In The Know Cycling

Bike deals, discount coupons, new sales and all manner of promotions clutter our inboxes, social media feeds, browsers and buying minds these days.

When we serious, budget-conscious cyclists are considering a new bike, wheelset, component, piece of clothing or most any cycling gear we might need or want, it can seem like there are often too many deals and stores and prices to compare.

It can be a lot of work and a huge time-suck to read through them, time we could be spending riding our bikes or working to build up our cycling budgets.

Keeping with the second part of In The Know Cycling’s goal to help you and me decide what cycling gear to get next and where to get it, I’ve been working on a solution to give you back the time back you spend searching different sites and sorting through promotions for the best deals.

So today I’m rolling out the In The Know Cycling Shop or “Know’s Shop” for short. There you can find the best bike deals and compare prices on the best cycling gear from the best stores, all in one place. (Talk about burying the lead!)

Click the third tab on the main menu bar to go to the shop

We (two great developers and one cyclist who knows jack about programming) have been working to make this like a Google Shopping search engine just for road cyclists, maybe better.

Like Google, you can enter the name of the product you are looking for in the search bar at Know’s Shop or on any page of this site to compare the prices of products from different stores.

Type in the product you are looking for to start a search

But maybe better than Google, we’ve filtered out the stores you know to never buy from, or at least I don’t recommend you do, because they don’t get high customer satisfaction ratings (or any at all) from the independent rating service TrustPilot or from Google’s own rating service.

Instead, you’ll only get results from stores that come out on top of my rankings of the best online bike stores based on their price competitiveness, customer satisfaction, enthusiast selection, and reader support. The stores in Know’s Shop include all those in the top 8 of my rankings, 9 of the 13 with best price ratings, and 15 recommended stores in all.

Search results include an image, store name, detailed product name, and price.
You can click Visit Store to see more or buy the product.

You’ll see products from stores that Google doesn’t list or rank highly because of how their proprietary algorithms work to favor some stores and disadvantage others. My In The Know Cycling “algorithm” favors you, my fellow road cycling enthusiasts.

Your searches will pull up the best prices on the best US-based stores including Competitive Cyclist, JensonUSA and Power Meter City, top-rated UK stores that sell and ship to US residents like Merlin, and the Trek/Bontrager and ENVE direct stores.

For those of you living in the UK, EU and other great cycling spots around the world, you’ll also to see results from Tredz where you get 10% off with exclusive code ITKTDZ10, Tweeks, Hargroves, and Cyclestore in addition to those from Merlin.

You’ll also be able to compare prices between those stores and the cycling gear at Amazon.

Know’s Shop may also be better because, unlike Google, I’ll be following and listing the store-wide and category cycling deals and discount codes at the bottom of each shop page so you won’t have to keep up with all the store promotions yourself.

Reader exclusive and other store-wide and category deals requiring codes are shown here.
Sales and discounts not requiring codes are baked into the prices

And since all the prices in Know’s Shop are updated daily and compared in real time, you won’t have to click around to different sites to compare prices yourselves.

And of course, unlike Google, you won’t see any ads in Know’s Shop, just like you don’t see any ads on every other page on In The Know Cycling. And unlike Google, I won’t mine and sell your personal click history and purchase data for advertisers.

Please know that when you buy something through Know’s Shop, through the small commissions we receive you’ll be supporting In The Know Cycling’s ad-free and conflict-of-interest-free independence that separates us from the often very cozy and interdependent relationship between the cycling media and cycling industry. Using the shop for your purchases will help me buy the gear that I and my evaluation team of fellow road cycling enthusiasts test to bring you unbiased and honest reviews and recommendations of what you should get … and steer clear of.

At Know’s Shop, you’ll be able to compare prices, set price ranges, filter for brands and stores for all manner of cycling products the average roadie might want.

You can filter by price, brand or store

The shop has a wide range of gear that roadies might want. For example, it has not just road bikes and frames but also trainers, cyclocross, gravel, mountain, commuter, and electric bikes. Wheels, tires, tubes, jerseys, bibs, jackets, helmets, shoes, drive train and cockpit components, electronics, and other goodies will also be there for you to shop for, price and compare.

The shop has 12 groups of cycling gear and over 60 categories within them

All in, we’ve stocked Know’s Shop with about 70,000 products across 60 categories of gear for you to search and compare from the best stores at the best prices. All. On. One. Site. And the shop is on the same site, just a click away from my reviews of the best gear for road cycling enthusiasts that you’ve been seeing all along (and that I can now get back to writing now that this store is open).

Do I sound psyched? You bet I am! I hope you share my enthusiasm for Know’s Shop.

Despite all I’ve just written, please understand that I am rolling this out slowly, kind of like what you do when you take your first ride on a great new bike or set of wheels. Yeah, we’ve tested the heck out of it but it’s still new so I’m not pulling up to the big group ride or Gran Fondo with it just yet.

Please check out Know’s Shop, tell me what you like and don’t, what works and doesn’t, and what you want to see more or less of. Help me make it better for you, to make your life easier, your budget stretch further, and your confidence grow that you are getting the best prices on the best products from the best stores.

Thanks. I look forward to hearing from you and making Know’s Shop do a lot of the pulling for your cycling shopping rides.

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