Prices

Two basic questions rise to the top when cyclists are considering upgrading or buying a piece of new gear.

  • Which product should I buy from the range of choices out there and why?
  • Which store has the best price, has the gear now, is convenient for me and will give me good service?

To help answer the first question, you can go to the Gear Reviews tab to read my comparative reviews and recommendations of the key products in each gear category.  For the second question, this page will explain the links you see in my reviews to the online stores I recommend for each product because of their combination of price, inventory, convenience, and service.

More and more cyclists are buying their gear from online cycling stores.  Online you can find the best prices, a wider selection of product that is in stock, and get it shipped to your doorstep within days often for free.  The large online stores have tremendous buying power from the volume of products they sell and purchases delivered to customers in US are not subject to 5-8% state taxes you’ll pay at the physical stores.  The right online cycling stores also provide you customer service and an experience that is first-rate from browsing to ordering to shipping to any after sale needs.

I regularly evaluate the price, inventory and service record on over 60 online stores to give you the best places to buy your cycling gear.  Every couple of days I update those places and prices for the gear I’ve recommended and put that in the body of each review and in the site’s right-hand sidebar.  And every couple of weeks, I update the links to the stores for all the gear I’ve evaluated right in the reviews.  Periodically, I also check each store’s customer satisfaction record with ratings and comments filed by customers to one of several publicly accessible, independent and verified services.  I don’t recommend stores that don’t have an exemplary rating and eliminate about half of them through these checks.

Together, these pricing, inventory, service and satisfaction checks will save you a ton of time (to do more riding!) and give you the comfort of knowing you are getting a great deal from a store you can trust.

Each time you buy something from some of these stores, I get a small amount back for referring you.  I say ‘some’ and not all because I link you to the best stores and prices whether I have an affiliate agreement with them or not.  It doesn’t cost you anything more to do it this way and saves you money and time sorting through these stores and prices yourself.  Knowing you are getting value from reading and acting on my reviews also re-energizes me after the countless hours I put into them.  If you want, you can read more about how of all of this works here.

While I provide links to each piece of cycling gear I evaluate in my reviews, I find that Competitive CyclistTredz, TweeksMerlinChain Reaction Cycles and Power Meter City consistently offer amongst the best prices and service on the wide range of gear used by road cycling enthusiasts.  Most of these don’t charge for delivery if you buy a minimum amount of gear.  Normal VAT and customs duty charges do apply depending on the country you live in.

You can read my latest rankings of the Best Online Bike Stores to learn more about which are the best and why.

 

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