FYI NPR reported that Hong Kong is stopping shipping or receiving packages to/from the US. Many Aliexpress packages ship via HK. No more Aliexpress for me.
While brands are raising prices, Bike Tires Direct is lowering the bill by up to 25% on orders over $250 on most everything except bikes and frames through next Tuesday. Not sure how they do it, but there it is.
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Nice! Congrats!
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Tempted to buy Zipp 303 XPLR SW for 20% off.
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They seem to have nearly perpetual 25% sales. Are they heavily overstocked or short on cash? It seems like a bad sign for the business.
While not necessarily a deal/sale/discount, I will share a couple manufacturer supplier experiences from recent:
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Found a very small tear in my specialized power mirror bike seat. I bought new from Specialized last year ($325 saddle). I took a photo and called specialized customer service. They quickly answered, had me email them the photo while on the phone, evaluated, and shipped me out a new saddle, free of charge, the same day. They are letting me keep my old saddle as well. Could not be more impressed with this customer services.
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I needed a new 27mm SRAM disc brake flat mount bolt. I knew that some of the packages from SRAM were mislabeled after receiving an incorrect batch from competitive cyclist. They didn’t have the correct bolts in stock (container showed 27mm, measured length was 35mm plus bolt head length). They measured several others of what they had and confirmed.
I called JensonUSA to see if they could measure a set before ordering. They couldn’t be troubled to do such, but were confident they were correct. I ordered, bolts showed up, 35mm. Returns online showed an $8 shipment fee. I wasn’t paying that, so I filed a warranty. They said it wasn’t a warranty and to call customer service. I called, selected call back after waiting 20 mins and their automation “assuring I’d be called back the same day.” No call back. Left a poor review of my experience online. Called Monday, finally received a call back. Explained the situation, he said they’d sent out another set of bolts, he assured me they would measure them before shipment.
In the mean time, their customer service lead emailed me apologizing for the experience and mentioning he would send me two sets of titanium bolts they had physically measured, free of charge. Great, finally a bit proactive.
The initial set of stainless steel replacement bolts arrived today, and they are very much still 35mm. So, obviously the guy I talked to on the phone didn’t measure. Their lead must have known this, hence the email and the titanium bolts. Hopefully these are correct.
Apologies on the wall of text, but felt worthwhile to share the experiences here. I will absolutely avoid Jenson moving forward unless they’re the only distributor with a certain product. Specialized, on the other hand, certainly has my support.
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Yeah about once a month. My guess is they do enormous volume and the sales keeps people coming back and buzz going. Not a bad marketing strategy.
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I’d add Enve to the list of great customer service
Had a nail go through my tyre and rim leaving a massive puncture and carbon shards everywhere. Despite the fact that it wasn’t their fault and the rim was nearly 3 years old they replaced it for $50 shipped.
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I bought carbon rims from Raceface several years ago. I tried to break them within the two year warranty, but failed. But I did succeed AFTER the warranty was over. Sent them a message to see if I could get a discount, but instead they sent me a new rim as they had updated the warranty to lifetime after I bought mine. I think shipping was free too.
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I have store credit with them and I’m getting antsy and feel like I need to use it soon. They do seem to have massive sales a lot recently.
Damn. The revel fire sale started.
Not every day you can pick up a brand spanking new current year 8k bike for 4k.
So…tempted…
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The components list comes out to more than their asking price. You could chuck the frame, get another frame and still come out ahead.
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Not all on sale yet. Jumped the gun 
wondering if they might have had those at 25% in the past, not sure since I don’t monitor wheels very often
bummer doesn’t work on Tadej’s new bikes 
Muc-off has 25% off everything during the easter. Including their electric inflator:
Got an email that Mike’s Bikes is having their annual Mega Sale April 21-27
I think you might get an early peak or early access if you are other email list. Last year had a number of bikes and wheels that normally don’t go on sale
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got a reserve 30 hd last year with hydra for dirt cheap from Mike’s mega sale.
Genuinely curious how all of these bikes that are sitting unsold due to COVID price increases/etc are going to do when they’re even more expensive due to tariffs.
I guess 30-50% off sales?
Those unsold throw away bikes will be scrapped for raw materials. Gotta make beer cans out of something cheaper than imported metals.
Those COVID bikes will be in high demand because they won’t be affected by the tariffs….so they will now likely get cleared out.
If I’m a retailer right now, I stop any significant discounting and make extra margin while I can. The demand for those bikes is going to be pretty high, I suspect.
An alternate strategy, however, is to keep the sales to get consumers’ money now as they weigh buying a bike vs. a new flat screen, etc.
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