line. It looks like more of a premium pricing play than cost adjustments.
Edit: They only raised prices by a couple hundred dollars over the past few years, not $1,000. So, if there is a huge price disparity, it has always been there. Or Rossignol cut prices to non-US markets. Or, Euro and Loonie exchange rates are exceptionally good now. Or, your LBS discounted the price from the recommended retail price. Or, you did the conversion math wrong.
Do the math and you will see what I mean. Compare the same models on the euro and canadian sites. The prices work out to the same (Again I only checked 2020 felt IA’s). The same bikes on the USD are a good 800-1000USD more. My dollar conversion were based on rates as of today (google did the math for me), but they generally do not change that much (this year they have drifted 2-3% only).
I recall someone in the biz also stating that the 2020 DI2 ultegra IA disc went up in price in the us shortly after being listed. I am pretty sure I got it at the original pre-increase price (MSRP 7999 cad, or 6000usd). My LBS then gave me a deal on that, so I am pretty happy.
So, the U.S. prices have been flat-ish since at least 2016 with a price increase about 18 months ago, IIRC. Have the Canadian and European prices been flat the whole time? Or, did they go down? Rossignol bought Felt in 2017, so I wonder if they cut the international pricing to buy market share.