Import a road bike?

FitzM

Has anyone ever imported a road bike from the USA?

Looking at prices I could get a great bike $2,500 in USA for £1,500 plus import tax.

Is it worth the effort?

APIII

I've imported a mtb. Duty is 15% on a complete bike (parts are 4.9%), plus obviously your 15% VAT on top. I did it when it was $2/£1, so I'd be surprised if it was worthwhile at the moment.

maddog 2

my wife has but she brought it back in person, so a bit different to your situation. She just walked it through customs, no problem. Saved quite a bit on the RRP. I think the UK price was £1500 but she got it for $1500, which was equivalent to about £950 at the time.

gkerr4

maddog 2 wrote:

my wife has but she brought it back in person, so a bit different to your situation. She just walked it through customs, no problem. Saved quite a bit on the RRP. I think the UK price was £1500 but she got it for $1500, which was equivalent to about £950 at the time.

do you mean she took it through the "to be declared" route and they weren't interested?
or did she actually not declare it and just smuggle it through anyway?

maddog 2

yeah she just brought it back as normal luggage. She had ridden it a few times whilst she was out there, and it was a tad muddy. The customs guys didn't check it. They've got bigger fish to fry I suspect. If I was going to the States for a holiday I'd definitely consider picking up some bike bits, although the exchange rate isn't as strong as it was a few years ago.

Having said that, I bought some kit from the US recently and it just arrived in the post - no duty or anything.