Parts from the UK

[Jdsk]

When considering the evisceration of small business parts exports by Brexit, I'm not entirely sure that dragging the name of Prince Andrew's Royal family further into the mud is really what the big issue is. YMMV.

Fair point.

So would mentioning the statistical association between Leave/Remain voting and support for the monarchy be inappropriate?

; - )

Jonathan

[roubaixtuesday]

When considering the evisceration of small business parts exports by Brexit, I'm not entirely sure that dragging the name of Prince Andrew's Royal family further into the mud is really what the big issue is. YMMV.

Fair point.

So would mentioning the statistical association between Leave/Remain voting and support for the monarchy be inappropriate?

; - )

Jonathan

Sounds like a fascinating topic, but probably one for a different thread!

[simonineaston]

Today is the anniversary of DTGBPFE Day... Cycle UK's readers will of course recognise the acronym as Difficult To Get Bike Parts From Europe. Coincidentally, I notice the appearance in The Spectator of a new portmanteau word used to describe our collective sadness - Bregret!

[Sweep]

apologies if already posted.
I see that Spa Cycles now flags on its home page:

"We are able to ship smaller goods (no bikes, frames, rims, wheels) to Europe/North America/Australasia; please ask us about carriage costs."

Last time I checked they seemed to have a blanket no no on shipping outside the UK.

Some easing up on post-brexit paperwork - them finding a way through it?

I note that it says nothing in that simple statement about asking them or anyone else about duty, just carriage costs.

[Bmblbzzz]

I'd imagine it's got to be something pretty obscure to be worth shipping all the way to Australasia.

[Winders]

Here in Nu Zelllund, there’s limited access to many everyday bike bits and touring equipment. Sure, the boomers on e-bikes, the roadies and the MTB bros are well supplied, and the bike packing scene is growing, but outside of a couple of shops catering for the hipster scene in Christchurch and Wellington (to be fair they sell lovely kit) it’s slim pickings for the sorts of stuff that Spa Cycles or SJS Cycles sell. Half the time the local importers won’t even bother bringing a large part of a company’s range into the country. And no local eBay or Amazon either, and the less said about the local knockoff TradeMe the better.

And the prices, ouch! The markup here is crazy, considering that imported bike parts only attract minimal duty when costing over $1000 (450 English pesos) and sales tax is 15%.

So yeah, believe me there’s a market here in the Shakey Isles for certain components from the old country.

[Sweep]

Here in Nu Zelllund, there’s limited access to many everyday bike bits and touring equipment. Sure, the boomers on e-bikes, the roadies and the MTB bros are well supplied, and the bike packing scene is growing, but outside of a couple of shops catering for the hipster scene in Christchurch and Wellington it’s slim pickings for the sorts of stuff that Spa Cycles or SJS Cycles sell. Half the time the local importers won’t even bother bringing a large part of a company’s range into the country. And no eBay or Amazon either.

And the prices, ouch! The markup here is crazy, considering that imported bike parts only attract minimal duty when costing over $1000 (450 English pesos) and sales tax is 15%.

So yeah, believe me there’s a market here in the Shakey Isles for certain components from the old country.

interesting.
no ebay or amazon?

thanks anyway, you have probably given a few Spa and SJS customers on here a bit of a boost by portraying them as hipsters

[Winders]

Some eBay sellers will trade here, but that’s about it - there’s no localised site, unlike Australia. We have a knockoff version called TradeMe which is better than Facebook Marketplace but that’s not a high bar to reach. Amazon has a limited presence across the ditch in Australia but no warehouses etc.

If you want the sort of nice bike bits that parts of the internet fetishise (Velo Orange, Brooks, Surly, René Herse, Rivendell, Brooks) you can find them in a couple of shops that cater for the growing city bike scenes in Wellington and Christchurch, but Auckland seems to lack in that culture or the market for it for now. Consequently a lot of those useful small parts that SJS and Spa sell can’t be found here easily.

As an example, my drop bar and 1x wide-range conversion of a folding bike required parts from Japan, Australia, the Netherlands and SJS Cycles to complete. This was a combination of local distributors not bringing entire ranges of products into the country and a lack of local shops selling the sorts of handy parts necessary for the task.

[Sweep]

Interesting winders.
Didn't realise NZ was so "cut off".
Will you be taking advantage of Spa's new willingness to send stuff out of Yorkshire?

[Winders]

Possibly, it’s good to have more options available when needed.

For historical context, from the 1950s until the 1980s there were heavy import controls on bikes coming into NZ, leading to the development of a local industry and even licensed production of Raleigh Twenties. That ended with the application of shock doctrine neoliberal economic policies in the 1980s and 1990s, which did the same to the motor trade and led to the introduction of secondhand Japanese cars at about the same time that helmets were made mandatory (although compared with Australia, the police don’t really seemed bothered to enforce this much these days).

Net result is that cycle commuting culture took a kicking about thirty years ago, and only really survived in Christchurch (mainly because it’s mostly flat as a pancake). In recent years there’s been a resurgence in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington due to the construction of new bike paths, but Auckland’s greater distances and hills (not that Wellington is in any way flat) seems to have led to more ebike use and less demand for utilitarian/touring/commuting bikes compared with the other two cities. (Ebike regulations are quite light touch here, just limited maximum power and throttles are allowed, plus escooters, electric skateboards and all that sort of thing are legal on the road and on the pavement but weirdly not yet in cycleways - the law hasn’t been amended yet.)

Overall, it’s a bit of a chicken and egg situation sadly - can’t get the parts because there’s no demand, but there’s no demand because nobody is selling the parts.

[Bmblbzzz]

Interesting, Winders, thanks. On the helmets, I do remember that when I was in Christchurch way back in 97 I borrowed a bike from a friend and didn't bother with a helmet – no one even looked at me. I also remember getting a lift from a police car when I was hitch hiking, but that's another story!