'Pro bike kit' Safe site?

JakeJ

Morning all,

So I'm currently collecting parts to build up a new bike & on my parts list are a set of R8000 shifters, a quick google to see who is selling them the cheapest and this same site keeps popping up. http://www.probikekit.co.uk.

The likes of sigma sport & wiggle are selling the shifters at just shy of £300, yet the above site is selling them at just shy of £200?!

Is it too good to be true? Sure seems like it, so I am just wondering if anyone has bought from this site & had a good experience? When I was looking for front/rear mechs this site also came up cheapest but I just didn't trust it, but if I can save myself nearly £100 on the shifters, then I felt I should probably ask the internet for advice.

Thanks,
Jake.

Edit:

Just looking through the site, they're actually selling the entire ultegra 6870 Di2 groupset for under a grand, the whole lot, brakes and all..
This just can't be right surely?!

mercia_man

Bought plenty of stuff from them over the years without any issues.

w00dster

Bought lots without any problems what so ever. Would continue to use them without hesitation.

cougie

They've been around for years and years and years. I've never had a problem.

pottssteve

Ditto as above - bought stuff from them with no problems at all.

haydenm

Same, and great prices

JakeJ

Well, thanks guys, I guess I'll go on and buy the shifters from there then, just wish I'd bought all my other bits there as well, oh well, better late than never.

mrb123

Yes, they're fine, although once you buy from them they will bombard you with emails for the rest of eternity...

JakeJ

MrB123 wrote:

Yes, they're fine, although once you buy from them they will bombard you with emails for the rest of eternity...

I can take that as long as my shifters turn up tomorrow like I've paid for.

davesnothere

Worth checking though. My missus ordered some headphones for our daughter the other day from what looked like a legit site but 40% cheaper than all the regular retailers.

She got a call from Barclays within 20 minutes telling her this was a scam site. They had already tried to procees the transaction at twice the amount in that space of time. Luckliy Barclays were on the ball.

Even better news they cancelled the wife's debit card so she can't spend any more money!

buckmulligan

ProBikeKit are part of "The Hut Group", a massive conglomerate of British-based mostly online retailers with some other fairly big names in there:

https://www.thehutgroup.com/brands/

They're certainly not some fly-by-night charlatans that are going to run off with your money! I've found like a lot of big e-commerce retailers, they shift their prices around a lot and you can occasionally get a bargain, but they do suffer from the same lack of personal customer service as any big company.

JakeJ

Thanks for all of the feedback guys, I've got a bit more confidence with them now, I paid the extra £5 or so to get dpd next day delivery so fingers crossed it turns up tomorrow, after the shifter's all I've got left is the brake calipers and all the cables and I'll be able to start building the bike up, I can't wait for next season!

davesnothere

What bike are you building out of interest Jake?

JakeJ

DavesNotHere wrote:

What bike are you building out of interest Jake?

So my first and only road bike is a Cervelo soloist carbon, it's fairly old, 2008 I think, but I love it, it was a bit revolutionary for aero bikes back in it's day, however it sadly developed a crack near the head tube, it is also a little bit too big for me at 58cm so I went on the hunt for the same bike again but ideally just the frame in a 56cm and after about a month of searching all over the internet I found one in danm near perfect condition that someone raced on a couple of times then hung it up never to be looked at again.

So I wanted to build up a "best bike" bit by bit so that I could buy the best parts I could afford, I was going to get Ultegra 6800 but every time I looked at the new ultegra r8000 I knew that if I didn't get it, I'd always regret it, Dura ace was never going to be financially possible and ultegra can't be that far behind.

So I've got ultegra r8000 crankset 52/36
r8000 front mech
r8000 rear mech - medium/long cage with 11-34, yes 11- 34! cassette.

R8000 shifters now on the way too, so all I've got left is the brake calipers which I'll get next pay day & hopefully in some January sale of sorts then just the cables, oh and bottom bracket as I've just remembered typing this out.

I also would like to upgrade the chain rings to absolute black's oval chain rings, I know there's a bit of controversy as to whether they actually do anything, but I think they look cool as F. And I'm pretty sure cycling is all about looking good more than anything else.

I'll be using the forks, seat post, handlebars ect from my existing Soloist so I don't have to worry about those, I just can't wait to get it built up, get a bike fit and hopefully be the fastest I can be.

davesnothere

Nice. We expect pix please

JakeJ

DavesNotHere wrote:

Nice. We expect pix please

of course sir.

sloppyschleckonds

Cheap prices, poor returns policy and more dubious follow up customer service, so you pay your money and take your chance.

HTH

redvision

Good shop but return process is slow.

You will be completely bombarded with daily 'pbk greatest ever sale' emails and text messages, yet 99/100 the prices of the 'sale' items will be more than the day before.

Matthewfalle

used to be really good then was bought out and the above happens.

i'd go to Merlin/CRC instead.

bristolpete

Thanks for the heads up was going to order R8000 shifters + R8000 front & rear mech from Merlin and saw this.

Saved £70 in the basket straight away £284 from £354.

Add cash back + sold my 6800 for £100 cash to a work mate so saved a mint.

Ordered at 3.15pm despatched already with delivery tomorrow for just £1. Nice.

JakeJ

My shifters are also reportedly dispatched so should be with me tomorrow.

I can take all the emails they can give, i just hope that by the time January pay day rolls around that the r8000 calipers are still cheaper than anywhere else.

awavey

cant say Ive ever had any issues with them, and Ive used them on/off must be at least 10 years now, though they were a different standalone company back then rather than a brand of some conglomerate group, but the Hut group seem fairly reasonable, they own Zavvi as well if youve ever used them.

but Ive never had to return anything, mostly stuck with just kit and brands I knew, but I could say the same for Wiggle,Evans,Merlin etc etc, PBK do seem to alter prices alot frequently so you do occasionally seem to get things at prices that make you think youve misread them as they are so out of kilter, but youll find maybe a week later the price shoots back up again.

mr_mojo

I’ve ordered lots from pbk over the years, always doing discount codes but unfortunately the discount is normally capped so not always great savings on more expensive purchases. Their pricing structure is out of the Planet X book, up and down to suit whatever offer they have. Know the prices and use the codes to work for you and you can get decent savings.

Stick to their returns policy and no problems getting refunds but you do pay for return postage.

JakeJ

Well I've had the text & email from DPD this morning to say that my shifters are being delivered between 1 & 2 this afternoon.

I'm still a bit mythed as to how they can be £70 cheaper than Sigma Sport or Wiggle, PBK must be loosing money on everything they sell, however, when it comes to it, I will be returning to spend there again on my brakes, so I guess the tactic works as long as I keep shopping there when the stuff isn't on sale....

DavidJB

JakeJ wrote:

Well I've had the text & email from DPD this morning to say that my shifters are being delivered between 1 & 2 this afternoon.

I'm still a bit mythed as to how they can be £70 cheaper than Sigma Sport or Wiggle, PBK must be loosing money on everything they sell, however, when it comes to it, I will be returning to spend there again on my brakes, so I guess the tactic works as long as I keep shopping there when the stuff isn't on sale....

Or they got a good deal with the distributor...

Ordered a few things from them in the past...was fine.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

I doubt I was the only existing customer who received an exclusive unlimited % discount code at the weekend off RRP, rather than typically limited to a max discount of ~£25, used it to order a Direto for ~£637.

Only used them once previous, Lezyne Super GPS for ~£102 back in the summer, took best part of a week to arrive.

Flâneur

You've ordered so not much use, but ignoring any discount codes. Wiggle etc will price match them, handy if you are thinking it may be returned.

bristolpete

Interestingly my Ultegra R8000 bits arrived as advised and boxed, mint.

I was expecting vacuum packed OEM at these prices, but nope. Boxed and mint.

Happy days.

redvee

As previously mentioned, be prepared for numerous emails from them and if you don't buy anything from them for a day or two then you'll get a 'we miss you' email with a discount code that 9 times out of ten isn't valid on the item you've been holding off buying.

JakeJ

Well, My shifters arrived the same as Bristol Pete mentioned, very well packaged and actually in an shimano Ultegra box, unlike my crankset bought from wiggle that arrived wrapped in some bubble wrap, I can't remember where I bought my front & rear mech, but I bought them both from the same place at the same time and the rear mech turned up wrapped in plastic & the front turned up in a shimano ultegra box.

As much as it is nice to have a nice shiny ultegra box, once it's all on my bike, am I going to care what box the stuff came in? Not really.

I've not received any emails from them as yet either.

I still can't really get over the price, I just seriously hope that the calipers are still as cheap when I have the funds to buy them.

Snowblind

JakeJ wrote:

Dura ace was never going to be financially possible and ultegra can't be that far behind.

Just thought I'd say that if I recall correctly, the R8000 Ultegra kit is mechanically identical to the new Dura Ace. The only difference between the two is in the materials used, and therefore the marginal weight saving you get by using the Dura Ace groupset. So, in fact, it isn't behind at all in anything but being slightly heavier (and it's brilliant, btw)!

Your new bike sounds awesome! Post pics when it's finished.

PS. It is worth checking out Vanilla Bikes as well as Pro Bike Kit. I pre-ordered an R8050 groupset on there about 6 weeks before release to the market at a price that seemed too good to be true. I asked around on here at the time and confirmed it as a legit website. The stuff arrived as advertised, and the individual components came in their original boxes, not OEM packaging. So, I don't think they were 'grey goods' either.